Cuba: American hotel group Marriott must leave the island on Washington's orders

Marriott will have to close its Four Points Sheraton hotel in Havana by the end of August, on the orders of the United States Department of the Treasury. REUTERS / Alexandre Meneghini

Text by: Domitille Piron

Donald Trump imposes new sanctions on Cuba. Money orders sent by the diaspora to the island could be affected as well as the tourism sector. In fact, the Marriott hotel group is forced by the American authorities to leave Cuba.

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From our correspondent in Havana,

Marriott has two months to pack up. Authorized in 2016 by the United States Treasury to manage a hotel in Havana and several others in preparation, the American hotel group has been withdrawn from government permission to operate hotels in Cuba.

Marriott had entered the Cuban market at the time of the merger between the island and its North American neighbor under Barack Obama. But Donald Trump is putting an end to this American establishment in Havana, as he had ended the stopovers of cruise ships on the largest island in the Caribbean a year ago.

► Read also: Cuba: hopes dashed, 5 years after the announcement of the rapprochement with Washington

To do business with Cuba, Marriott, like Western Union, which manages money transfers, must obtain authorization from the United States government,
which therefore seems to be deciding to stifle the Cuban government economically .

Indeed, last week Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, added seven Cuban companies and hotels to his list of sanctioned companies, among which Fincimex, which manages Cuban side sending money from the diaspora to the island especially via Western Union.

It therefore becomes prohibited from June 12 according to American jurisdiction to make financial transactions with this entity managed by the Cuban army. Money orders sent to Cuba represent, according to some economists, the second inflow of foreign currency into the country.

► Also to listen: Cuba in the clutches of Donald Trump

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  • Cuba
  • United States
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