International

Cuba factory that rolled Castro’s cigars still strives for ‘the perfect puff’

AFP | by Leticia PINEDA

Seated before a machine that checks cigar quality, Orquidea Gonzalez says she is proud to carry on the craft’s tradition and contribute to an export industry that has grown during the pandemic.

“I love making cigars. This is where I’ve spent my life, and it’s an art. Not everyone knows how to make cigars, like not everyone knows how to paint a picture,” said the 55-year-old factory worker.

Her job is to measure in a metal tube the draw of each cigar to ensure that the smoker gets the perfect puff.

“If it’s less than 40, the (suction) level is excessive; if it’s more than 80, it’s too low,” she explained, her eyes glued to the machine’s needle.

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The El Laguito factory opened in 1966 in western Havana to make the cigars favored by the hero of the 1959 Communist revolution and longtime president Fidel Castro.

The factory is the birthplace of Cohiba cigars, Cuba’s most prestigious brand. The name recalls the way the native Taino people referred to the rolled tobacco leaves they smoked.

Rolling one’s own leaves is a tradition that endures among farmers in the western province of Pinar del Rio, where most Cuban tobacco farms are located.

Flavor

Castro’s favorite cigar, the Cohiba Lancero, which he smoked until he quit in 1985 at the age of 59, is still produced in the factory.

“Despite all the difficulties we face,” the goal is to manufacture “nearly two million” cigars in 2022, or roughly 9,000 a day, said factory head Oscar Rodriguez.

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Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Cuban cigar exports grew by 15 percent in 2021, totaling $568 million, according to Habanos S.A., which includes all national brands. That constitutes a significant boon for the Cuban economy, which is in the grips of its worst crisis in 30 years, with daily shortages and power cuts.

The factory “did not stop for a single day” during the pandemic, eventually making cigars “the country’s second-largest export,” Rodriguez said.

Spain, China, Germany, France and Switzerland are among the top buyers.

Expertly handling curved blades and a sticky substance, dozens of workers put the finishing touches on the ends of newly rolled cigars.

Some 60 percent of the workers are women — following a tradition at the factory founded by Castro’s comrade-in-arms Celia Sanchez — that aims to give opportunities to single mothers or women in difficulty.

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Another founder, Norma Fernandez, who died during the pandemic, rolled the cigars for the leader of the revolution.

“It was a privilege to be able to say, ‘I made the president’s cigars,’” said Orquidea Gonzalez, hard at work at the factory, which is housed in an elegant 1950s villa.

Caridad Mesa, now 55, started working at El Laguito as a cleaning lady. Thirty years later, she is in charge of spotting the smallest defects in the cigars.

It is necessary to control “the quality, the weight, the length… the thickness,” she said, scrutinizing boxes brimming with cigars under a large portrait of Communist revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Cohiba cigars, which include a wide range of styles, can cost $30 to $200 each, both in Cuba and abroad.

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“Cuban tobacco is distinguished from all other kinds by the flavor of the land of Pinar del Rio,” said Gonzalez.

It is there, she added, “where the best tobacco crops are grown.”

International

Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states, while three others —California, Oregon and Pennsylvania— currently have moratoriums in place.

The United States is set to carry out three executions on the same day, a rare occurrence that has not happened since 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

President Donald Trump has sought to expand the use of capital punishment for what he describes as “the most heinous crimes.” In April, the Department of Justice proposed expanding execution methods to include firing squads, lethal gas and electrocution.

Tennessee is scheduled to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a woman, according to local media.

In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodríguez, 70, is scheduled to be executed for a 2003 murder.

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Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.

The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest number since 2009, when 52 executions were recorded.

Florida conducted the largest number of executions last year, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, with five each.

Of the executions carried out in 2025, 39 were conducted by lethal injection. Three were carried out by firing squad and five through nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing nitrogen gas into a face mask, depriving the prisoner of oxygen.

The United Nations has condemned nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.

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International

Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 265 as Rescue Teams Race Against Time

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, the strongest to hit the country this century, has so far left 265 people dead and around 3,500 injured.

In Cali, Pereira and other cities in western Colombia, rescue teams are working around the clock as they search for survivors. The first 72 hours following the earthquake will be reached at 7:34 a.m. local time (12:34 GMT), a critical window for rescue efforts as the chances of finding survivors generally decline significantly after that point.

Among those anxiously awaiting news is Valeria Cardona, a 26-year-old student searching for two of her cousins in Cali.

“We have some suspicions about their location, but there are no signs of life,” she said. “Hope is the last thing you lose, but we are anxious about receiving news we don’t want to hear.”

A team of members from the Topos Aztecas, the renowned Mexican volunteer rescue group, has also arrived in Cali to join the search. The rescuers had been working in neighboring Venezuela, where a double earthquake on June 24 left more than 6,000 people dead.

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“We all came from Venezuela, from La Guaira. The 41 days we spent working there made us stronger because we overcame hunger, pain and sleepless nights,” said Héctor Méndez, 80, president of Topos Aztecas.

Méndez encouraged those affected by the disaster not to lose hope and emphasized the commitment required from rescue teams during an emergency.

“Do not feel like victims. This is not an office or workshop schedule. This is real life, where the best part of the human spirit emerges. These are things of nature that happen,” he said.

International

German Authorities Investigate More Than 100 New Cases Against Convicted Nurse

German authorities announced Monday that they are investigating more than 100 additional cases involving a nurse who was sentenced to life in prison in November for the murder of 10 patients.

The man, who was 44 at the time of his conviction, worked in palliative care at a hospital in Würselen, near Aachen. He was also found guilty of 27 attempted murders.

Aachen prosecutors are now examining 121 new cases, a spokesperson for the office said.

Prosecutors leading the investigation are preparing a new indictment that could be filed next year. Nearly 40 bodies have so far been exhumed as part of the investigation, which covers alleged incidents dating back to September 2022.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in the city of Cologne are investigating 18 additional cases. According to a spokesperson, the oldest case dates back to 2010.

Before working at the Würselen hospital, the nurse is believed to have worked at a clinic in eastern Cologne, according to local media reports.

At the time of his November conviction, the court ruled that the severity of his crimes was particularly serious, a finding that would make it difficult for him to obtain early release after 15 years in prison.

Between December 2023 and May 2024, the nurse administered overdoses of sedatives or painkillers to terminally ill patients, most of them elderly, according to the indictment in the original case.

His alleged motive was to sedate patients who required care so that he could minimize his workload during night shifts, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, the nurse worked «without enthusiasm» and «without motivation». When faced with patients requiring extensive care, he allegedly became «irritated» and showed a lack of empathy.

The case has revived painful memories in Germany of Niels Högel, a former nurse and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2019 for the murders of at least 85 patients.