Gabriel Escarrer (next to the clown in military costume above), founder of the Meliá hotel chain, has died at 89, after turning over the company a year ago to his son (who makes Godfather mafia goons look delicate and refined). He got Meliá into Cuba in 1989, when the Soviet subsidy ended and the parasitic regime urgently needed new funding.
There are now over 35 Meliá hotels with close to 15,000 rooms on the island. Naturally, the game has always been played by the rules set by the dictatorship, which completely controls the tourism sector (in which it invests 15 times the amount it does in domestic food production for the nutritionally-challenged natives).
Said game includes ignoring labor norms observed in the free world and operating on stolen property. Meliá was sued by the rightful owners of such confiscated property, but the Spanish legal system ruled in favor of Meliá, Cuba’s state tourist agency Gaviota and the Cuban government. After the ruling, Escarrer declared it had been a success to work with Cuban authorities “in defense of the country’s sovereignty.” No doubt he said that with a straight face–or, as I’ve noted before, nothing personal, just business (or anything for a buck).
Predictably, Cuba’s top brass, obsessed with tourist hotels (despite their current occupancy rate of only about 25%), has lamented the passing of a man it calls a “committed friend” who “bet on Cuba.” This includes the designated dictator, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and the Minister of Tourism. The specialized tourism outlet Reportur referred to the late Escarrer as “the motor of the Cuban economy as the father of its hotel industry.”
For practical purposes, it doesn’t matter how Escarrer saw or rationalized his involvement in Cuba or what his motives were–what matters is that his business has been materially supporting a totalitarian tyranny for over 30 years there. That support is the only reason he was allowed to set up shop and remain operating on the island. There is no question it has been Castro, Inc., not ordinary Cubans, who has really profited and benefited as a result.
And by the way, why is it still OK to be chummy with a leftist dictatorship when Spanish entrepeneurs wouldn’t dare express any sympathy for Franco these days? I suppose one shouldn’t even ask, since we all know the answer.
Lord, the disgust