As I often discovered, the highly restrictive laws of the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control governing the US Embargo and US citizens’ spending in Cuba rarely seemed to apply to wealthy Americans. This might be especially true of those who own yachts, sailboats and other watercraft: many Americans housed their boats in Cuban marinas (like Marina Hemingway in Cojímar) where they paid annual fees for both the space¬¬ and government upkeep of their vessels. Taken off the coast of Cayo Blanco, a gorgeous key near the town of Trinidad, this photograph shows a couple of Americans frolicking in Cuba’s waters in April 1995 (although the time says 1993). Locals called them “Los Hollywood” because they were supposedly famous actors who came regularly. I never discovered their true identity. At the time, the facility with which rich Americans entered Cuba struck islanders as ironic given recent legal changes requiring the US Coast Guard to return impoverished Cuban rafters to Cuba whom they caught at sea and prevented from stepping on dry land in the United States—an act that guarantees the right to request political asylum since the accord was signed in 1994. South-central coast, 1995.
