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The Looting of Cuba: Where did it all go?

DOI https://doi.org/10.15542/KUR/2013/5/2

Tania C. Mastrapa


Communist dictatorships confiscate and loot property to maintain control over the captive populations, enrich their leaders and cronies as well as to maintain their regimes financially afloat. The Cuban regime sought to raise revenues by selling artworks, antiques, jewelry and other valuables looted from residences and museums to willing foreigners, including Cuban exiles. Former owners and heirs have identified items from their families’ collections sold by major auction houses and galleries, but outcomes have not always been favorable. This is mainly because there exists a striking double standard with regards to Communist and Nazi looting.

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