CANADIAN
TOURIST RAPED AT A CUBAN RESORT
Right from the onset of this article,
I want to state that in my opinion, Cuba is a safe country to travel to. I have
been in that country four times and have found the people in that country to be
kind and courtliest to tourists.
I am partially disabled and if I
fall down, I cannot get up. On one of my visits, I rented a motor scooter and
while I was diving on a one-way highway, I turned on a crossover to get to on the
other one-way highway that would take me back to the resort. The scooter tipped
over and fell on my legs. Two cars on one highway and two other cars on the
other highway stopped and then four men ran towards me and lifted the scooter
off my legs and then they lifted me back on to my feet. They also helped me get
back onto the scooter. Last year when I was on a bus and wanted to get off, I
tripped on the lower step and fell onto my knees on the sidewalk. Two men came
to my assistance and helped me to stand up. When I had difficulty climbing onto
the bus, two male passengers assisted me onto the buss. Several years ago when
my wife and I were in Cuba, we met a Cuban women who invited us to her home in
the nearby city. Her son took us on a tour to the famous caves nearby and later
took us back to the resort. The staff at the resorts we were in were always very
kind to their guests.
Obviously, there are criminals in
Cuba as elsewhere in the world. The rest
of this article is about a Cuban rapist
and her victim and what the various people did to assist the victim.
I am only identifying the
victim by her first name to protect her privacy.
Emily alleges that she was sexually assaulted by an employee at the Memories Varadero Beach Resort in
Cuba.
She claims the actions of Sunwing Airline staff and the resort left her
feeling like she had no recourse to report the assault. Sunwing has launched an
internal investigation, however, the
resort is still listed as being available for tourists who book on the Sunwing's website.
The Greater Toronto Area woman
says her ordeal at the Cuban vacation resort is highlighting the lack of
recourse female Canadians have if they are sexually assaulted while staying at
a resort in Cuba
On December 14th
2019, Emily and her fiancé embarked on a getaway they booked with Sunwing Vacations at the 3.5-star Memories Varadero Beach Resort in Cuba.
Varadero is a peninsula
jutting out of Cuba where many resorts are located. My wife and I always go to
resorts on that peninsula. The town of Veradero is located at the beginning of the peninsula.
The next night, the couple
had a disagreement between them so Emily took some time to herself at the
resort’s beach. She fell asleep on a chair by the water, and when she woke up,
she said there was a man on top of her.
She said, “He had one hand
on my mouth and he was trying to get me to be quiet,” I felt his other hand up
my dress, and he was trying to take off my underwear.”
She said she scanned the
man’s face and realized he was a resort employee, as he was wearing the same
t-shirt as other staff. She said the man didn’t expect for her to be strong and
sober when she began fighting back.
She said, “I pushed him as
hard as I could, I kicked him as hard as I could, and then I ran for my life”
The 29-year-old told CityNews she didn’t stop running until
she got back to her hotel room, where she collapsed in the hallway without her
room key. Another guest saw her and walked her to the front lobby where she
said she filled an incident report. She
was also reunited with her fiancé who had been out looking for her.
She said she told front desk staff, the customer service agent
and the security guard what happened. The staff spoke Spanish and she said she
had difficulty communicating with them, so she was asked to write everything
that had happened on a piece of paper.
She told the staff that one of her staff attempted to rape her,
but the staff didn’t offer anything to comfort her or to track the man down.
Blue Diamond
Resorts, which owns Memories Varadero, told CityNews
that support was provided to Emily as soon as she filed a report with the hotel
staff.
The resort’s spokesperson wrote in a statement “ This included
an offer to contact the police and obtain medical assistance,. The incident was
documented in a report along with our response.”
Emily and her fiancé decided they wanted to cut their vacation
short, collect their things and leave the resort immediately. Emily said they
went to their room and packed their things. When they came back downstairs,
they say the reception staff talked them out of leaving.
“They told us to go back in the room,” she said. “In all of that
commotion, we left my purse at the front lobby. It had our wallets, my cell
phone, our passports, our tickets, the visas we had to fill out to get into the
country and our insurance.”
Everything that was in the safe was in that bag because we
wanted to leave.” When she returned to the front desk, she said staff told her
that her bag wasn’t there.
The following morning, Emily got a call from the security desk.
The front office had their passports, which had been in a Ziploc bag secured
inside her purse. The spokesperson from Blue
Diamond Resorts told CityNews, that
the passports were turned into the hotel’s front desk after they were found on
the beach, and they were returned to Emily without any conditions. However,
Emily alleges she had to give something up in return.
“They had our passports but wouldn’t give them to me until I had
filled out a report, saying I wasn’t pressing charges,” Emily said. “I was
literally in survival mode, I’ll do whatever at that point to get my
passports.”
