The Pan-American Club

The Pan-American Club is the Americans’ club in Preston, a gathering point for ex-patriots that excludes Cuban members, even the nation’s President Batista. It is a place of excessive luxury that is nevertheless taken for granted by its all-white patrons. There they drink cocktails and eat caviar without fear of feeling guilt at the sight of the poverty that surrounds them. When Batista’s bombs hit the club during a party, the Americans finally grasp that their long comfortable tenure in Cuba is at an end. When the rebels invade, they throw a party in its bombed-out dance hall. “Soldiers and locals, mill workers and cane cutters and their children all danced, careful not to step in the charred hole in the center of the tile dance floor” (291). Their victory is cemented by this ascent over the club’s walls.

Cabaret Tokio

The Cabaret Tokio...