The Cuban Connection

by Rovner, Eduardo Saenz; Davidson, Russ

• ISBN13: 9780807831755
• ISBN10: 0807831751
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

A comprehensive history of crime and corruption in Cuba,The Cuban Connectionchallenges the common view that widespread poverty and geographic proximity to the United States were the prime reasons for soaring rates of drug trafficking, smuggling, gambling, and prostitution in the tumultuous decades preceding the Cuban revolution. Eduardo Sáenz Rovner argues that Cuba's historically well-established integration into international migration, commerce, and transportation networks combined with political instability and rampant official corruption to help lay the foundation for the development of organized crime structures powerful enough to affect Cuba's domestic and foreign politics and its very identity as a nation.Sáenz traces the routes taken around the world by traffickers and smugglers. After Cuba, the most important player in this story is the United States. The involvement of gangsters and corrupt U.S. officials and businessmen enabled prohibited substances to reach a strong market in the United States, from rum running during Prohibition to increased demand for narcotics during the Cold War. Originally published in Colombia in 2005, this first English-language edition has been revised and updated by the author.

Author Biography

Eduardo Saenz Rovner is professor of history at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
U.S. Prohibition and Smuggling from Cuba	p. 17
Drug Trafficking and Political Anarchy during the 1930s	p. 31
The Chinese and Opium Consumption in Cuba	p. 45
Corruption and Drug Trafficking in Cuba during the Second World War and the Early Postwar Years	p. 57
Lucky Luciano in Cuba	p. 65
The Prio Socarras Government and Drug Trafficking	p. 75
Gambling in Cuba	p. 81
The Andean Connection	p. 95
Contacts in France	p. 103
The Batista Dictatorship and Drug Trafficking	p. 113
Revolution	p. 123
The Diplomacy of Drug Trafficking at the Beginning of the Revolution	p. 135
Epilogue	p. 147
Notes	p. 153
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 237
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