CityNews asked Blue Diamond
Resorts if it was aware of the document Emily said she signed. The
spokesperson said they have a copy, but were not releasing it to protect
Emily’s privacy.
Emily said she then met with the head of security and Sunwing’s
on-site representative to go over the remaining missing items and her assault
allegations. She said they told her there wasn’t any proof she submitted a
complaint the night before and there wasn’t any surveillance footage showing
Emily at the front desk making a report. I find that hard to believe.
Believing that there was no security footage, Emily and her
boyfriend weren’t sure what to do. She said the Sunwing representative implied that without any footage, they
wouldn’t be received credibly by police.
“Both of us felt immediately that something was being covered
up,” she said, so the couple focused on trying to get back to Canada. Emily
alleges that the Sunwing
representative said that it would take days to make arrangements and would cost
more money to the couple, whose wallets were still missing.
The couple ended up leaving the resort without filing any
reports.
Back home in Canada, Emily posted about her experience on TripAdvisor as a warning to other
travellers. The resort’s general manager posted a response that implied Emily
was rude to staff when reporting her assault. Their post said Emily’s
characterization of events is unfair, that allegations of sexual assault are
“treated by our staff with rigour” and “our highest value is the welfare of our
guests.”
That post has since been removed, and replaced with a new
message from management, which takes a different tone.
“We regret the original response you received on this platform
and have since deleted our post,” the new statement reads. The general manager
also invited Emily to contact the resort directly so they can give her the best
possible assistance. Emily said she had already reached the spokesperson from
Blue out to the resort multiple times.
Diamond Resorts told CityNews that
staff documented Emily’s statement and provided support, but the chain admits
following their correspondence with her, there may have been some issues along
the way.
“After reviewingEmily’s recent correspondence upon her return
home, there has clearly been a breakdown in communications and we are fully
cooperating with all parties to ensure this matter is further investigated,”
the email statement read. “Memories Varadero has detailed policies in place to
ensure that sensitive issues are dealt with swiftly and appropriately.”
CityNews asked for clarification and more details about those policies. “We
also asked if staff followed proper procedure when Emily filed the report.”
“Our policy requires staff to provide support to anyone who
comes forward with a complaint including assisting in filing a police report if
the customer consents,” the spokesperson wrote. “In this case, our records
indicate that we did offer assistance but we did not receive consent and
therefore are prohibited from contacting police.”
City News also asked the resort
company on numerous occasions if the employee accused of sexually assaulting
Emily was identified and what other actions have been taken. However, the
resort did not address these questions.
The spokesperson for thr resort addrd that they are cooperating
with local authorities in the event Emily chooses to pursue a police investigation.
However, the 29-year-old said she is disappointed by the resort’s response
because it isn’t an accurate description of what transpired on that night. She
said she was forced to choose between calling police to file a report and
getting her passports back so the couple could go home.
The spokesperson added that they were cooperating with local
authorities in the event Emily chooses to pursue a police investigation.
However, the 29-year-old said she is disappointed by the resort’s response
because it isn’t an accurate description of what transpired on that night. She
said she was forced to choose between calling police to file a report and
getting her passports back so the couple could go home.
She also said “The
fact that it was completely disregarded and invalidated was like being
re-traumatized again. The fact that it was completely disregarded and
invalidated was like being re-traumatized again, like someone saying it didn’t
happen and you can’t prove it.”
Emily and her fiancé had booked their vacation via popular airline
Sunwing, which provides vacation packages to Canadians looking for a
sunny getaway. Deals for the Memories
Varadero Beach Resort still appear on the site, without any warnings to
travellers.
Emily said she received little support from the Sunwing representative, and the airline
took a considerable amount of time to get back to her when she filed a
complaint online and over the phone, only emailing her back last week.
Sunwing
declined to do an interview with CityNews,
but provided a statement, apologizing to Emily for her experiences, and saying
they will be launching an investigation into how “this was handled by our team
in destination.”
“We have robust policies and procedures in place to deal with
violence and sexual assault, including assisting customers with reporting
incidents to the authorities, offering medical assistance, modifying travel
arrangements and serving as a language interpreter if required,” Sunwing’s
statement reads. “We want to underscore that whenever a guest experiences
violence or sexual assault, our policy is always to accommodate their needs.”
The spokesperson also adds that there’s no record that Emily
wanted to leave early, but there is record of her declining to speak with
police or receiving medical attention, adding that their “destination teams”
need consent to reach out to them. These are claims Emily denies. The airline
said that will also be part of the investigation.
