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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2006 
Judge Allows U.S. Hotel to Remain Open
 Associated Press
Mexico City – A federal judge upheld an appeal halting the closure of a U.S.-owned hotel that Mexican authorities had sought to shut down for expelling a Cuban delegation.
Judge Luz Maria Diaz ruled Monday that Mexico City's Sheraton Maria Isabel did not violate Mexican trade regulations on Feb. 2 when – under pressure from the U.S. Treasury Department – the hotel's administration kicked out 16 Cuban officials who were attending a meeting with American energy executives to discuss possible investment opportunities.
The decision also ensures the hotel will not be shut down for selling alcohol without proper licenses in two of its bars and other minor city code violations including not having a menu in Braille.
The city's complaints against the Sheraton had been criticized by Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo, who said the actions had nothing to do with the Cubans' expulsion.
Derbez and Elizondo have filed their own complaints against the hotel for evicting the Cubans, saying the establishment violated Mexican investment and trade protection laws.
But neither has threatened to close the upscale hotel, located next door to the U.S. Embassy and near the tourist-friendly Zona Rosa on busy Reforma boulevard, in the heart of Mexico's capital.
The Cubans' expulsion came as the hotel sought to adhere to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, which bans American businesses and their subsidiaries from doing business with Cubans outside the United States. |
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