The U.S. interference in Scandic Hotels

Martin Osterlin

The Oslo Scandic Hotel discriminatory expelling of Cuban guests from its Norwegian hotel is an outrageous subservience to the U.S. government's disrespect for sovereign states. The CIA aeroplanes´ secret transport of prisoners from and to airfields in Europe has aroused anger and protests from the public, governments and the EU. The U.S. interference in Scandic Hotels requires the same attention and urgently needs to be halted before it spreads.
The following has happened: The 18th of December the management of Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in Oslo informed the Cuban Tourist Office of the Scandinavian Region located in Stockholm, that the U.S. blockade laws against Cuba forced Scandic to cancel the reservations of the delegation of Cuba's Ministry of Tourism and Cuban tourist companies coming to the Tourist Industry Fair in Norway.
The Scandic management in this case thus incorrectly has chosen to obey another country's laws – U.S. laws – instead of the laws applicable in Norway. For instance the Norwegian Constitution, foreign company law, consumer law, anti-discrimination law. The fact that the Scandic hotel chain in 2001 was taken over by the British Hilton Group, and that this British hotel company in its turn is a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels Corporation in the U.S.A. does of course not imply that these hotels should follow U.S. laws. The Scandic's 16 hotels in Norway must obey Norwegian law, the 65 hotels in Sweden must obey Swedish law. And so on for all 131 hotels: Denmark has 19, Finland 20, Estonia 3, Lithuania 1, Germany 1, the Netherlands 1, Italy 2 and Belgium has 3 Scandic hotels.
The U.S. blockade laws against Cuba have repeatedly been strongly condemned by the United Nations. At the last U.N. General Assembly vote in November last year 183 countries supported Cuba's resolution against the U.S. blockade against Cuba. Only the U.S.A. and Israel plus two Pacific Ocean island nations totally economically dependent on the U.S.A. voted against.

A costly hoard of U.S. spies and administrators are tied up in implementing this anti-human economic war against Cuba. The blockade is combined with slander campaigns – Washington tries to get the world to believe Cuba is a terrorist state on the verge of collapse in need of medical assistance from the U.S.A. etc. This is all a part of the so-called Bush Plan, the second version of which was publicized in July 2006. This version includes an extra 80 million U.S. dollars for the continued effort to create a fifth column in Cuba, give more support to ultra rightist groups in Miami, spread hate propaganda against Cuba in Europe etc. This Bush Plan has resulted in President Bush already appointing a U.S. coordinating ”governor” for Cuba and a ”spy chief” for Venezuela and Cuba. The U.S. governments have for over a hundred years had ambitions to annex Cuba and have not learned to respect Cuba's sovereignty. The expelling of the Cuban delegation from the Scandic hotel is a part of the Bush Plan to escalate U.S. persecution and deionisation of Cuba, actions which are preludes to more violent aggressions. The world needs dialogue and understanding. The peoples must be spared another Iraqi tragedy.

The Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, has stated that Scandic in Norway must follow Norwegian law. Fagforbundet, Norway's trade union for municipality workers with hundreds of thousands of members, has called for a boycott of Scandic. The managements of Scandic in Denmark and Finland have to the media stated that they shall comply with Danish and Finnish law respectively. However the Scandic management in Sweden declared that it will act in the same way as Scandic in Norway, an extra shameful statement considering Sweden is the country of Olof Palme who stood up for the sovereignty and rights of small nations.

The 7-8th of October 2006, European organisations of friendship and solidarity with Cuba from 23 countries met in Istanbul. We discussed with concern the U.S. government's continued escalation of animosity against Cuba and Venezuela. We analysed the Bush Plan, which also mentioned that there is a secret section, conclusively ”military” measures. We also dealt with the U.S. blockade which costs Cuba billions and prevents Cuba from buying vital medicines. A quarter of all medicines are produced by U.S. transnationals. The global situation today vitally needs constructiveness and human cooperation, not more war.

• Expressing the sentiments of these delegations from 23 European countries, we note with satisfaction that the governments of Europe, as in previous years, supported the Cuban resolution condemning the U.S. extraterritorial blockade laws against Cuba. The Scandic hotel case calls on us to fulfil this promise we gave at the United Nations.
• We call upon all European governments and also the European Union to confirm that, considering the Scandic case, it is our national laws, and where applicable, EU and international law, which shall be followed in our respective countries. The fact that Scandic has 131 hotels in 10 of our countries underlines how our sovereignty can be undermined if we let this continue. Each country has a natural interest to defend its own sovereignty, but in this case the European Union has also a special responsibility.
• We call upon jurists, experts on human rights, philosophers, historians and other intellectuals to spread information about how the Scandic case is a breach of our laws and an insult to the struggles of our peoples against foreign interference.
• We call upon each Scandic management concerned to apologize to the Cuban Government for the Scandic behaviour, and also to reverse its standpoint.
• We expect of central, regional and local government representatives and bodies that they shall actively refrain from utilizing any services offered by companies that breach or have stated that they will breach national law.
• Until the Scandic managements in the countries concerned have confirmed that they will respect national law, we urge politicians, trade unions, and all other organisations and individuals with patriotic concern about sovereignty to boycott Scandic hotels and to spread information about this case.

The 10th of January 2007

Martin Osterlin
For the European Coordinating Committee of the European Organisations of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba. www.cuba-solidaridad-europa.org

Martin Osterlin is Chairperson of the Swedish-Cuban Association
svensk.kubanska@swipnet.se