| Surfing With The Enemy |
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The island of Cuba has more than 11 million residents, thousands of miles of spectacular coastline, and a thriving sports culture. But the country counts only about 200 hundred surfers, roughly the same number that paddle out at an average break in California on any given afternoon. The reason is that despite its proximity and its poverty, Cuba is still officially an enemy of the United States, the last Western nation under Communist rule. Thanks to the U.S. trade embargo and the restrictive Cuban government, you can’t buy a surfboard in Cuba— in fact, you can’t even give one away. There are no surf shops, no swell forecasts or online surf reports, and just going more than 50 feet from shore is a jail-able offense.
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