The Piñero Group Will Not Invest As Long As Cuba Is “Not A Free Country”

The Piñero Group Will Not Invest As Long As Cuba Is "Not A Free Country"
/ 14ymedio
Posted on January 22, 2016

14ymedio, Madrid, 21 January 2016 — The Spaniard Pablo Piñero, president
of the Piñero Group hotel chain, insisted Wednesday in Madrid that he
refuses to do business in Cuba as long as the government prevents him
from owning the properties of his hotels, according to a report in
Diario de Mallorca this Thursday.

"Our hotels are all ours. I will go to Cuba when I can own the hotel,
hire my own people. And I can't do this today, I will not go as long as
it is not a free country," said Piñero, whose hotel establishments
extend successfully across the Caribbean. "There are many places to
invest in outside of Cuba. I'm betting on the Dominican Republic and the
benefits come quickly. And the same in Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba," he said.

It is not the first time that Piñero publically expressed his position
with respect to investing on the island, especially since the
normalization of relations with the United States and the new Foreign
Investment Law set off a furor of interest among the international
tourism industry about investing in Cuba.

In January of 2015, during the celebration of the International Tourism
Fair, held in Spain, Pablo Piñero stated his position with a blunt, "I
will return to Cuba when I can buy."

A company that doesn't see so many drawbacks to betting heavily on the
island and that is taking advantage of the situation is the Globalia
Group, owner of the Air Europa airlines, and present in Cuba for over 20
years. The company said that it expected by mid-2016 to have
authorization to operate between Miami and Havana.

"We already have the route to Miami, New York and Santo Domingo, so we
are well positioned. In Miami we have a tour operator we want to
promote, and of course we want to have flights between Miami and
Havana," said Juan Jose Hidalgo, president of Globalia.

Hidalgo also announced that Be Live, the group's hotel chain, has hired
a third hotel in Cuba and continues to fight for two major projects, one
of them on the Malecon in Havana. "There will be more and more
opportunities in Cuba. To see if they step on the accelerator because
things there move slowly, and I like to move so fast it's hard for me,
but that's the way it is," he said.

Source: The Piñero Group Will Not Invest As Long As Cuba Is "Not A Free
Country" / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-pinero-group-will-not-invest-as-long-as-cuba-is-not-a-free-country-14ymedio/