Cuba, Mexico upset by US move to halt energy meeting

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba, Mexico upset by US move to halt energy meeting
Mon Feb 6, 2006 2:31 PM ET
By Marc Frank

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and Mexico on Monday condemned the U.S.-ordered eviction of 16 Cuban officials from an American-owned hotel in Mexico City during a conference with U.S. energy companies.

The Cuban officials, including a vice minister, were told to leave the Sheraton hotel on Friday during a conference organized by the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, which opposes the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

The Cuban government said the action showed that the 45-year-old embargo was an international blockade that infringed the rights of third countries, contrary to the U.S. position, which says the embargo is a bilateral affair.

"The tentacles of the U.S. government's blockade and criminal economic war against Cuba reach any corner of the planet, including to the detriment of other nation's sovereignty and laws," the official Cuban daily Granma said.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-02-06T193139Z_01_N06105307_RTRUKOC_0_US-CUBA-USA.xml&archived=False

[acmavm]

1. Pissy little shits these Americans, huh? Do they do anything

but act out and make this country look bad.

Never mind. (Suddenly I feel like Emily Latella.)

[Vidar]

13. Or was that Roseanne Rosanadana?

[acmavm]

14. Don't remember. One of those two. n/t

[donheld]

2. and then people Complain when Chavez and others call the US dictators.

That's exactly what the US is. World dictators.

[CottonBear]

3. The Mexican government could pass a law to prevent foreign corporations

from doing this kind of thing.

Mental note: boycott Sheraton Hotels.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Does this mean I can get "evicted" from an American owned Hotel in Canada?

.
.
.

Sure looks like it to me -

I'll be checking who owns what before I use a hotel in the future -

And about the only place I ever use a hotel is in Toronto -

so there is lots of choice here

I STILL will put down vegetables, and hardware products ETC, that say "made in the USA" - I'll buy made in China or Mexico before the USA

- ANYTHING I can do to take a penny away from that War-Machine down there . . .

[Vogon_Glory]

5. I'm Waiting For The Great North American Showdown...

I'm waiting for the Great North American showdown--the Cuban exile lobby versus the governments of Canada and Mexico. I've occasionally wondered if the day might come when the governments of Canada and Mexico, and also the business interests these two national governments do have to represent, might finally clash with the US federal government over the block-headed policies the federal government has put in place over the years to placate the noisiest fringes of the right-wing Cuban exile lobby. I'd long thought it was too far-fetched, and that surely even a pro-business Republican administration wouldn't be that foolish.

It looks like I might have been wrong; I hadn't reckoned on just how block-headed Team Shrub might be. So far, matters have resulted in unofficial protests from the Mexican foreign minister; things might get more serious later on. I could see high-handed actions like this causing serious trade rifts between the US and two of its major trading partners. The exiles in south Florida and New Jersey might not care, but other Republican politicians as well as various folks who have tied themselves to the Republicans' star might very well care if trade is disrupted and their fortunes head--south.

You've really got to hand it to the Connecticut Cowboy as far as smart moves go. He managed to let this incident occur while a relatively pro-US, conservative, pro-business Mexican president like Vicente Fox was in power in Mexico City. :sarcasm: I suspect that the next guy with the offices on the Zocalo isn't going to be nearly as accommodating or as trusting as his predecessor.

I suspect that future Republicans are going to squirm away from "MBA President" just like they're already trying to wriggle away from "restoring honor and decency to the White House."

[ninkasi]

6. Bush acts like a 10 year old bully

and has the same level of impulse control. It's deeply distressing for me to have the president of this country constantly throwing his temper tantrums, and showing his churlish behavior. I realize he was installed in 2000, and not elected, and believe that he stole the 2004 election, but in spite of that, he does have the title of president, and he has caused any respect the world once had for us to evaporate.

He has caused so much damage, both in the country and overseas, that it's going to take years to rebuild our economy and our reputation. I am deeply ashamed of the Democrats who give in to him. I know some stand up, and I'm grateful for the ones who do, but the rest should be united and try to stop this horror from getting worse. The ones who don't stand up for our rights, and let him continue to grind our country deeper into the dirt are useless, and must be replaced by men and women who will put our country first.

We need allies, now more than ever, and all Bush does is make enemies. I'm tired of living in a rogue nation, which is more and more looked on with abhorrence by the rest of the world.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Here's an interesting conversation between the Canadian trade minister

and Cuban "exile" Congresswoman from Miami, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. It was posted around 2000 at CNN's US/Cuba Relations message board by a Canadian poster. Ileana is in typical form, slinging her propaganda, but as you will see the Canadian trade minister, Art Eggleton won't go down, and a few facts will come out which you may have not heard, yet. It's very interesting:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/helms_burton_debate_7-11.html



The first photo shows Ileana holding the little Cuban Elián Gonzalez,
before he was lucky enough to escape the Miami rabble and go home to
his father, step-mother, step-brother, cousins, 4 grandparents, aunts,
uncles, great aunts, great uncles, neighbors, and school friends.

[kskiska]

15. I watched Ileana at the SOTU the other night

She was absolutely giddy and couldn't contain herself, trying to get near * on his way out of the room.

[Judi Lynn]

8. If you find this reasoning a little bent,this case will get your attention

Canadian Guilty on 21 Counts in Cuba Trade Case

by Steve Eckardt
3 April 2002

PHILADELPHIA - Canadian citizen James Sabzali was found guilty here today on 20 counts of violating the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy in connection with sales of water purification supplies to Cuba. He now faces up to life in prison and over US$5 million in fines.

