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Anyone can stay at hotels as of midnight last night, as long as they have ID and the money to pay for the room

I dont believe it 100%..

Can Marta Beatriz Roque stay in any hotel if she desires

Can Antunez stay for a week in a nice hotel if he wants?

Could any dissident rent a room for the weekend ?

Iam sure they will get invitations from foreign diplomats and the likes

I would love to see that

Jineteras and pingueros then will be all over the place since they will get the invite from foreigners..

thanks to Raul their presence will be felt inmediaely without fear of persecution

All that the white South African rulers had to do instead of freeing Nelson Mandela and repelling apartheid was to allow blacks to stay in the same hotels as whites, and all that Pinochet had to do, instead of making Chile into the richest country in South America and having a genuine democratic transition, was to give the Chileans a few token trifles here and there. The mainstream media would have been, ecstatic, elated, floating on air, screaming FREEDOM, FREEDOM!

Oh, wait, I FORGOT! South Africa and Chile were "right-winged" pro-American and therefore the closes thing to evil incarnate this side of hell, and the Cuban regime is a "left-winged" anti-American regime and therefore, humanistic, progressive and wonderful in every way.

Although I agree with the sentiments of the two previous responses, I'm a little surprised by them. Those of us who oppose the regime made a big deal about the apartheid-like behavior of the Cuban regime when it came to allowing its own citizens to have access to hotels, restaurants, bars and beaches. The new (if you want to call it that) regime has simply done the smart thing by parrying one of our attacks. Now they can argue that the hotels are open but that--as in much of the capitalist world--not everyone can afford to stay there. Folks, these guys are evil but not stupid.

If only, for the regime's sake, it were that simple, miramira. Apartheid is still alive and well in Cuba. By using the logic you mentioned, the regime can decide tomorrow to allow free elections and anyone can run for any post they desire; the only restriction being that the candidates cannot change any law, or weild any political power. Do you think a move like that would address the lack of free elections issue? I don't think so.

In essence, the removal of restrictions over items the average Cuban has no hopes of owning, in a currency they have no official access to, amounts to the same thing.

Miramira,

The only reason that the regime has been able to "parry one of our attacks" is because the mainstream media chills for the Castro dynasty. There is no way in Heaven and Hell that the MSM would have allowed one of its boogymen, Pinochet, Stroessner, The Shah of Iran, apartheid South Africa, Marcos of the Philippines or Somoza to get away with such a lame excuse for "reforms," as they've done with Raul.

In any case, the regime will of course say as you wisely note that "hotels are open but that--as in much of the capitalist world--not everyone can afford to stay there," the difference is that the number of Cubans who can stay in hotels in Cuba is so infinitesimally small that there is no comparison with the capitalist world. The ratio of Cuban per capita income to hotel price is just totally out of any normal proportion. This is not true in most capitalist countries, albeit the perpetual underclass in the poorest of countries. But even there, there is undoubtedly a larger middle /upper class that can afford hotels than there is in Cuba.

Telling Cubans that they can stay in hotels can be likened to President Bush telling the average working class American that they can now buy Lamberghini's in Federally owned dealerships. How many working class Americans can do that?

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