Cuba tourism collapses as US pressure campaign bites

Spanish hotel chains Meliá and Iberostar also halted their operations at a significant number of hotels ahead of a 5 June deadline set by the US government for companies to cease doing business with Cuban conglomerate Gaesa. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Gaesa, which is controlled by Cuba's armed forces, of acting as a "state within a state".In a speech delivered in Spanish and directly addressing the Cuban people, Rubio said Gaesa "hoards the profits from its businesses for the benefit of a small elite" as well as "repressing anyone who dares to complain".US sanctions and an effective oil blockade have exacerbated already existing shortages of fuel, medicines and food in Cuba. Cubadebate, a state-run news site, reported on Monday that the survival rate for children with cancer had fallen from 85% to 65% since January, when US President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on any country or company providing Cuba with oil. The lack of fuel has paralysed large sectors of the economy, including rubbish collection, leading to piles of garbage piling up in city streets.Frequent, lengthy and wide-spread power cuts have triggered rare protests on the island, where public dissent is often punished with long prison sentences.Magdalena Chodownik/Anadolu via Getty Images