The descendants of a Cuban family asks Meliá for compensation of at least 10 million euros

HAVANA, June 12th The descendants of entrepreneur Rafael Lucas Sánchez Hill ask the hotel chain Meliá Hotels International compensation of at least 10 million euros for exploiting two hotels,

Paradisus Río de Oro and Sol Río and Luna Mares, on land that was expropriated after the triumph of the Revolution.

This was stated on Monday by the newspaper El Confidencial, which detailed that the relatives of Sanchez Hill filed a lawsuit against the company on June 3 in a court Palma de Mallorca (Spain) after the reactivation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act .

In the documentation to which the aforementioned media had access, it is clear that the plaintiffs were owners of the sugar mill Central Santa Lucía, a hacienda in Holguin that had an area of ​​485.6 square kilometers.

The management of the hotels corresponds to Meliá, but they belong to the Cuban company Grupo Gaviota. However, with the entry into force of the Helms-Burton Act it is allowed to claim compensation for the companies that exploited the confiscated property after the arrival to power of the dictator Fidel Castro.

The mentioned media revealed that the descendants of Rafael Lucas Sánchez Hill ask for an “amount equivalent to the benefits they have obtained from these hotels during the last five years”. The figure is not yet fixed since the analysis of an expert is missing.

“The illicit nature of this confiscation is known to Meliá, who for the past 20 years has ignored the claims of those companies and families at the expense of those who profit,” the brief said.

In any case, those affected are clear that the compensation has to oscillate close to 10 million and in no case less than 600,000 euros.

Both sides already started negotiations to reach an agreement between 1999 and 2004, but nothing was ever achieved.