Prosecutors previously declared their intention to seek a dozen years' sentence, according to Sabzali.

The 43-year-old salesman is the first Canadian to be criminally convicted for violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Seven of the charges against him are for actions taken on Canadian soil.

Canadian law makes it illegal to comply with the U.S. embargo.

"I'm shocked," declared Sabzali, who had fully cooperated with the five-year investigation, "it doesn't make any sense."

"It's unbelievable," said Sharon Moss, Sabazli's Canadian-born wife, clearly shaken by the verdict.

While the jury convicted Sabzali for sales made from Canada to Cuba , it found him not guilty on all charges up to March 1995, during his employment by Purolite International, a Canadian company.

Sabazli's April 1995 appointment as North American director of marketing for the U.S. corporation Bro-Tech, itself in the dock along with two of its executives, apparently triggered guilty findings on seven subsequent violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act, despite the sales being conducted from Canada. Failing to commit these violations would have subjected Sabzali to Canadian criminal penalties for complying with the U.S. embargo.
(snip/...)

http://www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/Documents/Sabzali-Eckardt.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quick internet search will inform you there aren't too many articles on this outlandish situation which got published in American media outlets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, 4 April, 2002, 09:45 GMT 10:45 UK
Canadian convicted of trading with Cuba

By the BBC's Mike Fox in Montreal

A US court has convicted a Canadian national of breaking the 40-year old American trade embargo against Cuba, in one of the first cases of its kind.

The man, James Sabzali, and two American company executives were found guilty of trading with an enemy of the United States by selling water purification chemicals to Cuba.

Prosecutors said the three men conspired to use foreign subsidiaries to channel American products to Cuba.

Mr Sabzali faces a maximum sentence of more than 200 years in jail although prosecutors have recommended less than five. He is to be sentenced on 28 June.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1910284.stm

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. "selling water purification chemicals to Cuba" - well I'm just ashamed!!

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.

I betcha we wouldnae been "found guilty of trading with an enemy of the United States" if'n we'd bombed the shit outta them or gave them infected blankets!

Sick Nation we got south of us . . .

SICK!!

[wordpix2]

10. this BushCorp knows no bounds--forgive the American sheeple for they

know not what they do in selecting the Chimp for Criminal-and-Stupid-in-Chief.

[HuffleClaw]

11. this cheap bullying is really getting out of hand

i hope that hotel gets punished for this crap. its appalling.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Mexico to Probe Hotel That Expelled Cubans

Mexico to Probe Hotel That Expelled Cubans
By LISA J. ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
February 6, 2006, 11:16 PM EST

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico launched an investigation Monday into whether the U.S. government pressured an American-owned hotel into expelling Cuban guests or whether the guests were asked to leave because of their nationality.

The meeting between Cuban officials and U.S. energy executives was moved to another hotel Saturday after the Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton asked the Cubans to leave.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said Monday if the Sheraton had violated Mexican trade and investment protection laws, it would "apply the fines provided for under the law."

Cuba criticized the expulsion, with the Communist Party daily Granma saying in an editorial that "the tentacles of the blockade and the U.S. government's criminal economic war against Cuba are willing to reach beyond any boundary on the planet, even to the detriment of the laws of other nations."

Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, said the U.S. government pressured the hotel's owner, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., arguing that the U.S. company was violating a law that strengthened U.S. trade sanctions first imposed against Cuba in 1961.

The 1996 Helms-Burton law "does not exist, and should not be applied, in our nation," Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told a Mexico City radio station in an interview.
(snip/...)

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

[Judi Lynn]

17. Mexican authority MUST prevail in this situation. Nothing less.

Rep. Marcela Gonzalez Salas of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, who currently holds the rotating leadership of the lower house, called the incident "truely shameful."

"Imagine this, that we have reached the stage where a U.S. company can tell us who we can recieve in our country and who we can't," Gonzalez Salas said.
(snip)

[Judi Lynn]

16. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Judi Lynn]

18. Mexico City Sheraton sends Cubans packing

Mexico City Sheraton sends Cubans packing
16 delegates forced to find another hotel

U.S.-owned chain cites Helms-Burton Act
Feb. 7, 2006. 01:00 AM
OAKLAND ROSS
FEATURE WRITER


MEXICO CITY—There was no room at the inn for 16 Cuban travellers visiting the Mexican capital this past weekend.

In fact, there was room at the inn — the four-star, 20-storey Maria Isabel Sheraton Hotel on Mexico City's main boulevard — but not for the Cubans, all members of an official trade delegation led by the island's deputy minister for basic industry, Raul Perez de Prado.

Last Friday, on instructions from its owner — Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., of White Plains, N.Y. — the hotel summarily expelled its Cuban guests, reportedly withholding the balance of the three-day deposit they had paid for their stay.

After spending just one night at the hotel, the travellers suddenly found themselves out on the street, surrounded by their bags.

The eviction of the Cubans, who later found shelter at a Mexican-owned hotel, has been front-page news here, striking a delicate anti-American nerve in a country whose government has hitched its fortunes ever closer to Washington's star.

"It's an extra-territorial application of a U.S. law, and so the Mexican government should sanction (the hotel chain)," said Homero Campa, a senior editor at the weekly newsmagazine Proceso, echoing a widely held view. "If the government doesn't act, the opposition parties will go to town."
(snip/...)

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1139267414258&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724