RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Marriott International tourism company must leave Cuba before August 31st, after the US government under President Donald Trump refused to renew an operational license for the hotel chain’s establishment on the socialist island state.
The operators of the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Havana were notified that their Washington-issued license would not be renewed, a spokesperson for the group told Reuters news agency.
The Marriott is the only American hotel operator in the island’s tourism sector. This is possible because of a license issued in 2016 when US President Barack Obama resumed diplomatic relations with Cuba, which had been interrupted since 1961.
However, since Donald Trump took office, the blockade against the Caribbean country has been intensified. Trump has resumed a policy that had previously lasted for six decades.
According to Reuters, the US Treasury Department also notified the company that “it is not allowed to open any hotels in Cuba which are currently under construction”.
The US company Starwood, later acquired by Marriott, had taken over the management of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in March 2016, which was later converted into the Four Points Sheraton.
By taking action against the Marriott Group, Trump could mobilize greater support from the large Cuban-American exile community in Florida, a state considered crucial for his re-election chances in November, the Washington Post wrote. Neither the Treasury Department nor the State Department replied to the newspaper’s request for comments.