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Seminole Tribe Sells Nicaragua Hotel,
Cattle Ranch
BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ AND TIM ROGERS
Since acquiring the Hard Rock brand in 2006,
the Seminole Tribe of Florida has
aggressively pursued a strategy of
international expansion, with plans
including new hotels in Panama and Dubai,
among other locales.
But the tribe's holdings in Nicaragua are no
more. Last month, the tribe parted ways with
a downtown Managua hotel and a 6,000-acre
cattle ranch. The new owner: a
Venezuelan-Nicaraguan joint venture tied to
the Sandinista government of President
Daniel Ortega.
The sale, estimated to be between $9 million
and $10 million, marks the end of a
controversial tribal investment that dates
back to 1999.
Former Seminole Chairman James Billie faced
accusations he spent millions on the hotel
without the tribe's knowledge, and the
Nicaragua deal helped fuel Billie's removal
by other tribal leaders in 2003.
The Miami Herald in 2001 pegged the upfront
cost of the tribe's Nicaragua land buys at
about $7 million.
Despite the internal strife it caused, the
tribe's foray into Nicaragua ultimately
became quite successful. The four-star hotel
was a hit with business travelers and the
cattle ranch produced a prize-winning herd.
Seminole spokesman Gary Bitner said the
tribe's decision to sell ``was just
realizing the return that they wanted on the
investment and then being able to complete
it and essentially now use those dollars in
other ways.''
Bitner said it is possible the tribe could
invest in Nicaragua again in the future. He
declined to provide exact details on the
sale.
Bitner added that the tribe's focus nowadays
is to brand its new overseas properties with
the ''Hard Rock'' logo. The Managua hotel --
dubbed the Seminole Plaza Hotel -- predated
that current strategy.
While Bitner described the sale as a humdrum
business deal, the land's knack for stirring
controversy is still on display -- only this
time in Nicaragua, where opponents of the
Ortega government are questioning the
public-private entity.
Ortega admitted recently, in somewhat vague
terms, that the Sandinista Front, under the
auspices of the Venezuelan-backed Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), has
purchased the Seminoles' holdings in
Nicaragua, which include one of the most
important cattle production operations in
the country.
Ortega said that the cattle ranches, which
reportedly include some 3,000 of the finest
heads of cattle in Nicaragua, were bought
because Nicaragua has ``a secure market for
meat in Venezuela.''
Both the hotel and the cattle ranches were
purchased by ALBANISA, a mixed company
comprised of the Nicaraguan Petroleum Co. (Petronic)
and the Venezuelan state petroleum company (PDVSA),
with funding from ALBA-CARUNA, a Sandinista
cooperative that operates as an unofficial
bank with no third-party oversight or
regulation.
Ortega is routinely criticized for muddling
the distinctions between state, party and
family. And in the case of the Seminole
sale, it remains unclear if the real
beneficiaries will be the Nicaraguan state,
the Sandinista Front or the Ortega family
and friends.
Edmundo Jarquín, a former analyst for the
Inter-American Development Bank and head of
the opposition Sandinista Renovation
Movement (MRS), said the Venezuelan aid
being poured into Nicaragua is not
benefiting the country as a whole but rather
Ortega and his inner circle, which is
quickly becoming the new business elite in
Nicaragua.
''At first I thought Ortega wanted money to
return to power, but now I think he wants
power to get money,'' Jarquín said.
Others have speculated that the government
coerced the Seminoles into selling, even
prompting the tribe to reject higher offers
from other potential buyers.
Bitner, the tribe spokesman, called such
rumors inaccurate and said Ortega's group
was the only one who "came through with what
you would call a real offer.''
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