It attracted some of the same mafia kingpins, too, such as Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante, who were evading a national investigation into organized crime. “Havana was then what Las Vegas has become,” says Louis Perez, a Cuba historian.
What the tourists didn’t see, or didn’t want to, was the underclass, people of poverty like the macheteros - sugarcane cutters - who worked only during the four month season, and the rest of the year were unemployed and angry. A 1956 issue of Cabaret Quarterly, a now-defunct tourism magazine, describes Havana as “a mistress of pleasure, the lush and opulent goddess of delights”. Sugar was Cuba’s economic lifeline, but its tropical beauty-and tropical beauties-made American tourism a natural and flowing source of revenue. Socialites, debutantes, celebrities like Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, and American mobsters came to play in the Cuban paradise. Hotels, restaurants, night clubs, golf clubs and casinos sprung up in Havana catering to the rich jet-setters seeking luxury. 1946.Ĭuba’s reputation as an exotic and permissive playground came to light in the 1920s, when the country became a favorite destination for robber barons and bohemians. Aline Johnson de Menocal meeting with her personal staff to plan a party.
