The golden arches are nowhere to be found. There’s not a single Starbucks or Wal-Mart, and no way to buy a Budweiser, a Corvette or a Dell. But even in Cuba, you can get a Coke.

Despite the US Trading With the Enemy Act, which governs Washington’s 45-year-old embargo, sales on Fidel Castro’s island are lining the pockets of corporate America.

Nikes, Colgate and Marlboros, Gillette Series shaving cream and Jordache jeans —all are easy to find. Cubans who wear contact lenses can buy Bausch & Lomb.

Parents can surprise the kids with a Mickey Mouse truck. Decades-old Walt Disney cartoons air on state television every afternoon and stores have Mickey Mouse toys and wrapping paper and Snoopy products.

In Havana’s Vedado district, fishing supply store DSY offers goods made by US supplier Seachoice Products. A “Heavy Duty Waterproof Flashlight” from the company proudly proclaims “Made in USA”.

Dozens of American brands are on sale here—and not in some black-market back alley. They’re in the lobbies of gleaming government-run hotels and in crowded supermarkets and pharmacies that answer to the communist government.

The companies say they have no direct knowledge of sales in Cuba, and that the amounts involved are small and would be impractical to stop. But it’s hard to deny that a portion of the transactions wind up back in the US.

“We try and do what we can to police...but in a globalised economy, it’s impossible to catch everything,” said Vada Manager, director of global issues management for Nike Inc.

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