Despite Cuba's reputation as an island cut off from all things American, it is possible to drink Coca-Cola and watch Hollywood movies here, one of the paradoxes of the five-decade embargo. Cuba's postcard image of pre-embargo American cars rolling down Havana streets that are so
Despite Cuba’s reputation as an island cut off from all things American, it is possible to drink Coca-Cola and watch Hollywood movies here, one of the paradoxes of the five-decade embargo.
Cuba’s postcard image of pre-embargo American cars rolling down Havana streets that are so close yet so far from Miami belies the fact that the United States is currently the communist island’s ninth-largest trade partner.
That is because the US Congress approved food exports to Cuba in 2000 under pressure from the domestic agricultural industry.
Cuba at first rebuffed the offer, but relented after Hurricane Michelle swept the island the following year, and now imports much of its food from the US — $348 million in agricultural products last year, mainly frozen chicken.
Cuban restaurants, hotels and supermarkets also carry Coca-Cola, one of the most iconic products of American companies’ global reach. But they import their Coke mainly from other Latin American countries, not the United States.
A can costs $1.20 — double the price of the local competition, “Tukola” and “Tropicola,” whose affordability makes them more popular with Cubans.
Despite the island’s reputation for hostility toward its northern neighbor, state television is also known to broadcast Hollywood movies, even while they are still on the big screen in the United States.
In March, for example, state TV showed “12 Years a Slave” five days after it won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The embargo bans US film studios from selling movie rights to Cuba, and the island’s TV networks do not release details on where they get the films.
However, it is impossible to pay with American credit cards on the island or find US pharmaceutical products.
