Nation: The Cuban Coffee Caper

How Castro paid $8.7 million and got not a single cupful

As Cuba's ruler for the past 20 years, Fidel Castro obviously wasn't born yesterday. He has triumphed over at tempted invasions, coups and assassinations. He has felt confident enough to send troops to Africa to stir up trouble. Yet he has now been taken, in a huge swindle brought off by a group of men accused of selling Cuba a cargo of nonexistent coffee. The ruse, involving transactions from Canada to the Caribbean, ultimately collapsed, but not before Cuba was relieved of about...