Washington Punishes Jamaican Entrepreneurs for Ties with Cuba

Jamaica-based hotel chain SuperClubs was put on notice by the U.S. government that company execs and their relatives won´t be allowed to enter the United States due to their investments in Cuba.

The provision that enforces the cancellation of U.S. visas for SuperClubs executives is contained in the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that has since then tightened U.S. sanctions against Cuba.

"We´re in touch with the U.S. State Department about one of our hotels in Cuba," the company´s Marketing Deputy President Zein Issa-Nakash was quoted as saying in local newspaper The Jamaica Observer. Mrs. Issa-Nakash confirmed the U.S. decision to deny visas for SuperClubs executives and their relatives.

This is not the first time that similar actions have been taken against SuperClubs since the Helms-Burton Act won passage in the U.S. Congress back in 1996.

Shortly after former President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act into law, executives and family members of Sherritt International Corporation, a Canadian company, were put on notice about the cancellation of their U.S. visas.

In 1999, Washington filed a lawsuit in a U.S. courthouse against Spanish megabuck hotel chain Sol Meliá.

Cuban and Spanish authorities blasted the American decision at the time and labeled it as a blatant violation of international law.

SuperClubs manages hotels in the Bahamas, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Cuba. In the case of the island nation, the company owns five lodgings with a grand total of 1,500 accommodations.

The latest facility opened by SuperClubs in Cuba is the Grand Lido Varadero Resort. The five-star 442-room hotel went operational last May 5 on the island nation´s best-known beach circuit.

SuperClubs has been operating lodging establishments in Cuba since 1990, mostly through joint management contracts.