Hilton slammed in Oslo for Cuba embargo

MrBrian
MrBrian Posts: 2,672
edited January 2007 in A Moving Train
By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 5, 7:59 AM ET

OSLO, Norway - An Oslo hotel owned by the U.S.-based Hilton Hotel Corp. faced protests, a boycott and a police complaint this week after refusing to book rooms for a Cuban delegation because of the United States' trade embargo against Cuba.

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, the 140-hotel Scandic company was bought by Hilton in March, and the Cubans were informed in December that they would have to find another hotel due to the American boycott.

On Friday, the 300,000-member Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees announced that it was boycotting all Scandic hotels in Norway, joining a wave of protests that started when the ban on Cuban guest became news on Thursday.

"We are already looking for other hotels for planned conferences," said the union's deputy leader Anne Grethe Skaardal. "For us, it is unacceptable for the U.S. to dictate to the whole world. In addition, we strongly oppose the U.S. boycott of Cuba."

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 Hilton and Scandic, said Hilton is an American company and is bound by the Cuba embargo.

"We have to follow American law," she said by telephone from Stockholm, Sweden. "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 companies operating in Norway have to obey Norwegian law, regardless of their home base. It said other agencies would have to determine what laws apply in this case.

In a news release, Norway's most powerful labor union, the 830,000 member Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, demanded that "the government take steps so that companies like Scandic, which clearly abide by the United States' illegal boycott and blockade and not Norwegian law, are barred from doing business in Norway

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_bi_ge/norway_hilton_1
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Comments

  • mammasan
    mammasan Posts: 5,656
    I applaud Norway. The Cuban Embrgo is the most ridiculous action I have ever seen.
    "When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." - Ron Paul
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    Excellent.
    all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    mammasan wrote:
    I applaud Norway. The Cuban Embrgo is the most ridiculous action I have ever seen.


    ever hear of a lil event called the cuban missile crisis. o yea, thats when cuban allowed russia to use its land to point nukes at the US.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    jlew24asu wrote:
    ever hear of a lil event called the cuban missile crisis. o yea, thats when cuban allowed russia to use its land to point nukes at the US.

    Ever hear of 2007?
    all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • trappedinmyradio
    trappedinmyradio Posts: 1,189
    gue_barium wrote:
    Ever hear of 2007?

    but, we're supposed to learn from the past...and remember the past...to shape the things we do today in 2007...oh, how handily the double standard is used
    I'll dig a tunnel
    from my window to yours
  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    jlew24asu wrote:
    ever hear of a lil event called the cuban missile crisis. o yea, thats when cuban allowed russia to use its land to point nukes at the US.

    Unless 'lil Kim or the nutjob from Iran sets up shop in Cuba why are we still afraid of them?
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    mammasan wrote:
    I applaud Norway. The Cuban Embrgo is the most ridiculous action I have ever seen.

    As do I. The US acted like a brat who didn't get his way.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    cutback wrote:
    Unless 'lil Kim or the nutjob from Iran sets up shop in Cuba why are we still afraid of them?


    no but as long as castro is alive things wont change. jury is still out on his brother who appears to be the next dictator
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    gue_barium wrote:
    Ever hear of 2007?


    I'm dying to know your point. well not really
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    "We are already looking for other hotels for planned conferences," said the union's deputy leader Anne Grethe Skaardal. "For us, it is unacceptable for the U.S. to dictate to the whole world. In addition, we strongly oppose the U.S. boycott of Cuba."

    Pretty strong words, we better invade them.
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    As do I. The US acted like a brat who didn't get his way.


    of course you people do. still not sure why so many of you live in america when you cheer for the other guy, everytime.
  • flywallyfly
    flywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    I thought this was about Paris getting banged. Go Norway !!
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    jlew24asu wrote:
    no but as long as castro is alive things wont change. jury is still out on his brother who appears to be the next dictator

    Change for Cuba will come in the form of a mc donalds on every corner and americans getting rich off of the cuban people. If people think that Fidel exploits the cubans, wait until american corporations take over.
  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    jlew24asu wrote:
    of course you people do. still not sure why so many of you live in america when you cheer for the other guy, everytime.

    I'm not cheering for anything. I don't like the US policy toward Cuba in 2007. 20, 30, 40 years ago I understand it. But now? Come on.
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    MrBrian wrote:
    Change for Cuba will come in the form of a mc donalds on every corner and americans getting rich off of the cuban people. If people think that Fidel exploits the cubans, wait until american corporations take over.


    mc donalds huh? typical. how about the hundreds of luxury resorts and million dollar condos. and thousands of americans vacationing there.

    american money would give your average cuba wealth they never could imagine
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    jlew24asu wrote:
    of course you people do. still not sure why so many of you live in america when you cheer for the other guy, everytime.

    They want to change it for the better,why should they leave? also the reason for supporting "the other guy" is because the "other guy" if often in the right.

    So we should not be so blind by the red,white and blue, stand up for what is right .
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    jlew24asu wrote:
    mc donalds huh? typical. how about the hundreds of luxury resorts and million dollar condos. and thousands of americans vacationing there.

    american money would give your average cuba wealth they never could imagine

    Like the avg american? american needs to worry about it's own people, leave cuba alone. let them sort themselves out.
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    on post 17, I'd like to make a correction. "the other guy" may not often be in the right like I said in that post but it's important to find the middle ground.
  • jlew24asu
    jlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    MrBrian wrote:
    Like the avg american? american needs to worry about it's own people, leave cuba alone. let them sort themselves out.

    ok let them sort it out and live under a new dictator that makes the cuban people suffer in poverty. why do you think they back 50 people in a 10 man boat to get here?

    not really sure what point you are trying to make. I am saying if they lived in a democracy and didnt still consider america the enemy, cubans would be alot better off. but you think just a mcdonalds would pop up and no real progress would be made. and the american corporate machine would squash them.

    I'll take off the red white and blue sunglasses when you take off your blindfold k?
  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    jlew24asu wrote:
    ok let them sort it out and live under a new dictator that makes the cuban people suffer in poverty. why do you think they back 50 people in a 10 man boat to get here?

    not really sure what point you are trying to make. I am saying if they lived in a democracy and didnt still consider america the enemy, cubans would be alot better off. but you think just a mcdonalds would pop up and no real progress would be made. and the american corporate machine would squash them.

    I'll take off the red white and blue sunglasses when you take off your blindfold k?

    I'm not saying that life in Cuba is great, far from it. But again, these problems are the problems for the cubans, not america. America should worry about themselves, stop screwing around with everyone one else.

    get it?

    I love how america quickly get's all righteous when it fits them. dictator this, evil whatever that.

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