U.S.-Owned Hotel Sparks Conflict in Mexico (re: Bush Treasury Dept order)

[Judi Lynn]

U.S.-Owned Hotel Sparks Conflict in Mexico
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
Associated Press Writer

February 28, 2006, 4:23 PM EST

MEXICO CITY -- City officials were attempting Tuesday to shut down a U.S.-owned hotel in Mexico City that drew condemnation from the government after its manager kicked out a Cuban delegation under pressure from Washington.

Officials from the city borough where the Hotel Sheraton Maria Isabel is located posted signs across its front entrance saying "due to infringement of local law, the Sheraton Hotel activities have been suspended. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused. Thank you for your understanding."
(snip)

Borough officials closed the front entrance, as authorities notified hotel staff. Guests were seen using a side door.

Local officials had said they were investigating the hotel -- located near the U.S. Embassy -- for violations of ordinances after its manager expelled 16 Cuban officials, who were attending a Feb. 2 meeting with American energy executives to discuss possible investment opportunities in the oil industry.

Officials at the U.S. Treasury Department later said if the hotel had not expelled the Cubans, it would have been in violation of an embargo against the communist island.

The act outraged many Mexicans who saw it as an attempt to force a foreign law on Mexican soil.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-mexico-us-cuba,0,5438838.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[goforit]

1. Well, If I were a Mexican, I would be concerned as well.

[keopeli]

2. Port Owner Dubai refuses deliveries from Israel

**This is not real.**

Dubai World Ports, owner of 21 major US ports, was instructed by it's government to refuse service to all Israeli shipments as they would violate an embargo that UAE has against Israel. American's are very unhappy with the situation, but Bush* says, "If it's good enough for my Arab buddies, it's good enough for me."

"By the way," he added, "September 11!!!"

No need to imagine this scenario. It will be playing out soon enough.

[High Plains]

4. Oops, I think you got the wrong thread

Abe Foxman and his buddies are on another thread.

[Canuckistanian]

3. How dare those foreigners flout U.S. law?

And especially in their own country. The nerve of these people.

[murray hill farm]

5. Absolutely!

The problem is that the usa does not take the time to consider the culture of a country before it acts on its own shit agenda. Mexico is very culture proud...extremely so...no one can do what the usa did with this kind of misplaced power agenda that the usa did in mexico...and there is no way mexico could ignore this insult. No one is allowed to mess with mexico in this way...least of all a hotel on mexico land..and one from the usa as well....pride alone requires that mexico respond with an extreme reaction...and they will stick to it...for pride alone. It is in the many little ways that the usa alienates itself to the rest of the world.

[Gman]

6. Very well explained

I started to post about nationalization of the hotel chain if the situation worsened then decided not to. But that would be an extreme reaction that I would expect if the hotel chain and the US continued this and made it worse.

[malaise]

7. US Law does not apply to any hotel in Mexico

Who the fuck do they think they are?

[Judi Lynn]

8. U.S.-owned Mexico City hotel that tossed Cubans told to close

Posted on Tue, Feb. 28, 2006
U.S.-owned Mexico City hotel that tossed Cubans told to close
BY ALFREDO CORCHADO AND LAURENCE ILIFF
The Dallas Morning News

MEXICO CITY - Municipal authorities on Tuesday ordered the closing of the popular Maria Isabel Sheraton hotel, raising the volume in a continuing political skirmish involving the United States, Mexico and Cuba.

The decision comes in a case that has divided politicians in the United States and Mexico, in an important election year for both countries. Outside the hotel, just a few feet from the U.S. Embassy, reporters thronged the sidewalk Tuesday as city officials posted signs announcing the suspension of hotel operations and apologizing to customers for the inconvenience.
(snip)

Some analysts speculated that the decision to close the hotel could involve the United States inadvertently in Mexico's presidential campaign.
(snip)

The closing of the hotel would likely benefit the left-leaning Lopez Obrador, who has criticized President Vicente Fox's foreign policy, describing it as ineffective and kowtowing to U.S. rather than Mexican interests. Lopez Obrador is the former Mexico City mayor and his party, the PRD, still governs the city.
(snip/...)

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/13985513.htm

[Judi Lynn]

9. Mexico City tells U.S. hotel to shut after Cuban flap

Mexico City tells U.S. hotel to shut after Cuban flap
U.S. HAD TOLD SHERATON TO KICK CUBANS OUT
By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder

MEXICO CITY - City officials ordered the closing of a major U.S.-owned hotel Tuesday in Mexico City, four weeks after it became the center of a diplomatic flap when U.S. Treasury Department officials ordered it to expel a delegation of Cuban officials.

Signs posted at the Maria Isabel Sheraton, which is across from the iconic Monument to Independence at one of the city's most prominent intersections, made no mention of the dispute, instead accusing the 755-room luxury hotel of violating unspecified city codes.

But the official who signed the closing notice, Virginia Jaramillo, the chief of the city's Cuauhtémoc district, had promised to move against the hotel after the 16-member Cuban delegation was asked to leave Feb. 2.
(snip)

``Due to the infringement of local law, the Sheraton's activities have been suspended,'' the notice said in eight languages. ``We are sorry for the inconvenience that has been caused. Thank you for your understanding.''

Large red signs reading ``closed'' in Spanish were on the hotel's doors.
(snip/...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13988424.htm