The Cuban government's commitment to developing luxury hotels stands in stark contrast to the fate of the Iberostar Selection La Habana, the skyscraper on 23rd Avenue in the capital's Vedado which ended up closing, while the country is grappling with an electrical system unable to provide reliable service.
Such a contradiction was highlighted this Saturday by the user Yau ASalcedo, who through her Facebook profile described what is popularly known as the K-23 Tower as "a monument to failure," an installation that required an estimated over 200 million dollars.
Before its closure, the establishment wholly financed by Almest, the real estate subsidiary of the military conglomerate GAESA, had an occupancy rate of only 20%, according to the same publication.
The property incurs expenses for security, maintenance, electricity, climate control, elevators, and fire safety systems, even when it is not providing services, he added.
The situation at K-23 has sparked criticism regarding the fate of investments made by the government in the tourism sector, especially given the existence of other hotel facilities with low activity or out of operation.
Another post shared this Sunday by the user Santiago Díaz on Facebook questioned why those resources were not allocated to expand national electricity generation.
In this regard, he stated that tourist facilities such as those in Cayo Coco and Guardalavaca are facing operational issues and contrasted those investments with the need to build new thermoelectric plants.
The case of the K-23, however, encapsulates the central question raised by the authors of the publications: hundreds of millions of dollars invested in a facility that ultimately ended up closed, while other infrastructure needs remain unsolved.
Analysts have estimated that the funds invested in the Torre K could have been used to build a thermal power plant of about 300 MW, similar to the Antonio Guiteras in Matanzas, which costs between 210 and 450 million dollars, or to stabilize the National Electric System (SEN), for which around 250 million dollars would be sufficient.
Cubans on social media quickly pointed out the contradiction. "It's like buying pots without buying the stove to cook," wrote a user on Facebook.
Another person stated: "I believe it was a bad decision, like so many others... if that money had been invested in the SEN, Public Health, Education, food, medicines, the country would have improved significantly, but their well-being comes first, and let the people suffer."
The irony extends even to the very closed building. A witness who passed by the property described that "the hotel’s generator sounded like a dragon sucking fuel."
The investment pattern is not an isolated accident. Between 2021 and 2023, the Cuban government allocated 36% of all state investment to hotel construction, while Health received only 1.9% and Education 1.3%. In 2024, tourism accounted for nearly 37.4% of national investment.
The result is a complete failure. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz acknowledged before the National Assembly, at the end of July, that 73% of the country's hotel facilities remained closed and that about 25,000 workers in the sector were in a state of availability.
The tourism collapse is widespread. Cuba received only 387,591 international visitors in the first half of this year, 60.7% less than in the same period of 2025.
In May, hotel occupancy plummeted to 12.9%. Chains like Blue Diamond Resorts closed 62 hotels, and Meliá announced in July the closure of its 34 establishments on the island, marking the end of 36 years of operations.
So far this year, the SEN has recorded several partial and total outages, with generation deficits exceeding 2,200 MW, and numerous areas remain in the dark for 20 continuous hours or more.
Weeks ago, the United States Department of State used the Torre K as a symbol of the chasm between the regime and the people, and regarding the building, it stated that it is "a permanent reminder for the Cuban people that the illegitimate regime only cares about enriching itself, not about improving their living conditions."
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