The News: The Sheraton in Mexico City refused to give berth to a Cuban delegation. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Sheraton in Mexico City was a subsidiary of a US-owned hotel group and therefore subject to US laws and regulations. Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez insisted that US law could not be applied in a third country.
The Note: If all U.S. citizens anywhere are always subject to U.S. laws and requirements they are effectively U.S. agents/agencies abroad. If a U.S. law prohibits contact with a Cuban in Paris, it can also require a U.S. citizen to report the attempted contact. Most Americans are probably blissfully unaware of whatever reporting duties they may be suspected of being engaged in by resentful natives.
The second interesting thing about the report is that the US was aware of the meeting and Treasury was alerted. Now unless the business men cleared this beforehand with the Treasury Department that would mean the US is spying pretty intensively.
©Barfo, 2006
