VZCZCXRO3376
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #0765/01 0412159
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 102159Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8873
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0031
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 000765 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL MX CU
SUBJECT: MEXICANS REACT NEGATIVELY TO EXPULSION OF CUBAN 
DELEGATION FROM SHERATON HOTEL 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  On February 3 the Sheraton Maria Isabel 
Hotel in Mexico City (next door to the U.S. Embassy) expelled 
a 16-member Cuban delegation that was participating in an 
energy conference with the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association.  The 
expulsion came after OFAC advised the Sheraton's parent 
corporation in the U.S. that hosting the Cubans would violate 
the Cuban Assets Control Regulations administered by OFAC. 
The expulsion of the Cubans quickly hit the press and has not 
dropped off the front pages since.  The reaction of the 
Mexican media, politicians, and public has been harshly and 
almost universally negative.  GOM ministers have tried to 
outdo each other in condemning the incident and promising 
retribution (apparently in the form of prosecution for 
violation of Mexico's anti-discrimination and consumer 
protection laws).  City inspectors descended on the hotel, 
came away with a list of code violations (e.g. inadequate 
safety precautions at the pool) and promised to close the 
hotel.  Foreign Secretary Derbez managed to damage himself 
over the issue by first suggesting it was a matter between 
private parties.  He has been crucified by the press for his 
"weak" response to the extraterritorial application of U.S. 
law.  End Summary. 
 
Meddling and Interference 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Since the incident broke in the press, the words 
"intromision" and "injerencia" (meddling, intrusion, 
interference) have been much in vogue.  Virtually everyone 
has described this as an application of the Helms-Burton law 
(which it is not), and we have not heard from anyone who 
likes it.  Derbez, who was traveling in Europe when the story 
broke, seriously misjudged the tenor of public opinion, first 
saying it was a matter between private parties.  Realizing 
his mistake, he tacked back to saying the Sheraton should 
face prosecution under Mexico's anti-discrimination and 
consumer protection laws.  But by then other GOM officials, 
such as Secretary of Government Abascal, had gotten in ahead 
of him, promising the full weight of the law would descend on 
the Sheraton. 
 
¶3. (U) The Party of the Democratic Revolution 
(PRD)-controlled city government (actually the "delegacion" 
or borough in which the hotel is located) decided direct 
action was needed and sent in a team of health and building 
code inspectors.  Predictably, they found some violations of 
health, safety, and zoning laws and threatened the hotel with 
closure.  By week's end it appeared they had overplayed their 
hand as both Derbez and Tourism Secretary Elizondo publicly 
regretted the threats to close the hotel and some 
commentators were asking about the fate of the 700 employees 
of the Sheraton.  Some locals have also asked why city 
inspectors are so active when it comes to avenging Cubans and 
so lax regarding all the other obvious violations of city 
ordinances on view in Mexico City.  The Sheraton has sought a 
federal court injunction, and a senior city official said the 
city would of course abide by any judicial ruling. The court 
is expected to rule on the injunction request by February 20. 
 
Anger and Bafflement 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Needless to say, the Institutional Revolutionary 
Party (PRI) as well as the PRD, were quick to condemn the 
Sheraton and the U.S.  PRI presidential candidate Roberto 
Madrazo suggested the U.S. ability to enforce its laws in 
Mexico revealed the weakness of Fox's foreign policy.  PRD 
candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the expulsion 
"shameful."  Fox's National Action Party (PAN), which is not 
traditionally pro-Cuban, has also been critical.  Privately, 
some PAN politicians have expressed to us their bewilderment 
and have suggested that the U.S. fell into a Cuban trap 
designed to embarrass the U.S., Fox, and the PAN's 
presidential candidate, Felipe Calderon. 
 
¶5. (U) Calderon for his part took a clever line, telling a 
tourism conference in Cancun that the PRD's misuse of the 
city ordinances to punish the Sheraton was typical of the 
sort of authoritarian PRD government Mexico could expect if 
Lopez Obrador won the presidency ("authoritarian" is a label 
Lopez Obrador's critics have hung on him in the past). 
Madrazo has also come out against the idea of closing the 
hotel, asking why the PRD city government is so efficient in 
finding code violations and so inept in fighting crime.  By 
February 9, the scene had shifted to congress, which passed a 
resolution calling on the GOM to send a diplomatic note to 
the USG protesting the extra-territorial application of U.S. 
law.  Derbez insisted that was not going to happen. 
 
 
MEXICO 00000765  002 OF 002 
 
 
The Other Side of the Story 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) We have explained to our contacts that what happened 
here was not interference in Mexico's internal affairs but 
rather the U.S. exercising its legitimate authority to 
regulate the operations of a U.S. corporation.  Moreover, we 
have suggested that similar outrage at the Cuban regime's 
treatment of its own people would be refreshing.  We have 
pointed to other laws, such as those designed to combat sex 
tourism, that subject U.S. citizens to prosecution in the 
U.S. for crimes committed abroad.  Frankly, most of our 
interlocutors seem unpersuaded -- unable to get beyond what 
they see as the U.S. reaching into Mexico to carry out a 
policy that has never been popular here -- but in any case 
this story may die down if and when it is determined that 
closing one of Mexico City's best known and most prestigious 
hotels (and throwing 700 Mexicans out of work) is probably 
not a productive step. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity 
 
KELLY