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Posted

The Villa would certainly be worth fighting for in a law abiding country, but so many mistakes done by the guy, marriage without a written contract being the first, buying the Villa (only possible in her name) the second, being a declared communist is a bonus ... and now the Cubans are fighting dirty and kicking him out after cleaning his pockets and giving him a big hair-cut.

Marriage is like a hand grenade - pull the ring and lose the house.

Specially in Cuba and no matter how "communist, Fidelista and Che fan" you are ( which you can well afford to be owning a "boutique hotel" and making $550 a day in Cuba ), not even a hunger strike will help you.

Especially not when a a "very powerful person in the country is behind it", it being the Villa you thought you "owned" and the ex you married.

I read the 14yMedio article this morning - his last day on the island - and decided to do a Google search - Oh the Drama, the drama, what a Telenovela .... 🙂

Well deserved you jerk.

No mercy.

La Colonial 1861

La Colonial is a villa that was built in 1861 by a revolutionary fighter from Camaguey who fought against the Spanish in the war of independence. The house maintains its charming original structure and mosaic floors.

La-Colonial-1861-2-1024x684.jpg

The roof is covered with French tiles and the rooms have high ceilings with exposed wooden beams. A beautiful wrought-iron trellis surrounds the well in the patio. The decoration includes furniture from different ages and styles as well as works of Cuban art.

According to local legend the house it was built on sea rock (“diente de perro”) and hence the walls transpire sea salt, so some people say that the name of the house should have been the House of Salt.

Villa Service

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The best of both worlds: all the amenities of a boutique hotel and the charm of a private casa particular. La Colonial is run by Armando, a Spaniard with many years of experience in hospitality and in Cuba.

The online reviews say all there is to say: out of the 465 people that reviewed the house on TripAdvisor, every single person left them 5 stars. In fact, one of the Airbnb co-founders has chosen to stay there too…

Villa Location

Definitely one of the highlights of this villa: it is located in the central neighbourhood of El Vedado, which means you are a 5 walk away from many restaurants, bars and nightlife venues.

Villa Price

You can get a room from 55$ a night. To get the whole house you’ll have to negotiate with Armando (subject to availability).

https://lacolonial1861.com/en/press/

----------------

A Spanish citizen, about to be deported from Cuba and lose his home in Havana

Armando Unsain, a declared communist, denounces the injustice carried out against him

14ymedio, Havana | April 28, 2021

https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/Armando_Unsain_0_3084291546.html

There are less than 24 hours until the deadline that the Cuban authorities have given Armando Unsain, a 42-year-old Spaniard and a resident of Havana, a firm supporter of the regime, to leave the island voluntarily. Otherwise, he will be deported and will lose the house he bought in Cuba with the savings that his parents donated him.

In his opinion, it is an injustice against which he declared a hunger strike on Monday but has abandoned this Wednesday because, he says in a publication on networks, he does not want to be linked "with reactionary elements that have carried out the same type of protest ", in clear reference to the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, who is on his fourth day of a hunger and thirst strike to stop the harassment to which State Security has subjected him.

That of Unsain is a very different case, behind which lies the influence, says the Nuevo Herald, of a "very powerful person in the country."

 Armando Unsain married the Cuban Thaymara García Bueno and went to live on the island, where he obtained residency in 2008. Declared a Marxist and a fidelist, his dream was to have a house to rent in Havana, so he invested money that his parents gave him and he bought a home in Vedado in 2012.

The building, known as La Colonial 1861, was decorated with photographs of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara and offered bed and breakfast. In addition, it included as optional packages airport transfers and guided tours of the capital. In 2017, Unsain and García (whom he divorced in 2014) faced each other in court, over her claim for half of her assets. The lawsuit was resolved favorably for Unsain in the municipal and provincial courts, but in 2018 the Supreme Court agreed with his ex-wife and granted her half of the house.

According to his own account, Unsain wanted to buy half of it by paying 59,000 CUC, but García considered that it was very little and that the house was going to be revalued in a possible new thaw with the United States as a result of Biden's electoral victory. García estimated that the current price could reach 350,000 CUC.

