Spanish hotel chain ceases operations in Cuba under pressure from Washington

A Spanish hotel chain is to cease all operations in Cuba at the end of the week due to “major difficulties” in doing business on the island under growing pressure from Washington.The latest US sanctions make it “impossible, de facto and de jure, to maintain even minimal operational stability”, the Meliá group explained in a statement on Tuesday to the Spanish stock market regulator.The company said it would strive to ensure a smooth transition to reduce the impact as much as possible on staff, suppliers and clients.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 the largest foreign hotel operators in Cuba with 14,000 rooms, did not refer in that statement to the other 19 hotels it operated in Cuba in partnership with the country’s tourism ministry.Donald Trump, the US president, ordered new sanctions in May against Cuba, targeting a broad set of individuals and threatening foreign banks and companies that worked with them.Meliá was the first Spanish hotel group to establish a presence in Cuba after the Caribbean nation 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 an economic embargo in place since 1962, Washington has blocked all oil shipments to the island since January, with the exception of a single Russian ship.