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A social media post announcing the upcoming opening of the K23 Hotel, the skyscraper owned by the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA), provoked a wave of critical and outraged comments for promoting a business owned by the top leadership of the Cuban regime, which contrasts with the depressed economic and social reality of Cuba.
"Each time there is less left for the Hotel Torre K to illuminate the nights of Vedado," announced on Facebook the company for phone recharges and shipments to Cuba. At the time of writing this note, the post has received more than 220 comments in less than 10 hours, most of which express rejection of the million-dollar investment during times of acute crisis on the Island.
The lack of investment in hospitals, schools, medications, housing, and public infrastructure was reported by many users. Others recalled the destruction of heritage and homes in the capital, or the piles of garbage accumulating in the streets. Most considered the construction of the hotel as an offense to the Cuban people.
"Each day there is less time until that hotel is illuminated with its light... and each day there are fewer hopes and fewer desires to live in a country where hunger, sadness, despair, and uncertainty envelop its inhabitants and even take away the light from their souls. It is a great sadness and a pain that grows more each day. It is very sad," said Danaidi Lorenzo.
"It is more than sad what ordinary Cubans are going through. With the inhuman miseries that Cubans live. The worst part is that we only have one life to live, and with so many needs and miseries. Because that’s how the tyrannical dictators want it. Long live the Cuban people!" Hilda Karafotia replied.
"Beautiful hospital," remarked the user identified on Facebook as 'Woody Alguacil Cubano.' "Expansion of the Ameijeiras," sarcastically replied Neysa Amparo García Quiala.
"Unfortunately, it is not a hospital nor are there housing for the people. It is a hotel and offices for foreigners. The cruel blockade does not allow us to build hospitals or housing, only hotels," pointed out the caustic Leslie Cruz.
"It is the monument for the Reordering," joked Viktor Russo. "It is a disrespect what they have towards the people. All of Cuba is hungry, blackouts are a daily occurrence, no medication... and these good-for-nothings praising the poorly done," protested Aricelys Pérez.
“To stay empty, like the others,” Habana Morales remarked. “And is that hotel so lit up at night? If so, UNE should take action, just like the Minister corresponding to this area of the economy. I’m not saying it, but it can be inferred from the Assembly that just concluded. Put your heart into it, we are continuity!” mocked Mayita De La Torre.
“It is like a rechargeable lamp standing in the heart of Vedado... that will light up Havana at the moment of the blackout...,” said Kirenia Hernández. “Likewise, many who live in the interior of the country do not know that they will have their electricity cut off more often to keep it always lit,” opined Josefa Ventura.
“With so many homes falling apart!” lamented Tamara Carrillo Azcanio. “We built the Torre K to welcome tourists who are not coming, and meanwhile, there are thousands of families in precarious conditions, sleeping in shelters, without hope of housing, and in which more than two generations have already been born. Nice achievement,” Miguel Suárez concluded.
"It is a monument to shamelessness in front of the other Havana, the one that is falling apart, the one with mountains of garbage and empty markets. The one of suffering and hopelessness," stated Joel Labrada.
"Symbol of the greatness of the ego of our big bellies. Construction of a hotel amid so much material and spiritual poverty. An entire country without food, medicine, ambulances, basic necessities, public transport, houses, buildings, and other properties in terrible condition, many at risk for life, blackouts... And a long etcetera of calamities and pedestrian life," criticized Josefa Ventura.
"Hotel built with all the money that GAESA steals from the Cuban people. That should be demolished and with that money hospitals and schools should be built, which are greatly needed, and above all supermarkets," proposed Casa Cubana. "Only a laundry can build such a perversion in the midst of so much misery," concluded Antonio Gómez Sotolongo.
The K23 hotel is owned by the Gaviota hotel group, which is part of the military business conglomerate GAESA. In October 2023, it was agreed that the management of the property would be handed over to the Spanish company Iberostar.
The building is scheduled to open in 2024, although its initial opening date was planned for April 2022. Its entry will signify the fourth hotel that the Spanish chain will operate in the Cuban capital, alongside another 19 hotels in the country's other main tourist destinations, such as Varadero, Cayo Guillermo, and Holguín.
Recently, the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) reported that Cuba received a total of 1,680,485 travelers during the first half of this year. This marks an increase of 101.1%, meaning nearly 18,845 more compared to the same period last year, the report specified.
Official data has been called into question by economist Pedro Monreal. But it is the reality itself that demonstrates the decline of the tourism sector in Cuba, with the streets of the country empty of tourists and social media filled with testimonials from foreign visitors expressing complaints about the quality of tourist services and the sadness that comes from traveling to a ruined, militarized country without freedom.
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