Cubans forced to change hotels over US trade boycott (in Norway!)

[Mika]

Cubans forced to change hotels over US trade boycott
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1239709.php/Cubans_forced_to_change_hotels_over_US_trade_boycott
Jan 4, 2007, 15:54

Oslo - A Cuban business group visiting Norway that was forced to change hotels over a US law that bans trade with Cuba has sparked a debate over possible discrimination Thursday.
The Cuban delegation were slated to attend a tourism fair later this month and had planned to stay at their usual hotel in Oslo but were advised just before the Christmas holidays that they could no longer stay at the hotel, Oslo tabloid Verdens Gang reported.

The Edderkoppen Hotel is operated by the Scandic Hotel chain, one of the largest in the Nordic region with 140 hotels in nine countries, that since last March is owned by the US-based Hilton group.

-

Lundkvist later told public broadcaster NRK that the decision was solely due to the US trade boycott.

The Antiracist Centre in Oslo said it had filed a complaint citing Norwegian anti-discrimination legislation, the news agency NTB said.
The Oslo chapter of the blue-collar trade union federation LO said the Norwegian government should act against companies that abide by 'the illegal boycott and blockade imposed by the US' against Cuba and prevent these companies from operating in Norway.
The state Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud that handles discrimination cases would likely also review the case.
State secretary Raymond Johansen at the Foreign Ministry told VG that the hotel's decision was 'unacceptable,' noting that Norway had diplomatic ties with Cuba.

The long arm of Uncle Sam screwing with other nations' sovereignty is getting tiresome.

[Calhoon2007]

1. I have to say that this is such petty stuff.

[Vidar]

2. Trying to spread our corruption everywhere.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Pathetic. Another story to add to the biggest of the hypocritical

atrocities attributable to our leaders on both sides of the aisle.

[Malmo Blue]

4. Hotel boycott in Sweden too!

Here's an article from Swedish Metro.


The title says "Cubans not allowed to stay at Swedish Scandic hotels".

[Blue_Tires]

21. thanks for posting that

and welcome to the site!

[earlybelle]

5. Screw them if they allow the US to interfere with their soverenty. If they take this they deserve it

Can you imagine the US moving its people from place just because another country demanded it? How many international laws has the US already ignored or broken in Iraq. Why should any other nation take this flak from the US or a US owned company. They should refuse to do business with any US owned company until they lift all illegal embargos and sanctions.

[Tempest]

6. Sheraton did the same thing to Cuba in Mexico and were fined

In a similar case in Mexico, the government in March ordered the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel in Mexico City to pay a $112,000 (U.S.) fine for expelling 16 Cuban quests a month earlier due to the boycott.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070105.wcuban0105/BNStory/International/home

[Briar]

7. How shameful. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

8. I know DU'ers who keep up on news about Cuba will remember ANOTHER event:

Issue #18 The Long Arm of the Law
Feb 14, 2006

The Bush Administration voiced not a word of disapproval, but it sent an unmistakable signal to a recent conference held in Mexico City where American executives and Cuban officials discussed business opportunities in Cuba's energy sector. It found a way to use U.S. sanctions against Cuba to have the Cuban delegates thrown out of their hotel, the Sheraton Maria Isabel.

This action barely affected the conference, which covered a topic of increasing interest to both Cuba and the United States. It caused a large reaction in Mexico that continues to make news in Mexico and beyond. The press coverage is drawing attention to U.S. policy toward Cuba, highlighting not the Administration's grievances against Cuba, but rather its own "Three Stooges school of diplomacy," in the words of a Miami Herald editorial. "A friendly nation has been insulted," the editorial said, "U.S. businesses in Mexico are alarmed, and Cuba can once again paint itself as the aggrieved party in its dispute with the United States."

# # # # #
Maybe the U.S. government would have banned the conference altogether, but American law does not block speech between Americans and Cubans, least of all on foreign territory.

However, U.S. law does control transactions between Americans and Cubans. Since the conference was held in a hotel owned by a U.S. corporation, and since U.S. subsidiaries have been banned from trading with Cuba since 1992, the Administration had a basis for threatening penalties for providing a service to Cubans in violation of U.S. law.

So on that Friday evening after the day's conference sessions had ended, Sheraton managers told the 16 Cuban attendees that due to an order from Washington, they had to leave the hotel immediately, they could consume no food or drink on the way out, and the money they had pre-paid for the final two nights of their stay would not be refunded.
(snip/...)

http://lexingtoninstitute.org/905.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What happened in 1992, to make this possible? The Torricelli Act. (You may remember Robert Torricelli, Democrat, unfortunately, was charged with corruption. Earlier in his career, he favored dropping the embargo, but the Cuban "exiles" got to him, and he accepted a ton of campaign contributions from them. His state, New Jersey, (Union City his district) has the country's 2nd largest Cuban population.) Between 1982 and 2000, Robert Torricelli received $255,000.00 from them for his campaigns. He is the 2nd largest recipient of their funding. The largest recipient of Cuban "exile" funding was Robert Graham, who came from the country's LARGEST Cuban "exile" population, in South Florida.

