Entrepreneurs troubled by U.S. travel warning
HAVANA — A U.S. State Department travel warning for Cuba following mysterious attacks that harmed nearly two dozen American diplomats has come like a bucket of cold water for the aspirations of thousands of private entrepreneurs on the island.
Amid a sudden diplomatic thaw between the Cold War foes that began in 2014, many Cubans invested heavily in privately run restaurants, homestay B&Bs and cars to operate as taxicabs in hopes of cashing in on an expected boom of American tourists.
But now entrepreneurs worry Americans will be frightened away — even though there has been no word of any tourists affected.
Nowhere are such fears more pronounced than in Old Havana, where many Cubans bought into a hot real estate market as part of a proliferation of B&Bs catering to the hordes of tourists who stroll its cobblestoned streets each day.
“We got to work opening businesses, bars, restaurants, rental homes, and many people invested everything we had, and even borrowed,” said Yunaika Estanque, 51, owner of a three-room hostel.
Estanque partnered with her parents and two children. They all sold other properties and sought additional financial backing from a friend who lives overseas, and two years ago bought a rickety colonial home steps from the Bay of Havana.
Today it has been spruced up and reborn as the Mi Tierra (My Land) hostel, whose polished vintage floors, warm pastel walls, republican-era furniture and modern air conditioning make for attractive and affordable digs at just $35 a night per person plus $5 more for breakfast.
Mi Tierra opened about two months ago and has received mostly European travelers so far, but it’s Americans that Estanque truly has in mind long-term.
“American tourists consume a lot and leave good tips,” Estanque said.
In addition to the travel warning announced Friday, the State Department also said it was reducing by about 60 percent its diplomatic staff at the U.S. Embassy in Havana and indefinitely suspending visa processing in Cuba. On Tuesday, Washington went further, expelling 15 Cuban diplomats to protest Havana’s failure to protect American envoys from the attacks, which have not been explained.
The U.S. has not accused Cuba of being behind the attacks. President Raul Castro’s government has disavowed any culpability and called the U.S. response “reckless,” “hasty” and politically motivated.