Mexico City – A U.S.-owned hotel that sparked an international outcry by expelling a Cuban delegation has won the right to stay open while Mexico City officials pursue charges it violated local ordinances.
On Monday, federal Judge Luz Maria Diaz ruled that officials in Mexico’s capital cannot shut down the upscale Sheraton Maria Isabel at least until she decides on the hotel’s request for an injunction to block charges it violated city building, liquor and other codes.
City officials descended on the hotel seeking violations in response to the Feb. 2 expulsion of the Cubans, an act that outraged many Mexicans who saw it as an attempt to force a foreign law – the U.S. embargo of Cuba – on Mexican soil.
It was not clear when the judge would rule on the hotel’s request for an injunction.
Pressure from the U.S. Treasury Department led the hotel to expel the 16 Cubans, who were attending a meeting with American energy executives to discuss possible investment opportunities in the oil industry.
The decision also prompted Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo to file complaints alleging the hotel had violated Mexico trade-protection laws.
But federal officials stopped short of calling for the closure of the hotel – next door to the U.S. Embassy and near the tourist-friendly Zona Rosa on busy Reforma boulevard in the heart of Mexico’s capital.
The judge did not rule on the federal complaint.
