The Cuban Connection - Drug Trafficking, Smuggling, and Gambling in Cuba from the 1920s to the Revolution (rev. upd. ed. 2009)

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.