Chinese Communist Move Into Cuba with U.S. Blessing

“Be careful what you wish for lest it come true…” –old Chinese proverb

Last week, the Treasury Department granted Starwood Hotels permission to sign a multi-million-dollar deal with the Castro regime in Cuba, all the while knowing that the Anbang Insurance Group, which has very close ties to the Communist party, had bought the chain.  The company’s Chairman’s married to the granddaughter of China’s former leader and one of its directors is the son of a Communist Revolution-era top general.

Starwood Hotels is the parent company of such hotels as Sheraton, Westin and the St. Regis. And Anbang has been on a buying spree, purchasing the Waldorf Astoria in New York and Guaranty Life Insurance in Des Moines, Iowa.

Over the last 20 years, Starwood has given $12 million to lobbyists in Washington D.C. and $1.2 million to both Republicans and Democrats. In 2012, Starwood gave $14,000 directly to Obama’s re-election campaign, while only $1,500 to Mitt Romney’s.

During the 2014 campaign cycle, Starwood gave $440,000 to lobbyists and more than $71,000 to campaigns, with more than $50,000 going directly to Democrats. To adding the obvious crony capitalism — four of the six lobbyists working for Starwood Hotels previously held jobs with the federal government.

This means the Obama administration gave permission for a Communist Chinese hotel chain to do business as an American company in Communist Cuba.