According to the Nuevo Herald, Unsain's father went to Cuba to meet with Roberto Mayor Gutiérrez, a lawyer close to the case who recommended that he reach an agreement of around $ 120,000 because García "maintains a relationship with a very influential  and powerful person in the country ". The lawyer, in conversation with the Miami newspaper, denied being related to the case or having represented any of the parties, although he did say he had knowledge of the litigation.

Its current lawyer, Inalvis Valdés Galano, as well as the parties, Thaymara García and Armando Unsain, refused for various reasons to give their version to the Herald.

Later, García accused Unsain of "corruption of minors, drug trafficking, alteration of public order, domestic violence and violent behavior towards neighbors", a complaint that has not reached the courts but has been taken into consideration by the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Immigration to determine that his conduct "faces the norms of social coexistence" and declares the revocation of his residence.

In addition, in 2019, he was withdrawn the rental permit to foreigners at the request of his ex-wife, as a co-owner of the house. According to the Nuevo Herald, a five-room house like the one in Unsain is valued at approximately 528,000 Cuban pesos, about $ 22,000, so if it were sold with the owner's departure, García would have to pay just half of that amount to Unsain. and 833 dollars of taxes to the Cuban Government.

The 30-day period that Unsain was given to leave the island expires this Thursday, but the Spaniard does not seem to be willing to leave voluntarily. He abandoned his hunger strike, but has written letters, among other instances, to the Council of State, President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Comptroller General of the Republic. He insists that he will defend his innocence before a Cuban court if necessary.

"It only remains to say that my fight will continue, always of HOMELAND OR DEATH", he declares in his Facebook post (the capital letters are his). "The fight begins now, in the future more important battles will be to come and like for HIM I will also end up ABSOLVED by history".

Posted

Man, that ex-wife of his sure is No Bueno...

What a read for anyone who’s considered investing in a property to live there...

  • Haha 1
Posted
3 minutes ago, La_Tigre said:

Man, that ex-wife of his sure is No Bueno...

What a read for anyone who’s considered investing in a property to live there...

Nope, she is not muy buena for sure ... 🙂 but smart and clever in a very Cuban feminine way, let me put it like that....

While the guy goes on FB as a "Revolutionary Blogger" https://www.facebook.com/groups/212947222074844/user/100009846643559

and on YT like a crybaby asking for "solidarity from his fellow revolutionaries" - makes him a double jerk in my book.

PS : As I only watched the first and last 3 seconds of the video I cannot translate or comment ...

 

 

Posted

Foreign residents can buy property in Cuba but of course it's always a risk, especially when there is marriage to Cuban involved.

Divorce is easy in Cuba and common. I have many Cuban friends now, many I've known for over 10 years. Only one, of the 20 or 30 or so I can think of off the top of my head is in the same relationship now as when I met her, and she's an older lady (early 60s). 

There is a standard playbook when a marriage between a Cuban and foreign resident goes wrong, especially if the foreigner is a man. "He's violent, deals in drugs, cannot be trusted with children etc., deport him". He gets deported, loses his residence permit, along with his right to own property in Cuba or any other rights. And that's that. There is a legal system, I've met dozens of lawyers in Cuba, but hardly an independent judiciary.

Interesting about this case is withdrawing the rental permit from the property during the dispute in order to lower its value. In this case she has taken a leaf out of the divorce playbook of the rest of the world. How capitalist of her! 

Posted
39 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Foreign residents can buy property in Cuba but of course it's always a risk, especially when there is marriage to Cuban involved.

Divorce is easy in Cuba and common. I have many Cuban friends now, many I've known for over 10 years. Only one, of the 20 or 30 or so I can think of off the top of my head is in the same relationship now as when I met her, and she's an older lady (early 60s). 

There is a standard playbook when a marriage between a Cuban and foreign resident goes wrong, especially if the foreigner is a man. "He's violent, deals in drugs, cannot be trusted with children etc., deport him". He gets deported, loses his residence permit, along with his right to own property in Cuba or any other rights. And that's that. There is a legal system, I've met dozens of lawyers in Cuba, but hardly an independent judiciary.

