US Billionaire Paris Hilton Visits Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Paris Hilton, the billionaire heiress of the Hilton hotel empire, is visiting Cuba today, according to a photograph she published on social networks from Havana, reported dpa news.

“Taking off towards Cuba. I will not have phone service for a couple of days. So if I do not respond to your messages it’s because I’m not them getting,” Hilton wrote to her supporters this afternoon on her Twitter account.

Hours later, the “celebrity” published a picture on the social network Instagram where she is in Old Havana, in the heart of the Cuban capital, posing beside two lifesize United Buddy Bear bear sculptures that are part of a German exhibition that travels the world.

The visit of the US heiress comes amid a historic rapprochement between the governments of Washington and Havana. The two countries announced in mid-December they would move to resume diplomatic relations after more than a half century of hostilities.

The Hilton family had a large hotel on the island, opened in 1958. It was nationalized less than a year later after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

The “Havana Hilton” was then renamed the “Habana Libre” and remains one of the most emblematic hotels of the Cuban capital. Former President Fidel Castro lived there in a suite for several months after taking power January 1959.

Several US politicians, both democrats and republicans, have also visited the island in recent weeks, after the announcement of the thaw between Cuba and the United States.
—–
Editor’s Note: Later on Friday, Paris Hilton showed up with Naomi Campbell and Fidel Castro’s oldest son at the Havana Cigar Festival.  Here’s the report with lots of pictures.