Melia says it will end all Cuba operations this week

Spanish hotel chain Melia said Tuesday that it would cease all operations in Cuba at the end of the week. The company said the decision was due to major difficulties doing business on the island and rising pressure from the United States.

In a statement submitted to the Spanish stock market regulator, Melia said the latest US sanctions made it impossible, in practice and in law, to maintain even minimal operational stability for its activities in Cuba. The company said it would try to ensure a smooth transition and reduce the effect on staff, suppliers and clients as much as possible.

Melia had already announced at the beginning of June that it would stop operating 15 of its 34 hotels in Cuba. That move followed other foreign companies cutting ties with Cuba's military conglomerate GAESA under pressure from Washington. At that time, Melia did not address the 19 other hotels it operated in Cuba in partnership with the Tourism Ministry.

The source described Melia as one of the largest foreign hotel operators in Cuba, with about 14,000 rooms. It said the company was the first Spanish hotel group to establish a presence in Cuba after the country opened its tourism sector to foreign companies in the 1990s, a step aimed at easing the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The move follows an order in May by US President Donald Trump for new sanctions against Cuba. The sanctions targeted a broad set of people in the communist-run country and threatened foreign banks and companies that work with them. The source also said that, in addition to the US embargo in place since 1962, Washington has since January blocked oil shipments to the island except for one Russian ship.