Yaminalina - Sara Alvarez Aiello

Rum. Tobacco. Women. Only sin pays in Cuba.

Yaminalina tells the story of Yami, a young woman growing up in Cuba during one of the island's most difficult periods. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cuba descended into levels of poverty and isolation never seen before. The United States responded by tightening the embargo, hoping to provoke a hunger rebellion. At the worst possible moment, a series of storms battered the island, destroying buildings, crops, and livestock. To prevent the total collapse of the economy, Castro legalized the dollar, creating a contradictory monetary system in which salaries were paid in pesos, but everything worth buying was sold in dollars. Under these conditions, sex tourism flourished, giving rise to the women known as jineteras. Yami embodies these women: young, bright, talented, cultured, and desperate.

Yami's hardships begin when her father abandons the family during the Mariel boatlift. Her mother remarries and sends her to live with her grandparents in a small sugar town. Yami attends a boarding school in the countryside, where she suffers sexual abuse at the hands of her teacher and mentor. Despite the hardships, she graduates with honors and gains admission to one of the most prestigious preparatory schools in the country. There, she discovers her passion for law and for Oiram, a classmate who shares her dreams. Although Yami and Oiram continue their studies at the University of Havana, their professional aspirations crumble in the face of the political and economic realities.

With the perspective afforded by distance and time, Yami recounts her formative years, tracing her journey from an idealistic young woman yearning for a career, love, and family, to a shrewd businesswoman who comes to understand that female beauty is simply another perishable commodity in Castro's dystopian Cuba.