Amos Flower Shop News
Havana florist and doll shops are among businesses prohibited for American shoppers - Miami Herald
Wednesday, March 14, 2018GAESA and the hotels and restaurants became part of the Gaviota Tourism Group, which belongs to the military. Habaguanex, GAESA and Gaviota are all on the restricted list.Orlando Ramos Blanco, the president of the San Cristobal Tourism Agency, said the stores shouldn’t be on the list. They remained with the Office of the Historian, which is directed by historian and preservationist Eusebio Leal, he said. San Cristobal is the Historian Office’s tourism agency that emphasizes sustainable historical, cultural and heritage tourism in Havana and nine other Cuban cities.“We were on the list in the old configuration but now the Habaguanex brand no longer exists. It’s now part of Gaviota and the little stores belong to the Office of the Historian. We have kept them,’’ Ramos said. “This is a lack of knowledge.”What’s more, San Cristobal was never on the list. “I will say that with capital letters,” said Ramos. “We have communicated this to our clients.” In response to a query from the Miami Herald, a State Department spokesperson said: “The Department intends to update the Cuba Restricted List periodically and will consider relevant information, as applicable, on a case-by-case basis.” No changes have been made in the restricted list since it was published last November.A Gaviota flag flies outside the Hotel Ambos Mundos where Ernest Hemingway used to write. Mimi Whitefield mwhitefield@MiamiHerald.com Among the nearly two dozen Habaguanex hotels that were transferred to Gaviota are the pink-hued Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Ernest Hemingway used to stay in the 1930s and where it is said that he began writing For Whom the Bell Tolls; the Palacio del Marque´s de San Felipe y Santiago de Bejucal and the Hotel Conde de Villanueva, a favorite of artists and intellectuals.These clearly fall under the Gaviota umbrella. A Gaviota flag flies outside the Ambos Mundos, and the staff at both of the latter hotels say they really haven’t seen any American groups since November when their hotels were added to the restricted list.“French, Russian, Canadian, Swedish visitors, yes,” said the front desk clerk at the Palacio, “but we haven’t seen the Americans since the list came out.”