Foreign businesses at Cuba tourism fair defy new Trump sanctions

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

BUSINESS NEWS MAY 8, 2019 / 4:36 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

Foreign businesses at Cuba tourism fair defy new Trump sanctions

Nelson Acosta
3 MIN READ

HAVANA (Reuters) - Foreign companies operating in Cuba’s tourism sector said at an industry fair this week they would continue investing in the Caribbean’s largest island despite new U.S. sanctions designed to choke its already beleaguered economy.

The Trump administration said last month it was tightening U.S. travel restrictions on Communist-run Cuba and allowing U.S. citizens to bring lawsuits against foreign companies profiting from property taken from them after Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

The administration is seeking to pressure Cuba’s Communist government into giving up its support for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“It’s obviously a very awkward situation but we will keep on advancing,” said Juan Antonio Montes, general director of the Spanish hotel group Barcelo, which has been based in Cuba for two decades.

Regarding the implementation of the long-dormant section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act allowing U.S. lawsuits against companies using confiscated property, he said Barcelo would seek a legal way “to be more protected.”

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-tourism/foreign-businesses-at-cuba-tourism-fair-defy-new-trump-sanctions-idUSKCN1SE2NU

[Ghost Dog]

1. Barcelo Hotels Group is not based in Cuba, Reuters; it operates in Cuba.

Barceló Hotels Group is a private family-owned corporation. Its head office is located in Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. It operates more than 250 hotels around the world.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. That's exactly what the article says.

"It’s obviously a very awkward situation but we will keep on advancing,” said Juan Antonio Montes, general director of the Spanish hotel group Barcelo, which has been based in Cuba.