To Manny Fontenla-Novoa

(An open letter to Manny Fontenla-Novoa,

head of Thomas Cook Travel.)

Good morning Mr. Fontenia-Novoa:

I would email this to you directly but unfortunately Thomas Cook does not use email as of this date. Be that as it may, permit me to introduce myself. I am Tomás Estrada-Palma, a Cuban American exile, the great grandson of the first elected president of Cuba and one of the spokesmen for the enslaved population of Cuba who will be brutalized or killed if they speak for themselves.

Mr. Fontenla-Novoa I ask you to cease booking any and all travel to Cuba. It is not a sound destination for your clients as you may now realize. If not look what happened to this poor family:

http://www.sunderlandtoday.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=2060486&sectionid=1107

But I also can promise you this – if you continue to book any future trips to Cuba I will do everything in my power, along with thousand of my freedom loving brethren to see that none of your corporations can ever legally do business in Cuba once we kick the pirates out of power who currently enslave our people. The reason you can make tremendous profits while charging low rates to Cuba is because the average Cuban earns $15 per month. They must do without so you can profit. They seethe with anger at not being allowed to go to their own beaches while YOUR customers soak up the sun and sip drinks. These 11 million slaves will also be our allies in kicking Thomas Cook off the Island the second they become free. When you look at the big picture it is just not worth it to do business in Cuba right now. We will never forget.

I understand that you have contractual obligations with current travelers. However, we will work with you if you help our cause for freedom and cease any and all future bookings to Cuba. If you do this I will do everything I can on your behalf to mitigate the anger of the Cuban population towards Thomas Cook. Again, please do not underestimate the anger Cubans on both sides of the Straits of Florida feel about this tourist apartheid setup. Do you sir think it will last forever? This is just plain bad stewardship of your corporation and in the very near future should you be blocked from earning millions of dollars in Cuba morally, I will go out of my way to point this out to your shareholders.

Sincerely,

Tomás Estrada-Palma