Capital gov´t may issue more sanctions (Mexico vs. Sheraton Hotel)

[Judi Lynn]

Capital gov´t may issue more sanctions

Various government agencies have threatened the hotel with sanctions after it expelled a Cuban delegation earlier this month

BY JONATHAN ROEDER/THE HERALD MEXICO
El Universal
February 15, 2006

Mexico City authorities said on Tuesday that the Hotel María Isabel Sheraton violated nine different laws when it expelled a delegation of Cuban officials that was meeting with U.S. energy executives earlier this month.

Top city officials said they may be readying their own sanctions against the hotel, which was pressured by the U.S. Treasury Department to comply with U.S. law.

The city is now the latest government body - along with the foreign relations and tourism secretariats, the Consumer Protection Agency and the local precinct - to move against the hotel. The Sheraton has been accused of violating city codes and anti-discrimination laws that prohibit barring clients on the basis of nationality, and imposing U.S. law on Mexican soil.

"From our point of view the application of extraterritorial laws that result in discrimination against certain individuals is inadmissible," said Mexico City Undersecretary Ricardo Ruiz, referring to the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act that was used to pressure the Sheraton.
(snip/...)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/17001.html

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Mexico Fumes After Booting of Cubans
The incident didn’t make much news in the United States but in Mexico, "Sheraton-gate" (Spanish), also known as "el hotelazo" has been front-page news for 10 days.

On Feb. 3 the Maria Isabela Sheraton hotel in downtown Mexico City, under pressure from the U.S. Treasury Department, expelled 16 Cuban government officials who were meeting with a group of U.S. oil executives interested in developing petroleum reserves recently discovered in Cuban waters.

Cuba's government-controlled daily, Granma, cites a U.S. spokeswoman saying the meeting violated the so-called Helms-Burton law, which prohibits American companies or their subsidiaries from dealing with Cuban individuals or companies.

The furious reaction of Mexican politicians and pundits has yet to subside and, at least temporarily, the Sheraton affair has assumed even more attention than the proposed anti-illegal immigrant wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Deputies and senators in both houses of the Mexican congress unanimously rejected (Spanish) the application of U.S. law in Mexico, according El Universal. A columnist for the Mexico City daily wondered if the U.S. intervention "was designed to show the Mexicans who still rules in the hemisphere?"
(snip/...)

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/worldopinionroundup/2006/02/sheratongate_in.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. This is so beautiful, Bush is the best thing that has happened to the Left

in Latin America. The Bush dictatorship is learning that US law is not Roman law. The world rejects America's pretense of being an empire!

Having the imperial troops bogged down in Iraq hasn't hurt Latin America either.

[saigon68]

2. how the rest of the world looks at the ASS-CLOWN

[madrchsod]

3. it`s been a really big news item on the

spainish language tv networks...will they send karen to mexico,after all she`s done such a great job with the muslim world