Víctor Rolando Arroyo, UPECI
PINAR DEL RIO, June - Experienced cigar makers are increasingly in demand in
a growing number of clandestine cigar factories in Pinar del Río, Cuba's
foremost tobacco growing province.
The government has responded to the growth in the illegal commerce by
creating a special investigative unit, called "Response Group to Tobacco
Traffic," which includes police investigators, prosecutors and other
specialists.
Several factors favor the increase in the illegal traffic. On the one side,
there is increasing demand for the cigars; on the other, both the farmers who
grow the leaf and the skilled workers who make the cigars can make more on their
own than working for the government cigar monopoly.
As far back as 1996, the Cuban press recorded an increase in counterfeiting
cases brought before the courts and in the volume of illegal product seized by
authorities. Since the beginning of this year, 12 clandestine factories have
been detected and searched by police, who seized leaf and packing components to
make imitations of the best-known Cuban cigars, such as Monterreys, El Corojos,
and Buena Vistas.
As police improve their methods of detecting clandestine operations, these
improve their skills in evading detection. Farmers hide part of their production
from government representatives, and sell it to others who secrete the leaf in
small quantities in myriad ways into houses where the cigars are made and
packed.
Cigars produced this way are eventually sold to tourists, foreigners who
live in Cuba or even Cubans who can afford them.
Authorities recognize the increase in illegal production, saying that even
with the creation of the "Response Group," putting an end to the
illegal traffic is going to be difficult.
Unemployment and deteriorating economic conditions make ever more people
willing to take risks evading the government's monopoly. Even military and
police personnel occasionally get involved. In a major scandal in 1997, members
of both Army and police were found to be taking advantage of their uniforms to
smuggle the various supplies needed in the trade through checkpoints going in
and out of populated zones.
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original en español
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