Wikileaks show campaign against Hilton Hotels hit home

Recently released U.S diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks reveal the success of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and British trade union campaign against the Hilton Group’s ban on Cuban nationals staying in their hotels in 2007.

Leaked cables report on the U.S hotel chain’s response to a boycott of its hotels by the GMB and Unison trade unions. In correspondence to Hilton Hotels International, the GMB made is quite clear that:

…discriminating on legal grounds, which includes nationalities, in the provision of goods, facilities or services is unlawful under the 1976 Race Relations Act

Both the GMB and Unison made it apparent that they could not do business with “any company which pursued racist policies”.

Following intense pressure from CSC and the two unions Hilton International concluded:

that their critics’ legal argument was valid. Hilton International has instructed its staff to obey all local law, including the Race Relations Act, even if doing so violates US Cuba sanctions… Hilton has asked the US hotel industry trade association to begin a dialogue with the US government on this issue on behalf of all US hotels operating abroad

Although referring only to the hospitality industry, the hotel giants stressed that “Hilton would like to see a reform of the US Sanctions”.

A subsequent cable reports on a meeting between the Hilton, CSC and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba which reveals that the highly effective boycott of Hilton in 2007 led to concerns regarding the conflict between US sanctions on Cuba and UK law banning discrimination. Members of the Parliamentary Group vowed to “protest the US sanctions with the relevant minister”.

The cables demonstrate the effective lobbying carried out by CSC and the British trade union movement and illustrate the potential for the British government to overrule U.S law. The extraterritorial implementation of the U.S blockade represents not just an affront to Cuban sovereignty, but also that of the British government.

According to comments by the U.S Embassy in London in the same cable, “we have briefed Members of Parliament and the Trade Union Congress that the US does not impose its sanctions obligations extraterritorially on non-US persons”. However, as the experience of Barclays and Lloyds testify, British companies continue to be subjugated to American blockade legislation.

UNISON Black Members Conference Supports Miami Five and Cuba Solidarity Campaign

In January 2011, UNISON Black Members Conference unanimously passed a motion in support of the Miami Five and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC). Gilly Anglin-Jarrett – forwarding the motion on behalf of the East Midlands Regional Black Members Committee – deplored the “extreme hostility of the USA towards Cuba” and praised the courage and bravery of the Miami Five who have remained incarcerated within American prisons since 1998.

Conference – echoing a recent Amnesty International report – condemned the appeal process and the “denial of the human right of visitation rights to the families of the Miami Five”. Gilly Anglin-Jarrett declared:

Wikileaks releases cables on UK Miami 5 campaigners

US Embassy in London reports on pressure from UK campaigners

Leaked cables from the US Embassy published by The Telegraph on 4 February 2011 show that UK campaigners for the Miami Five have been successful in reaching the highest levels of the US government. A US Embassy cable from February 2010 entitled 'PM Brown's call to Secretary Clinton regarding "Cuban Five"' reports that Gordon Brown asked Hilary Clinton to grant visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez "as a result of a commitment that he had made to UK trade unionists".

Another leaked cable with the heading 'Delegation presents petition to Embassy advocating visitation rights for wives of convicted Cuban spies', details the arguments for visitation rights made by a Cuba Solidarity Campaign delegation to the US Embassy in October 2008. It reports the handing over of a petition and the following CSC vigil outside the Embassy which led the US diplomats to issue a press release in an attempt to defend their position.

Wikileaks report on Hague's Cuba visit

UK Shadow Foreign Minister interviewed by US Embassy on his return from the island

Following a visit to Cuba when he was Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague was interviewed by a senior diplomat at the US Embassy in London who was concerned about a press report in which Hague called for an end to the blockade.