Cuban author Carlos Montenegro signs copies of his novel from a patio in Principé Prison, Havana, 1929. Montenegro was serving a sentence for murder at the time. © James Abbe Archive

The woman on the right of frame is the daughter to the Mexican ambassador to Cuba (the identity of the other subject unknown) © James Abbe Archive

The bar of the Havana Jockey Club, which was American owned and managed. Said Abbe: "The visiting American can (and does) perform two perfectly legal operations at once, which are both against the law in his native land: bet on the races and imbibe alcoholic beverages." © James Abbe Archive