Spanish hotel operator Meliá will cease managing 15 of the 34 hotels it operates in Cuba, according to Cuban state website Cubadebate, the latest in a series of international companies scaling back their presence on the island as U.S. sanctions tighten.
MSI previously reported that Meliá’s decision came weeks after Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island. Meliá to cease operations at 15 hotels in Cuba after US sanctions
The company’s decision was based on “a sense of corporate responsibility and external factors that have significantly affected the operation, legality and security of these establishments,” according to the Cubadebate report published Wednesday.
The announcement on May 26 came weeks after Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions. Most of the new sanctions targeted Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA, a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, which the U.S. has asserted is a threat to national security.
Meliá’s partial exit follows a growing list of companies with a long-standing presence in Cuba that are withdrawing or limiting operations. In early June, Indonesian hotel chain Archipelago International also left the island as a U.S. sanctions deadline neared.
The departures deal further blows to Cuba’s tourism sector, which was a key source of hard currency for the island’s struggling economy. Tourist arrivals have plummeted since reaching a peak in 2018. The sector has been further squeezed by an aviation fuel shortage that prompted airlines including Air Canada to suspend flights to Cuba in February.
The broader U.S. economic pressure campaign has included sanctions on oil shipments, renewed threats of military action, and the designation of GAESA as a sanctioned entity. Cuba’s government has described the measures as an economic blockade.