Meliá exits Cuba entirely as US sanctions bite
Spain’s Meliá is withdrawing all operations from Cuba by the end of the week, demonstrating how aggressively expanded US sanctions are forcing European businesses to abandon long-standing investments.
Spanish hotel group Meliá will cease all operations in Cuba by the end of this week, abandoning a three-decade presence on the island. The company cited “major difficulties” in doing business under escalating pressure from Washington. In a statement to the Spanish stock market regulator on Tuesday, Meliá said the latest US sanctions make it “impossible, de facto and de jure, to maintain even minimal operational stability”.
The complete withdrawal follows an announcement last month that the company would stop operating 15 of its 34 Cuban hotels. That earlier move aligned with a broader trend of foreign companies cutting ties with GAESA, the Cuban military conglomerate. At the time, Meliá did not address the fate of its remaining 19 hotels, which were operated in partnership with the country’s tourism ministry.
The retreat carries significant implications for other European businesses operating in jurisdictions targeted by Washington. Donald Trump ordered new measures in May targeting a broad set of Cuban individuals. Crucially, the US president explicitly threatened foreign banks and companies that maintained business relationships with those targeted.
For European multinationals and their lenders, the risk of being locked out of the US financial system routinely outweighs the value of operating in heavily sanctioned markets. Meliá was the first Spanish hotel group to establish a presence in Cuba in the 1990s. It arrived as the Caribbean nation opened its tourism sector to foreigners, an initiative designed to ease a severe economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The chain ultimately grew to become the largest foreign hotel operator in Cuba, managing 14,000 rooms across the island. Its forced exit reflects a much broader and intensifying squeeze on the Cuban economy by Washington. The United States has maintained a comprehensive economic embargo against the island since 1962, and since January has blocked all oil shipments with the sole exception of a single Russian vessel. Meliá stated it would attempt to manage a smooth transition to reduce the impact on its local staff, suppliers and clients.
