Havana’s “Little Hotel” For Parlementarians / 14ymedio

In 'the little hotel’ 612 deputies are accommodated during the year’s final meeting of the National Assembly. (14ymedio)
In ‘the little hotel’ 612 deputies are accommodated during the year’s final meeting of the National Assembly. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 30 December 2015 — Constructed at the beginning of this century and known as the Tulip Hotel, it was intended initially to house patients coming to Cuba under “Operation Miracle,” to undergo medical treatments and surgery. As the number of people coming to the island for these services declined, the place was left empty.

Now, the property has had to open its hundreds of rooms to the tourist market – with little success, given the ugliness of its architecture and its distance from the historic district – and so it has been converted into place that houses athletes, delegates to numerous congresses, and deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power during their meetings at the Place of Conventions in Havana.

This week “the little hotel,” as it is known in the Nuevo Vedado neighborhood where it is nestled, was closed to public access, and not even pedestrians were allowed to pass along the street in front of the facade. Meanwhile, its interior welcomes the 612 deputies participating in the National Assembly’s last session of the year.