Kubanacan is a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by TV Globo. It premiered on 5 May 2003, replacing O Beijo do Vampiro, and ended on 24 January 2004, replaced by Da Cor do Pecado. The telenovela is written by Carlos Lombardi, with the collaboration of Emanoel Jacobina, Margareth Boury, Tiago Santiago, and Vinícius Vianna.[1]
The story begins in 1951 in Kubanacan, a small Caribbean island country known as a "banana republic", both for its prime export and its economic problems. After the death of the current president, General Carlos Camacho (Humberto Martins) imposes a coup d'état and establishes a dictatorial regime. In addition, the new ruler marries the wife of her predecessor, Mercedes (Betty Lago), first lady loved by the people for her help to the poor and with whom she had an affair for years. In the village of Santiago, a mysterious man falls from the sky during a storm with a chest shot, being saved by the fishermen and cared for by Marisol (Danielle Winits). Without memory, Esteban (Marcos Pasquim) falls in love with the girl and disputes his heart with her husband, Enrico (Vladimir Brichta), who leaves and lets his ex-wife live with the new love, who takes over her two children. Seven years later, in 1958, Marisol meets Camacho, who convinces her to leave and live as his mistress, claiming she would never get out of poverty in the village.
Esteban believes his wife died on the high seas as a result of third parties and leaves for La Bendita to take revenge, which brings out a double personality, the violent evil character Dark Esteban. In the capital he bumps into Enrico again, now married to Lola (Adriana Esteves), who ironically also falls in love with the amnesiac. Enrico's real lover is Rubi (Carolina Ferraz), Lola's sister, who dreams of joining the army and whom men have never looked for in the absence of vanity, since she dresses like a man and lives dirty for working as a man. In the city the sons of Mercedes still live there - Guillermo (Daniel Del Sarto), who always tries to unmask his stepfather's betrayals, and Mercedita (Tatyane Goulart) a caricature of his mother - besides Camacho's only son, Carlito (Iran Malfitano), who works all night and has several cases, just like his father. He dates the futile Consuelo (Fernanda de Freitas) and is loved by the sweet Soledad (Rafaela Mandelli), who never received a look from the boy for being shy and virginal, but sends him anonymous letters, arousing his passion, which he longs to know.
There is also Dagoberto (Bruno Garcia), the president's secretary who becomes indirectly responsible for government decisions, and Johnny (Daniel Boaventura), a US-raised playboy who becomes Esteban's close friend. Camacho hires Adriano, a Miami attorney who is identical to Esteban and who eventually takes over the presidency, which leads to confusion. In addition, General Alejandro (Werner Schünemann), a former exiled president on the island of La Platina, returns to take revenge on Camacho and destroy the country for good by building Projeto Fênix (Phoenix Project), a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Throughout the plot it turns out that Esteban is actually called Leon and came from the future to prevent Alejandro's plans. He is the son of the real Esteban, who lives in a cabin near the capital, who got Rubi pregnant without her knowing that he was not the boy she had met. The real Esteban is Adriano's twin brother and the two are Alejandro's sons.
