Hilton-owned hotel in Norway faces protests, police complaint over boycott of Cubans

(AP) A hotel owned by the Hilton Hotel Corp. faced an uproar Friday for refusing to book rooms for a Cuban delegation because of the U.S. trade embargo on the communist-run island.

The Cuban delegation, set to attend a travel fair in Oslo this month, planned to stay at the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in the city center, as they had on five previous visits.

However, Hilton bought the 140-hotel Scandic group in March, and the Cubans were informed in December that they would have to find another hotel because of rules under U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba.

The 300,000-member Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees said it would boycott all Scandic hotels in Norway.

"We are already looking for other hotels for planned conferences," union deputy leader Anne Grethe Skaardal said Friday. "For us, it is unacceptable for the U.S. to dictate to the whole world."

News of the banned guests first emerged Thursday, drawing protests.

The Anti-Racist Center in Oslo filed a police complaint against the hotels, saying Norwegian law ensures that "no one can be denied access based on their citizenship or ethnic origin."

Christina Karlegran, regional spokeswoman for the Hilton and Scandic group, said the company was bound by the rules of the four-decade-old U.S. embargo. The sanctions largely prohibit U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with Cuba.

"We have to follow American law," she said. "We can't see that we have broken any Swedish or Norwegian law. ... If it turns out to be illegal, we will address that."

The Foreign Ministry said all companies operating in Norway have to obey Norwegian law. It said other agencies would have to determine what laws apply in this case.

The country's most powerful labor union, the 830,000-member Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, demanded that the government take steps to bar Scandic and other companies that take similar actions from doing business in Norway.

In a similar case in March, Mexico's government ordered the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel in Mexico City to pay $112,000 fine for expelling 16 Cuban guests.

____

On the Net:

http://www.scandic-hotels.no

http://www.antirasistisk-senter.no

http://www.fagforbundet.no