Meliá joins the list of international companies leaving Cuba

The Spanish hotel group Meliá announced on Tuesday that it will cease operations in Cuba as of July 24, following the lead of other companies that have made the same decision to avoid U.S. sanctions for having ties to a country ruled by a communist dictatorship.

In a statement sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Spain's securities regulator, and reported by AFP, Meliá stated that the "significant difficulties" in the country "make even minimal operational stability impossible in fact and in law."

In early June, the Spanish hotel chain, a leader in the sector in Latin America, decided to "immediately terminate the provision of management and marketing services, as well as the licensing of our hotel brands" at 15 hotels in Cuba.

Now, it is applying that same decision to the other 19 hotels it operated in the country, following the new sanctions against Cuba announced by President Donald Trump.

Meliá, which will now assess the economic impact of this decision, was the first Spanish hotel chain to enter Cuba, after the island opened up to international tourism to emerge from the crisis caused by the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1991.

Other international companies that followed suit included Iberostar, Blue Diamond Resorts and Aston.