Interesting about this case is withdrawing the rental permit from the property during the dispute in order to lower its value. In this case she has taken a leaf out of the divorce playbook of the rest of the world. How capitalist of her! 

They can but need to be residents and to be residents they need to be married to be a Cuban ( mostly that is the fast track way ).

Yes, I also hardly know any Cuban who isn't twice divorced and father/mother to 3 children from different "origins".

After reading all the tearful and well documented "playbook" the Cubans threw at this guy's head I must admit it looks more like a Turkish prison deal after being planted drugs ... he is even accused of "prostituting" his 6 yr old niece, death threats, etc...

The lawyers he dealt with in Cuba were mostly interested in a piece of the pie according to him...

Very capitalist of her - indeed.

And how incredibly stupid of this "Socialismo o  Muerte - Hasta la victoria siempre" dumbwit moron boutique communist trashcan who is listed in his Linked-In profile as "Art director of the 2006 and 2007 Festival del Habano", sales manager of Tommy Hilfiger and Pepe Jeans in Madrid, owner and manager of an American classic cars rental company in Havana, and "promotor of the Cuban Hotel sector internationally" ...

Have fun reading the comments in his Twitter complaints ...  the most benevolent comment from Spain is that Cuba should keep him there living a Cuban life with a ration book like every Cuban.

https://twitter.com/armandounsain/status/1381825867698089987

Posted

.......why oh why do people get married :cofcig:

Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house.

Rod Stewart

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Posted

one of my best mates rang me seven or eight years ago for a chat.

right, he said, time you got married.

why on earth would i want to do that, i asked.

his response? why the hell should you be the only one of us happy? 

  • Haha 1
Posted
11 hours ago, Nino said:

Declared a Marxist and a fidelist, his dream was to have a house to rent in Havana, so he invested money that his parents gave him and he bought a home in Vedado in 2012.

A Spanish citizen with an inheritance moves to Cuba to live the Communist dream.  Sounds like it's panning out just as  to be expected.

¡Patria o vuelo! 

Posted

Thanks for sharing Nino, entertaining, full of ironies, and of course a touch sad - this is how you do hostile takeover, in any semi-corrupt country, "phone a friend!" 

... and also, what a great house!  almost as nice as Boris Johnson's apartment?? 😉

 

acrefore-9780190264079-e-133-graphic-001

  • Like 1
Posted
10 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

 why the hell should you be the only one of us happy? 

Father texts son : Son, enjoy today, it is the happiest day in your life !

Son replies : Dad, the wedding is tomorrow.

Father replies : Yes, I know ...

🙂

Posted

I was meeting a friend for lunch last year in the Belview ArtCafe in Vedado and I got talking to a Spanish carpenter who had moved to Havana. He seemed happy enough, he had done some of the work on the installations for the gala dinner in the Pabexpo. 

I asked the carpenter why he had moved permanently to Cuba and he made a motion where he crossed his wrists together. "Cuban handcuffs" he says. He had got a woman pregnant and that was that. I suppose he was doing the right thing. Relationships like that don't have a great track record for lasting in Cuba though.

The Belview ArtCafe is well worth a visit for breakfast or lunch though. Good ingredients and they bake their own bread.

Posted
2 hours ago, Ryan said:

I was meeting a friend for lunch last year in the Belview ArtCafe in Vedado and I got talking to a Spanish carpenter who had moved to Havana. He seemed happy enough, he had done some of the work on the installations for the gala dinner in the Pabexpo. 

I asked the carpenter why he had moved permanently to Cuba and he made a motion where he crossed his wrists together. "Cuban handcuffs" he says. He had got a woman pregnant and that was that. I suppose he was doing the right thing. Relationships like that don't have a great track record for lasting in Cuba though.

The Belview ArtCafe is well worth a visit for breakfast or lunch though. Good ingredients and they bake their own bread.

In Spanish Wife is : Esposa and Handcuffs is ... Esposas - there must be a reason .. 🙂

  • Like 1

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