HAVANA (AP) — A carload of burly nephews and grandsons greeted Martha and Alfredo Gonzalez when they stepped out of Havana’s international airport into the blazing heat of an August afternoon.

A round of embraces and the young men got down to business, hefting the retired couple’s seven massive duffel bags into a crude two-wheel trailer hooked behind an antiquated sedan for the sole purpose of hauling the half-ton of clothes, medicines and other items the Gonzalezes bought in Miami. A few cars down, Claribel Torrez watched a trailer being loaded with baggage that included a 40-inch television and a bicycle.