Mexico to complaint to US over hotel that expelled Cubans
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-08 15:23

Mexico is weighing a diplomatic complaint against the United States over a case in which a U.S.-owned hotel expelled Cuban representatives attending an oil meeting in Mexico City last week, reportedly after U.S. officials pressured the hotel to do so.

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said he personally favors the highest possible fine _ an amount equivalent to about US$463,000 (euro386,000) _ against Mexico City's Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton for applying foreign laws on Mexican soil.

Asked if a diplomatic note was in order, Derbez said in a radio interview that "we have already contacted the American government to determine how, precisely, this was carried out."

A Mexican diplomat is currently in Washington to find out how it all occurred, and "he will bring back information so that we can decide if it will be necessary or not to present a complaint with the U.S. government."

Brookly McLaughlin, a spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, confirmed Tuesday that the department had told Starwood to expel the Cuban delegation.

"The hotel in Mexico City is a U.S. subsidiary, and therefore prohibited from providing a service to Cuba or Cuban nationals," McLaughlin said, referring to the Helms-Burton law, which tightened U.S. trade sanctions first imposed against Cuba in 1961.

"The hotel acted in accordance with U.S. sanctions," he said.

In a statement, the hotel _ part of the chain of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. _ said it "deeply regrets this incident and any inconvenience it may have caused."

It said Starwood's policy "is not to discriminate against any person because of their nationality or any other reason, and to always respect the laws of countries where its hotels are located."

The issue could become the latest in a round of diplomatic spats that have marred U.S.-Mexican relations in recent weeks, including disputes over border incidents, immigration and U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza's public comments on violence in Mexico.

Derbez said there was "sufficient evidence" that the hotel violated Mexican laws by expelling the Cuban representatives, and said that he "personally would be inclined" to charge the highest fine possible, equivalent to about US$463,000 (euro386,000).

Derbez's office announced it had formally started a complaint process against the hotel, and that the company would have 15 days to respond.

The hotel may also face fraud and discrimination charges for allegedly accepting the Cubans' money but denying them service, Derbez said. Those could apparently result in separate fines.

"I think that there was evident contempt for Mexican law on the part of the Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton ... and it is going to be punished for discrimination, consumer fraud and, moreover, for applying laws that do not apply in Mexico," Derbez said.

After the hotel asked the Cubans to leave, a meeting between Cuban officials and U.S. energy executives was then moved to a Mexican-owned hotel Saturday.

Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas told reporters Tuesday the incident was "a clear case of discrimination that we can't accept." The city borough that is home to the hotel could impose penalties ranging from a fine to "the eventual closure" of the hotel, Encinas said.

He said the possible fraud charges were based on the fact that the Cubans "had given, as far as we know, a deposit" to the hotel, which was apparently not returned to them.

The hotel denied that, saying "the event was contracted for, and paid by, a U.S. firm, and thus the hotel has not retained money from any Cuban citizens or sent any money" to U.S. authorities in charge of enforcing the U.S. policy.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Mexico will "not allow discrimination against anyone visiting our country," adding that if any wrongdoing is found, "the authorities will vigorously apply the law."

U.S. efforts to extend its embargo of Cuba across international borders led to a burst of patriotic indignation in Mexico, Canada and other countries in 1996, producing "antidote laws" meant to outlaw compliance with the U.S. measures.

For the most part, the laws were conveniently forgotten and largely unenforced. But now the U.S.-owned Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. finds itself trapped between a U.S. government intent on punishing Cuba and a Mexican government fearful of seeming weak in an election year.

Other U.S. companies could face a similar dilemma.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States had been contacted by Mexico regarding the incident. He declined to give more details.

Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, which hosted the event, noted that a Starwood-owned hotel in Cancun, Mexico, had hosted similar conferences between Cuban officials and U.S. business representatives without incident.

The three-day energy meeting, which wrapped up Saturday, was the first private-sector oil summit between Cuba and the United States.

About 30 people protested outside the Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday, waving Mexican and Cuban flags and yelling "Get out Yankees!" The demonstrators plastered the glass doors with signs reading "Shut down" and "Closed for bowing to U.S. imperialism and harming national sovereignty."