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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hotel runs on despite shutdown

Hector Tobar and Carlos Martinez Los Angeles Times

MEXICO CITY – Of the many things the swank Maria Isabel Sheraton Hotel aspires to be, an unwitting symbol of U.S. imperialism is not one of them.

But such has been the case since Feb. 3, when staff at the U.S.-owned hotel just across from the American Embassy politely suggested that 16 visiting Cuban officials check out.

The problem: U.S. Treasury officials had told the Sheraton owner, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, based in White Plains, N.Y., that taking money from the Cuban officials violated the four-decade-old U.S. embargo against the Communist-run island.

Faced with the choice of being sanctioned or being selectively inhospitable, the Sheraton reluctantly chose the latter.

Mexicans exploded at the notion of U.S. laws being enforced on Mexican soil and called for authorities to shut the hotel down. On Tuesday, the leftist-controlled Mexico City government finally succeeded in getting the 755-room hotel shut down. Or so it seemed.

Red stickers announcing “closed” were pasted to the front doors. Various government officials pronounced the hotel closed, effective “immediately.” Mexican TV announced that all guests would be evicted “in two hours.”

City inspectors posted a series of handwritten notes on a hotel bulletin board in a half-dozen languages announcing to the guests that they would have to leave. Then the inspectors went home. Two hours passed. The hotel remained open.

By late Tuesday afternoon, as the hotel’s lawyers conferred in the lobby, it remained unclear if the hotel’s hundreds of well-heeled guests would be forced to seek new lodgings.

“The hotel is still operating, even with the (closure) seals, which are really bad for Mexico’s image,” said Jorge Hernandez Delgado, president of the Mexican Association of Travel Agents.

Guests, however, continued to check in to the hotel well into the evening. Mexico City authorities took no steps to stop them. The hotel also was still accepting reservations.

“The hotel is definitely closed,” a spokeswoman for the city government said. “At this moment, it really shouldn’t be operating.”