Posted on 01/05/2007 12:05:14 AM PST by Kurt_Hectic
The Scandic Hotel chain's refusal to accept Cuban guests due to the policy of their new American owners has sparked furious reaction from a range of groups. The Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in central Oslo.
The Anti-racist Center, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud (LDO) and the Oslo office of trade union confederation LO have issued strong reactions after a Cuban Tourism delegation were denied rooms at the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in Oslo.
"LO Oslo demands that the government take the step of denying business activity to companies like Scandic, which clearly adhere to the USA's illegal boycott and blockade rather than the policy of the Norwegian authorities," LO said in a press release.
At the same time, the Anti-racist Center filed a complaint with the police against the hotel, the managing director for the Hilton hotels and the Scandic chain in Norway. This charge is based on a law prohibiting the denial of services on the grounds of a person's citizenship or other ethnic reasons.
Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud Beate Gangsås will ask the hotel management at the Scandic Edderkoppen for an explanation.
"We expect the hotel to account for itself. If this is not satisfactory the LDO will make a complaint," said LDO section leader Ann Helen Aarø, and said that their reasoning had to be based on Norwegian conditions.
"There is nothing that guarantees any company with American owner interests to exclude the citizens of a country on the grounds that the USA boycotts that nation. We have to examine the rules that apply to business in Norway," Aarø said.
LO Oslo claims that the Scandic chain, now owned by the American-owned Hilton chain, violates a range of United Nations resolutions condemning the economic blockade of Cuba in addition to violating the guidelines of Norwegian foreign policy.
A similar event occurred in Mexico City last year, when 16 Cubans were thrown out of an American-owned hotel while they were taking part in a meeting with American businessmen. The Cuban government called the episode an example of the American trade boycott infringing on the sovereignty of other nations.
Related stories: No room for Cubans - 04.01.2007 Hotel chain under fire Outrage after inhospitality - 04.01.2007 No room for Cubans - 04.01.2007
Why do I have the feeling that this has more to do with bad credit then a plot against the Fidelitas?
Those Nordic nitwits will destroy themselves with this crap.
I wonder if there's a Swedish version of Jesse Jackson who can take the case.
I meant Norwegian. Same difference.
How much are rubles worth today?
Without looking it up, I'd guess a little less than 4 cents.
I have a peanut can full of sheckels, and lire, and Turkish lire and pesedas.....
worth a visit to the cambio?
Probably not. I even got hosed when I got caught with some German marks after the Euro came out, and I had to cash them in before the deadline.
The monopoly money currencies make cheap souvenirs.
I once heard it said that "you can always tell cowards by the battles they choose to fight." Lefties, both foreign & domestic, are proving this everyday.
Why are we embargoing Cuba again? And why aren't we embargoing China?
You know the outrage is phony when they overreach. An "illegal boycott" isn't enough, they had to add a "blockade". Of course, there is no "blockade" of Cuba. I wonder if the LO has ever expressed outrage at Castro's Commie government suppression of labor unions in Cuba. All outrage is in favor of the oppressors of Cuban labor, Cuban government tourism officials.
I gues these Americans had to go to Scandanavia to buy a hotle because all the hotles in Ameirca are run by Iranians and Pakis.
This article is so full of misinformation, it's completely useless as anything besides propaganda.
1. "Blockade" is defined as: "An interdiction of international shipments to or from a particular port or country by the military forces of another." Obviously, the US has done nothing of the sort to Cuba except for about a week in 1962, when Castro & El Che were lobbying moscow to nuke New York.
2. Who are these Cubans? Civil rights groups should be painfully aware that there are very different classes of citizens in Cuba. Are they government officials (most likely, because nobody else has permission to step off the island, and then only if children & family are kept on the island to ensure their return). Are they refugees or political dissenters (very unlikely, since I don't remember a single civil rights group supporting a single deserter escaping cuba's persecution).
3. Why would it be surprising that any for-profit entity would refuse to do business with the Cuban government, which routinely renegs on its debts. Has Cuba defaulted on Hilton debts, as it has with so many others?
As of 2003, Dunn & Bradstreet ranks Cuba in the top 5 of greatest risks in the world, alongside Iraq, Zimbabwe & Angola. They have over $1-billion in defaulted debt at that time, probably more now.
No for-profit enterprise would do business with anyone with that type of credit risk unless paid in advance, in hard cash. And even if Cubans came to a Hilton Hotel with cash, I'm sure Hilton would expect to apply it as payment for existing debt before any new transactions.
According to the regional spokesperson for Hilton, the refusal was due to the risk of legal sanctions against Hilton in the US for breaching the boycott.
Socialists can always be counted on to support communist oppressors anywhere in the world.
Relax, I still have a handful of Turkish Lira....
what made me mention it is.....
We (US Navy) had to leave Israel in a quick hurry and I had a bunch of sheckels....
I thought I was screwed, but then we pulled up in Italy and the USO hooked me up.
The only reason I remember this is because the exchange rate had shifted massively in my direction....
I almost doubled my money just with a hangover and a sea voyage.
A'int that a bitch.
We just hate commies.
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