Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub

by Rosa Lowinger

The donation was a shrewd move, designed to keep popular opinion favorable to the ever-growing presence of gambling in the nation. It was an act worthy of Evita Perón (wife of Batista’s contemporary and fellow dictator, Juan Perón of Argentina) who was adored by the poor because of her very visible charitable work. Her charity notwithstanding, Evita owned a king’s ransom in jewels, which, through a gambling debt, once wound up in Ofelia’s hands. “I forget the date, but it was probably in 1957,” she recalled one rainy night in Glendale. Un argentino named Jorge Antonio spent a night playing baccarat at Tropicana and lost badly. Turns out that this Jorge Antonio had been Eva Perón’s secretary. He had no money to pay his debt. But he had this small bag of Evita’s jewels that he left as collateral. Probably he stole them, who knows? Or maybe it was payment for something. By then Evita was deceased and this man was living in Spain. Martín took the bag of jewels home for safekeeping, and I had un banquete [a feast] poring through that bag. There were necklaces, diamonds, rings with emeralds, stones the size of almonds. It all seemed make believe. They sparkled like a treasure chest you see in the movies.