Cubans enjoy taste of tourist life as hotel ban ends

By Milexsy Duran

VARADERO, Cuba, April 7 (Reuters) - Cubans bathed in the turquoise-colored sea at their country's best beaches this weekend thanks to the end of an "apartheid" ban that had excluded them from tourist-only hotels.

At Varadero, the communist-run island's top resort, some Cubans checked into five-star hotels for the first time since it opened up to international tourism in the early 1990s.

"There are more things here. We couldn't have them before, it was closed (to us)," said Jessica Lopez, 15, visiting Varadero for the first time and struck by the affluence as she mingled with Canadian and European tourists who sipped mojitos and daiquiris as they soaked up the Caribbean sun.

Cubans who could afford to do so were also able to rent cars for the first time to drive to Varadero, 90 miles (140 km) east of Havana, another liberalization step taken by the government of Cuba's new president, Raul Castro.

Since succeeding his ailing brother Fidel Castro in February, Cuba's first new leader in 49 years has moved to lift what he called "excessive prohibitions" in the socialist state, allowing Cubans access to DVD players and cellular telephones, and hotels that were previously off-limits.

Until a few days ago, Cubans were barred from walking on some strips of beach close to the most expensive hotels.

"It's a joy to be here, it's amazing," said Jessica's father, Lazaro Lopez, who lives in Miami but returned to Cuba on vacation and took his daughter and other family members to stay at Varadero's $210-a-night Melia Las Americas hotel.

"Look how happy they are. Their eyes shine when they look at the hotels here," he said.