The Torricelli Act, passed in 1992, further strengthened the US blockade (see Embargo or Blockade?) on Cuba. It was signed into law by President George Bush, just before the presidential election.

Bush also pardoned Orlando Bosch that year, who was charged with killing 73 people through bombing a civilian aircraft, but escaped from his Venezuelan prison. In the 1992 election, Bush won the Florida electroal votes due to extensive support of anti-Castro exile groups.

The Torricelli Act made the economic blockade on Cuba more severe than it had previously been. It prevented food and medicine from being shipped to Cuba. The only exception was humanitarian aid.
(snip)

The original embargo didn't prevent food and medicine sales for the sake of appearing to be different than the Soviet blockade of West Berlin. The US heavily condemned this at the time, but now does the same thing. Now that capitalist propaganda is less important, this act can be passed without much concern.
(snip/)

http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_torricelli_act.html

[Crunchy Frog]

9. I hope they take that hotel chain to the fucking cleaners.

They should simply prohibit the US ownership of hotels and other businesses that discriminate in that way.

[otherlander]

10. What bullshit.

The entire embargo is bullshit. There being no more Soviet Union, nobody can possibly say that we have to block Russian aggression. This is nothing but petty revenge at the expense of the people of Cuba. It would be different if there was a threat of invasion, but there's not. We're punishing them for having a dictator. How stupid.

[Eugene]

11. Reuters: Norway, Cuba deplore U.S.-owned hotel ban

Norway, Cuba deplore U.S.-owned hotel ban

Fri Jan 5, 4:26 PM ET

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway and Cuba on Friday deplored the decision of a U.S.-owned hotel
in Oslo to deny lodging to a Cuban delegation in compliance with U.S. trade sanctions
against Havana.

Norway's main trade union LO threatened to boycott the Scandic hotel chain, owned by
the U.S.-based Hilton Hotels Corp., if it did not reverse its policy.

-snip-

"These actions from Scandic managers are totally unacceptable," deputy Foreign Minister
Raymond Johansen told Reuters by telephone.

"In Norway we are based on Norwegian law and Norwegian practices, not those of any
other country," he said.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070105/wl_nm/cuba_norway_dc

[Judi Lynn]

12. I'll bet this kind of childish nastiness makes Cubans more resolved than they already were

to not bow to the bullies 90 miles away.

Our right-wing idiot Presidents just can't leave them alone. They are obsessed. It's like a challenge to their right-wing pitiful manhoods to allow this little island to refuse to be dominated by the U.S. any more.

This is their idea of a great Cuban President, the vicious, torture loving, murderous, completely corrupt Fulgencio Batista.

[NashVegas]

13. Too Bad Norway's Government Didn't Consider This Law

When the sale was approved. Someone was sleeping.

[Say_What]

14. Blowback... "Hilton Slammed in Oslo for Cuba Embargo"

<clips>

...The 300,000-member Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees said it would boycott all Scandic hotels in Norway.

"We are already looking for other hotels for planned conferences," union deputy leader Anne Grethe Skaardal said Friday. "For us, it is unacceptable for the U.S. to dictate to the whole world."

News of the banned guests first emerged Thursday, drawing protests.

The Anti-Racist Center in Oslo filed a police complaint against the hotels, saying Norwegian law ensures that "no one can be denied access based on their citizenship or ethnic origin."

...The Foreign Ministry said all companies operating in Norway have to obey Norwegian law. It said other agencies would have to determine what laws apply in this case.

The country's most powerful labor union, the 830,000-member Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, demanded that the government take steps to bar Scandic and other companies that take similar actions from doing business in Norway.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/nationworld/ats-ap_business18jan05,0,4421201.story?coll=sns-business-headlines

[nebula]

15. Go Unions!

[Mika]

17. Yeah, baby! Hit 'em where it hurts.

:bounce:

[Judi Lynn]

16. No doubt Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg

could handle this problem if they take it up with _{George Bush!} You may remember Jens Stoltenberg was scheduled to visit the White House last year when _Bush suddenly, for no given reason, cancelled his visit! I think he's afraid of him.



Johansen and Stoltenberg
They really need to follow this problem to its source in Washington D.C. It would probably be very embarrassing for the administration to try to justify this policy to grown-ups with a straight face.

[Stockholm]

18. I just cut my Honors card in two

and will send it in tomorrow with an note. Its not like there are a shortage of hotel chains in Scandinavia to choose from.

And to think I have put conferences there to build mojo for a relative - sorry, won´t happen again.

I hope the rumours about selling Scandic is true...

[Mika]

19. Good for you.

:thumbsup:

Don't worry about your past dealings with them.. the buyout by Hilton was recent (last March).


:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

20. That act should give them a lasting impression. What a great idea. n/t