Spanish PM meets Cuban President, hosts business conference during historic trip to former colony
206 views · Published 1 December 2018 · 2:42 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(23 Nov 2018) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez began his final day of a two-day trip to Cuba on Friday, a historic trip that suggests a warming of relations between Cuba and the former colonial power. Sanchez met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and hosted a meeting between Cuban and Spanish businesspeople at the recently opened Grand Packard Hotel, which is managed by Spanish company Iberostar and considered Cuba's most luxurious hotel. He also hosted business meetings in a hotel that the Trump administration recently put on a list of places banned to U.S. visitors. Last week, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump included the hotel on a list of places that U.S. citizens are banned from visiting as part of ongoing sanctions that Washington has placed on Cuba. Spain is the island's largest investor in the European Union, with some $1 billion invested in the tourism industry, renewable energy and agriculture. But the U.S. trade embargo against the island has hampered international firms from financing business ventures in Cuba. The Spanish leader later took a tour of Havana's Old City, restored in part with grants from his government and the European Union. While there, Sanchez showcased a chair once owned by Antonio Maceo, a Cuban independence hero, which was captured more than a century ago as a war trophy and returned to the island on his visit. Sanchez is the highest level Spanish official to visit Cuba in 32 years, and while relations have been rocky at times, the two countries maintain deep historical and cultural ties. Cuba celebrates its 500 year anniversary next year, much of which was spent as a colony of Spain. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1e877852c9f80a103ee17c48699fec11
