Spanish hotel chain ceases operations in Cuba under pressure from Washington | Cuba
A Spanish hotel chain will cease all operations in Cuba at the weekend due to “major difficulties” in doing business on the island, under growing pressure from Washington.
The Meliá group said in a statement to the Spanish stock market regulator on Tuesday that the latest US sanctions “make it practically and legally impossible to maintain even a minimum level of operational stability.”
The company said it would work to ensure a smooth transition to reduce the impact on staff, suppliers and customers as much as possible.
Meliá announced last month that it would cease operating 15 of its 34 hotels in Cuba, joining other foreign companies that have cut ties with the island’s military conglomerate GAESA under pressure from Washington.
Meliá, one of Cuba’s largest foreign hotel operators with 14,000 rooms, did not mention the other 19 hotels it operates in partnership with the country’s tourism ministry in this statement.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions against Cuba in May, targeting a broad group of people and threatening foreign banks and companies that work with them.
Meliá was the first Spanish hotel group to establish a presence in Cuba after the Caribbean country opened its tourism sector to foreigners in the 1990s, hoping to ease the economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the economic embargo in place since 1962, Washington has also blocked all oil shipments to the island except a single Russian ship since January.
