- Banco Sabadell will maintain its Havana office, as it only provides services to Spanish companies
- Diaz-Canel invites Cubans abroad to take over management of the hotels
14ymedio, Madrid, 5 June 2026 / With the break between the Spanish hotel companies and Gaviota now complete, experts are now considering whether legal problems will come from Havana. The possibility is plausible enough that the newspaper El Pais ran a headline this Friday reading Melia and Iberostar Face Lawsuits in Cuba for Abandoning Hotel Management, in a piece in which a lawyer sets out this angle – one that had already been raised previously.
Ignacio Aparicio, executive partner at Andersen and director of Cuban Desk, warns that Cuba has two options. “The first is the partners’ agreement. Hotels in Cuba are generally managed through joint ventures in which the Cuban state – through various entities – and the operator both participate. Faced with the unilateral withdrawal of the latter, Cuba could argue that it finds no legal or contractual basis for rescinding the contract, and will seek to resolve the dispute before third parties. A common mechanism for this is arbitration before the Cuba Chamber of Commerce, or before arbitration institutions abroad, a route Cuba rarely opts for,” he explains.
The expert believes the Cuban regime will argue that the threat of sanctions does not compel the breaking of contracts, since such sanctions have existed for decades, and he maintains that it is standard for contracts to contain a clause stating that regulatory changes in third countries do not constitute “force majeure enabling their rescission.”
“They will have to argue that they are leaving their contract for a strictly economic reason and not solely because of US sanctions”
Aparicio advises Spanish companies to focus their defence on demonstrating that, faced with “extraordinary and unforeseeable supervening circumstances,” there has been such a serious disruption to the balance of obligations under the contract as to make performance impossible. “They will have to argue that they are leaving their contract for a strictly economic reason and not solely because of US sanctions, since the absence of electricity supply, food, and air connectivity have been supervening circumstances that have left them without a business, frustrating the purpose of the partnership,” he explains.
The newspaper notes that this was precisely the approach taken by Blue Diamond, which in its statement on leaving the island cited a “combination of causes” – such as the suspension of flights – rather than “actions taken by the United States Government.” However, both Melia and Iberostar still retain a considerable number of hotels each – 19 in the case of the former and 6 in the case of the latter – which makes invoking that argument somewhat more complex in their case.
The possibility of Cuban authorities suing what have been and continue to be their partners is, in any event, debatable. In an interview given by Miguel Diaz-Canel to the Spanish online outlet elDiario.es, the president strikes an almost affectionate tone towards the companies. “They have been investing in Cuba for a long time, they have worked hand in hand with our tourism entities, they are business people for whom we have great respect, and they are leaving against their will,” he remarked.
Diaz-Canel alludes to a mutual exchange and learning process that has lasted years and trained thousands of professionals, though he now opens the door to a change of hands in favour of Cuban entrepreneurs abroad. “I am certain that many will return to Cuba to continue the business, but it will not be easy given the stubbornness with which the US Administration has sought to hold back the development of Cuban tourism, knowing that it is a source of income,” he says – making no mention of the fact that many exiles have expressed their intention to invest if there is a political, economic, and above all legal change on the island.
The institution, quite relaxed, told the Catalan press that its activities have no connection whatsoever with Cuban state entities and that there is no intention of leaving
Meanwhile, in Spain companies continue to sort out their positions. One of the most closely watched was also Banco Sabadell, given that the executive order of 1 May explicitly targeted the financial sector. The institution, quite relaxed, told the Catalan press that its activities have no connection whatsoever with Cuban state entities and that there is no intention of leaving.
“Banco Sabadell has always complied with applicable legislation and international sanctions requirements, and will continue to do so,” it stated to ON Economia. Its Havana office has the sole function of supporting Spanish companies present on the island; it carries out no retail banking activity and takes no deposits from individual customers.
The institution has operated in Cuba through Financiera Iberoamericana, a company 50% owned jointly with the state-owned Banco Internacional de Comercio, which does not appear on the sanctions list. Even so, the bank says it will remain alert, as it must, to adapting should circumstances change. The group’s financial exposure in Cuba is minimal, as its 2025 accounts show. Its business on the island contributed barely 4.2 million euros.
The new situation has made no dent in the performance of the major Spanish corporations present on the island. On Thursday, Melia Hotels International closed the trading session up, having already gained 41.51% in the last quarter alone. Moreover, although its Cuba revenues were negligible in 2025 – at 12.7 million euros – that figure represents barely 0.6% of what the Balearic giant brings in overall.
Translated by GH.
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