The Cuban Connection: Drug Trafficking, Smuggling, and Gambling in Cuba from the 1920s to the Revolution

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the scholars who read drafts of the book and offered valuable suggestions at various stages: Charles W. Bergquist (University of Washington ), José C. Moya (UCLA and Barnard College), Bernardo Parra (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), and Francisco E. Thoumi (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá). I also thank my colleagues at the Center for Social Studies and the School of Economic Sciences, both located at Colombia’s National University, for their assistance to my research. I likewise extend appreciation to the late Robert Levine, Elena Sabogal, and Steve Stein, all affiliated with the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami. I also benefited greatly from assistance given by the staff of the Cuban Heritage Collection—a truly outstanding resource—and the Pan American Airways Archive, both of which are located at the University of Miami’s Richter Library. Others who offered valuable assistance are Fred Romanski of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland, branch, and the staff of the following archives: Cuba’s Archivo Nacional, Havana (with thanks in particular to Julio López Valdés); Colombia’s Archivo General de la Nación (Bogotá); the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration , Southeast Region in Atlanta and Northeast Region in New York City (special mention to Richard Gelbke); and the Federal District Court for Miami, Florida. I am also grateful to the following individuals for their friendship and assistance while this book was being researched and written: Orlando Acosta, María Hericinda Barahona de Sandoval, Luis Carlos Barriga, Susana Mabel Cabanillas, Amparo Caicedo, Enrique Córdoba, Thomas Fischer, João Gon- çalves, Myriam Jimeno, Abel Ricardo López, Gerardo Reyes, Alvaro Román, Jorge Sanguinetty, Ernesto Sierra, and Víctor Uribe Urán. While my research was under way, I presented working papers both at the University of Miami and at several scholarly conferences and events: the Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii :: Acknowledgments Cátedra Anual de Historia held at Colombia’s National Museum; the Cátedra Unesco (by invitation of Professor Luis Astorga) conducted by Mexico’s National Autonomous University; and a seminar organized regularly by the School of Economic Sciences at Colombia’s National University, where at various points in my research I also engaged in discussions with my students. To Professor Luis A. Pérez Jr., who suggested that I submit the manuscript to the University of North Carolina Press, I owe a special debt of gratitude, as I do to Elaine Maisner, senior editor at UNC Press, and to the two anonymous readers who critiqued the manuscript. I made my first visit to Havana in November 2002 in the company of my brother, Mario; since then, he has steadily followed the course of my research. During my repeated visits to the University of Miami, my mother, Marta Rovner de Sáenz, allowed me to turn her Miami Beach apartment into a study overflowing with books and documents about Cuba, into a place where one conversed only about Cuban history and listened only to Cuban music. I dedicate this book to her. The Cuban Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This page intentionally left blank ...