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Fake Cubans in Havana?
Fidel can't stop sale
of bogus cigars in his own country
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com.
June 28, 2004.
Tourists might expect to get counterfeit
Cuban cigars when they buy them on the streets
of Europe, Mexico or New York City.
But Havana?
Yes, admit officials in Cuba. The black
market in fake Havanas is alive and well
even in Fidel Castro's own police-state
back yard.
"In Cuba, when you buy cheaply priced
counterfeit habanos, you really don't know
what you've acquired," says a report
in Granma, the official news organ of the
Cuban state. "Only the street seller
is aware of the deception. When, on your
return to Europe, Mexico or Moscow, you
open the box in the hope of smoking a good
cigar, it's already too late."
Boxes of Cuban "puros" are sold
on the streets of the capital for as much
as $30 - but the price doesn't ensure they're
real.
Thus, Habanos S.A., working alongside the
Cuban customs authorities and other interested
parties, has launched an all-out war against
fake cigars and illegal purchases in general
in an effort to ensure that every cigar
that leaves Cuba is the authentic version
that has acquired international fame.
According to Héctor de Moya Martínez,
principal inspector at the Anti-Fraud Department
of the Cuban Customs Office, the counterfeit
Cuban cigars on has been damaging the reputation
of the genuine item.
Until last October, any tourist could take
out two boxes of Cuban cigars without presenting
receipts, which were only required for the
third box. Now those loose regulations have
been tightened. The new rules require a
receipt for more than 23 loose cigars.
"The year 2003 was a good one for
Cuban Customs, but a bad one for the buyers
of imitation Cuban cigars," says the
report. "According to De Moya, nearly
10,000 infractions (9,914, to be exact)
were detected, which translated into the
confiscation of some 30,000 boxes of fake
habanos (29,891). The previous year, 4,675
infractions "only" led to the
confiscation of 19,810 boxes."
According to the official, in January,
4,033 boxes were seized as a result of 1,352
infractions, and in February, another 2,916
boxes were seized, corresponding to 1,017
infractions.
Yet, that's hardly a dent in the contraband
industry. According to the Cuban report,
more than 2 million fake Cuban cigars arrive
annually in France alone in the baggage
of French tourists.
© 2004
WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
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