#miami #beach #banking #dictators

Mercantile National Bank of Miami Beach, Florida
420 Lincoln Road

By the time I moved to Miami Beach, got an apartment and a job at a bank, Batista was long gone from Cuba and had escaped to Portugal, and died in Spain.
I learned about him, the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro while working at the bank. Batista had looted Cuba, and was also heavily involved in organized crime. He stashed the money in the bank where I worked. During the upheaval of the revolution he sent many relatives and friends to Miami Beach to get the best of jobs, including in the bank. He had also purchased beautiful mansions there, and other properties in Florida.
In many ways, Florida became an extension of Cuba with people fleeing their county for one reason or another.