Letter: Cola in Cuba

Sir: Susan Stevens (letter, 26 February) asks why it is easy to buy Coca-Cola in Cuba, despite the US trade embargo. The answer is that it is imported from Mexico. The irony is that it must be bought in US dollars. Given that only those Cubans employed in certain sectors, such as tourism, are paid even part of their salaries in dollars, "easy" means in this context "not theoretically impossible". Dollars are also vital for buying other imports, such as soap.

It is no surprise that many Cubans resort to prostitution or the black market, since a job paid in pesos will never allow luxuries such as Coca- Cola. The "dollar apartheid" is another consequence of being the only people in the world oppressed by two governments at once.

SEBASTIAN BOYD

Manchester