Part 1, Dulce Fuerte Summary

Havana, Cuba. Dulce narrates. Dulce argues that sex is the only thing the government can not ration is Cuba. It is the next best thing to currency. Many people, including herself, have turned a trick once in a while to make their life better. Today, Dulce works the streets to earn money until her visa to Spain is approved. Last month, Dulce was fired from her job as the volleyball coach at the Jose Marti High School for fraternizing with a foreigner. Since then, she has had to work the streets to survive. Her mother does not know.

Dulce met her current boyfriend, Abelardo, at the foreigner-only hotel, Habana Libre Hotel. He talked of his apartment in Madrid and his widowed sister. Abelardo tells Dulce that she is the most beautiful woman he has seen. Would she do him...