MIAMI, United States. – The regime in Havana assured the public that in the coming months it will open a hotel for the LGCTI+ community in Havana, an announcement made by the Gaviota Hotel Group, which belongs to the GAESA military consortium.
The National Center for Sex education (CENESEX, by its Spanish acronym) praised the announcement on its social network on June 28th, Global LBGBT+ Pride Day.
Several Cuban activists have not remained indifferent to the announcement. They criticized the institution led by Mariela Castro, Raúl Castro’s daughter, and considered the announcement an enormous disrespect. “What should be announced today is that the new Family Code will not be submitted to a referendum, and that transgender individuals will finally have a Gender Identification Law,” wrote activist Raúl Soublett on his Facebook social media. Soublett is founder of the Afro Cuban Alliance.
“Once more, we see what the real priorities are. Money, money and more money. Let’s have fewer hotels and more rights!!!,” stated Soublett on Facebook, adding: “Hotels for every person!!!! [We need] laws that guarantee protection from discrimination and violence, for everyone.”
For her part, transgender activist Kiriam Gutiérrez questioned CENESEX’s promotion of a hotel just when [we celebrate] “the struggle for our rights, on the day when the world demands laws, equality, equity and respect.”
“How many LGBTIQA+ Cubans will be able to pay for a one-night stay at that hotel?
This is a hotel to enhance everything that attracts tourists and which in Cuba is penalized with prison sentences. This is precisely why the majority of Cuban LGBTIQA+ doesn’t trust you, why that same majority says that you do not represent them,” he added.
Gutiérrez also stated that “it’s due to things like this one that the LGBTIQA+ community has to organize itself through independent activism, because we don’t want hotels, or discos, or restaurants or bars. We want [civil] rights, we want same-sex marriage, we want assisted reproduction for same-sex couples, we want protection for trans children and youth, we want laws that penalize homophobia and transphobia. We want a Gender Identification Law, a Trans Law.”
According to the information shared by Gaviota, the first hotel for the LGBTI+ community in Havana will be the Telégrafo Hotel, which will be managed by the Spanish chain Axel Hotels. Although its inauguration has no set date as of this writing, its opening will depend on the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the renewal of regular flights, and the results of tourism reopening in the island.
In the face of so many questions on social media, among them, for example, if the hotel would be affordable to Cuban nationals, CENESEX assured the public that “the hotel meets the same standards and prices as others in its category, with an added value to its guests: a specialized service where we celebrate inclusion. Cuba is reorganizing its economy for the benefit of all Cuban men and women.”
“It will be an inclusive hotel, not only for LGBTIQ+ individuals but also for anyone who wishes to share common space with diverse people, from anywhere. The tourist industry is part of Cuban society and its policies of inclusion are the result of rights that are guaranteed and endorsed by Article 42 of our Constitution, which bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” CENESEX stated.
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