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.
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.
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.
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.
“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
Regional mexican music mourns the death of Banda Gota de Oro singer Giovanni Vera
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The incident took place inside a residence located in the Los Presidentes neighborhood, in the municipality of Irapuato.
According to preliminary reports, several people were gathered at the house when armed men burst in and opened fire on those present. The attack left five people dead, including the singer.
Hours after the shooting, Banda Gota de Oro confirmed Vera’s death through its official Instagram account. In one of the posts, the group expressed its grief with an emotional message: “Today, the sky is dressed for a celebration because you are singing up there. Your voice and your joy will live on forever within us.”
Messages of support and condolences from fans and fellow musicians quickly flooded social media, paying tribute to the artist and expressing solidarity with his family and bandmates.
International
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One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting reported early Tuesday in the Big Island Lake Cree Nation, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, according to local media.
Police said they were alerted to the incident in a remote area located approximately 392 kilometers northwest of the city of Saskatoon. Authorities issued a dangerous persons alert for two suspects, who were described as armed.
Saskatchewan police urged residents to seek shelter immediately, lock their doors, and avoid the area while the situation remains under investigation. Officers are working to determine whether the shooting was a targeted attack or a random act of violence.
As a precautionary measure, seven health-care facilities in the surrounding area were placed under lockdown, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a post on X.
International
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The train, carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members, derailed on Sunday while traveling along the Interoceanic Corridor, a major infrastructure project that connects the Pacific coast with the Gulf of Mexico across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The corridor was one of the flagship initiatives of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018–2024).
Sheinbaum visited three hospitals in the neighboring towns of Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, where around 20 injured passengers remain hospitalized. She also went to a funeral home to accompany the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.
According to Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Raymundo Morales, the accident occurred when one of the locomotives derailed, causing all four railcars to leave the tracks.
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