Pressured by US sanctions, foreign companies begin to leave Cuba

Many Cuban exiles in the USA
Carl Juste/Miami Herald/ZUMA/picture alliance
With just a few days to go before the deadline set by the United States for foreign companies to sever their links with the economic-military conglomerate Gaesa, the target of sanctions from Washington, several companies have already closed or substantially reduced their activities in Cuba.
On May 1, American President Donald Trump signed an executive order that tightens sanctions against Cuba, reiterating that the communist island, located 150 km off the coast of Florida, represents "an extraordinary threat" to the national security of the United States.
The Trump administration, which has imposed an oil blockade on the island since January, has also turned its attention to the Grupo de Administração Empresarial S.A. (Gaesa), linked to the Cuban Armed Forces and one of the first entities sanctioned under the new executive order.
As a result, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) of the Department of The Treasury has set next Friday (5) as the deadline for foreign companies with businesses linked to Gaesa to readjust their operations or face sanctions from the United States.
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These measures could imply difficulties in accessing the international financial system and carrying out transactions, prohibiting banks from working with these companies or freezing assets.
In this context, several hotel chains have already announced their withdrawal or reduction of their operations in the island.
Geopolitical context
The Spanish chain Meliá announced this Wednesday (3) that it will close its operations in 15 hotels managed in Cuba in partnership with Gaesa, although it did not mention the other 19 establishments that it operates with the Cuban Ministry of Tourism.
"In view of the events and circumstances that have been occurring in the geopolitical, social, legal and economic context of the Republic of Cuba", Meliá informs that "it has adopted the decision to immediately conclude the provision of services management and commercialization" of these hotels on the island, the company said in a statement.
Meliá joins the Spanish chain Iberostar and the Canadian Blue Diamond, which announced in recent days the partial or total closure of their tourist operations in Cuba.
Iberostar no longer manages 12 hotels operated in Cuba in association with Gaesa, although it continues to work with six other units belonging to the Ministry of Tourism, several sources close to the matter told AFP.
Iberostar and Meliá were the first Spanish hotel chains to arrive in Cuba, after the island opened to international tourism in an attempt to overcome the crisis caused by the fall of the Soviet bloc in 1991.
On Monday, the Canadian chain Blue Diamond informed AFP that it was closing its operations in Cuba due to the current situation in the sector, at a time when the island is facing increasing pressure from the United States.
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The Asian group Archipelago International is also considering limiting its presence or abandoning the island, according to sources close to the sector interviewed by AFP.
Active in the mining sector, also in Washington's sights, Canadian Sherritt became, on May 7, the first foreign company to announce its departure from Cuba, where it has been extracting nickel and cobalt since the 1990s through the mixed company General Nickel Company S.A.
"The impact on the Cuban economy of the departure of all these companies international relations in the short term is devastating," Cuban economist and consultant Daniel Torralbas told AFP.

This "makes 2026 the worst year in Cuba's economic history in the last 70 years", he added.
The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, a staunch opponent of the Havana government, two weeks ago accused Cuban leaders of theft and corruption through Gaesa.
Rubio recalled that former president Raúl Castro, currently indicted by the American courts, was the founder of Gaesa, which, according to the US State Department, has assets valued at 18 billion dollars (R$90.3 billion) and controls up to 70% of the Cuban economy.
On Tuesday, the Cuban government defended the role of the conglomerate, created in the 1990s to circumvent the American embargo in force since 1962 and generate foreign currency to boost the country's economy.

Source: G1

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