US Punishes 16 More Cuban Hotels Owned by the Military
HAVANA TIMES – The Government of Donald Trump today expanded the list of sanctioned Cuban entities with which all US citizens are prohibited from doing business with. Among them there are 16 hotels owned by the Cuban Army. The prohibition takes effect on Thursday, reported dpa news.
The State Department said the decision is geared “to prevent US funds from reaching the Cuban Army, intelligence and security services.”
The inclusion of more entities on the list of banned companies was announced on November 1 by the National Security Adviser, John Bolton, during a speech at the Freedom Tower in Miami, where the US government housed Cuban exiles at the beginning of the Castro led revolution.
Among the hotels included in the new list, in which there were already around 80, some of them are high end facilities including the Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel and the Havana Paseo del Prado, both in Havana; and the Angsana Cayo Santa María, in Cayos de Villa Clara. Among the destinations where the sanctioned hotels are off bounds to US citizens are Varadero, Cayo Santa María and Cayo Guillermo, some of the most popular tourist resorts in Cuba.
Trump has reversed part of the opening to Cuba promoted by his predecessor, Barack Obama, who along with Raul Castro resumed diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2015, after more than 50 years.
Although the respective embassies remain open, Trump has tightened the embargo on the island, limiting the trips of most US citizens to organized group travel and prohibiting US tourist companies from operating with businesses in the hands of the Cuban Armed Forces, which according to experts in the United States control around 60 percent of the country’s economy and 80 percent of the tourism sector.
Are the Leaders of the Military stupid? It’s like the old saying, “it only hurts when I do this”. So stop doing that. You’re not going to beat Trump into submission, so stop trying. The goal is to make money. Not to teach a lesson or to talk or beat someone into doing it your way. It’s about making money, stupid!
The Military should sell 51% or more ownership of these hotels first to Cubans and then to non-Cuban. Not to Military controlled entities, but to non-Military associated entities. Then ask Trump to lift the sanctions against these Hotels. Profits would begin increasing so that 49% of the profits would far exceed 100% of nothing, which is where they are currently heading.
This is where Cuban Socialism continuously fails. All you have to do is ask yourself, what does the Military do best? Then, what do businessmen do best? You can not and should not even think of mixing the two. You are a complete idiot if you keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same miserable, unsuccessful, unwanted result. Some socialism is warranted like education, health care, infrastructure and social security services. But agriculture, tourism, transportation, business services, etc, etc do not EVER fall into the purvey of ANY government. Capitalistic Socialism is the ONLY proven course with still much needed refinement here and there. No matter how much these Government People beat a dead horse, it will NEVER come to life again. Stupido! And eventually, the People will rise up and start kicking ass and taking names, just like these government idiots once did. But, it doesn’t necessarily have to work out this way. All they have to do is start selling off assets and let the people be all that they can be. Then finally, they might go down in history as heroes of the Revolution, instead of Dictators of the Revolution.