Sunwing’s statement ends by stating that the
company has zero tolerance for sexual assaults, and if an employee is found
guilty, they would be immediately terminated. Hey! The employee was not
employed by Sunwing. He was employed by the resort.
Emily explains how in the moments she realized she was about to
be raped, her mind quickly shifted back to a time she couldn’t fight back. She
said it also happened while on vacation in Cuba.
When she was 19 years old, Emily said she was raped and she
didn’t report it. “I froze the first time, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t say
anything, it just happened,” she told CityNews.
This time around, when she woke up with a man on top of her on the beach chair,
she fought back.“I said, ‘Not again, this isn’t happening again’,” she said.
“He picked the wrong person to try and take advantage of that’s for sure.” She
also picked the wrong resort to go to.
As a survivor, Emily said she wants to share her story to give
others strength. She has already posted a firsthand account of her story to
social media and received messages from two women who say they were also
sexually assaulted by resort staff down south. One woman shared that she was a
minor at the time.
“I hope it empowers myself and other women that have been
through it, and maybe encourages other women to speak about it and realize it’s
not your fault,” Emily said. “No matter if you’re drinking, wearing a short
dress, or if you went down to the beach by yourself, that’s not consent or
invitation to be assaulted.
I will give
my readers this advice. NEVER go to a beach by yourself. If you see a family or other persons on a
beach, go to them and introduce yourself to them. If anyone attacks you, these
people will support your allegations and even come to your assistance and in
all likely, no criminal will attack a single woman when other persons are nearby. One day when I was swimming at at
a beach at Rio de Janerio, a wave threw me face down on the water and because I
am disabled, I couldn’t stand up. If I was alone, I would have drowned. Three persons
on the beach saw my dilemma and jumped into the water and recued me.
Full statement from Blue Diamond Resorts Media:
We take the safety of
our customers extremely seriously and sincerely regret the incident that
[Emily] described.
As soon as Emily
reported the incident to our hotel staff, assistance was immediately made
available, including an offer to contact the police and obtain medical
assistance. The incident was documented in a report along with our
response. After reviewing Emily’s recent correspondence upon her return home,
there has clearly been a breakdown in communications and we are fully
cooperating with all parties to ensure this matter is further investigated.
Memories Varadero has detailed policies in place to ensure that sensitive
issues are dealt with swiftly and appropriately. Every guest at our resort
deserves a safe and positive vacation experience and we are reviewing our
records to identify any steps we can take that would prevent such an incident
from reoccurring.
What the resort should have done is show Emily the photographs of all the male
staff and let her pick out the man who tried to rape her with the police
present.
We wish to
sincerely apologize to Emily for her experience and have made several attempts
to reach out to her directly to offer our assistance. We have launched an
internal investigation into how this was handled by our team in destination and
would welcome the opportunity to speak with [Emily] directly to better
understand how we can address her concerns.
Sunwing seeks to provide our customers with safe
and enjoyable vacations and as an organization we are committed to responding
to any complaints swiftly and compassionately. We have robust policies and
procedures in place to deal with violence and sexual assault, including
assisting customers with reporting incidents to the authorities, offering
medical assistance, modifying travel arrangements and serving as a language
interpreter if required. We want to underscore that whenever a guest
experiences violence or sexual assault our policy is always to accommodate
their needs. Unfortunately, we have no record of a request by [Emily] to return
early. We will be reviewing this as part of our internal investigation into how
this was handled by the team in destination.
We recognize that
sexual assault is a global issue and we must do better to support victims. This
includes educating and training our employees to respond with compassion and
understanding. This commitment has prompted us to recently engage White Ribbon,
a Canadian thought-leader on gender-based violence, to strengthen the capacity
of the company and its employees to effectively address and prevent sexual
violence, harassment and bullying. This engagement will include a review of
existing policies and procedures to ensure a consistent approach to these
issues. Our objective, in partnership with White Ribbon, is to work across the
company towards awareness, prevention and zero tolerance of sexual harassment,
violence and bullying.
With respect to
your question regarding contacting police. Based on reports from our local
team, when the incident was reported to our representatives, our records
indicate that although assistance was offered to Emily, she declined to speak
with police or receive medical attention. Without Emily’s consent, legally our
destination team is not permitted to contact police. We understand and support
the need for victims to seek a resolution when they are comfortable doing so,
including bringing perpetrators to justice. Sunwing remains ready and willing
to cooperate with local authorities should she wish to reopen the investigation
and provide consent to file a police report. We have zero tolerance for sexual
assaults. If an employee is found guilty they would be immediately terminated.
Once again, we wish to sincerely apologize to Emily.
Whenever she feels comfortable, we would welcome the opportunity to speak to
her.
Why didn’t the airline refund their money?
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