Cigar Industry took a Huge Hit

[El Presidente]

 

https://havanatimes.org/news/cubas-cigar-industry-took-a-huge-hit-from-hurricane-ian/

Cuba’s Cigar Industry took a Huge Hit from Hurricane Ian

 October 5, 2022

HAVANA TIMES – Hurricane Ian has been a “demolishing blow” for Cuba’s most select tobacco cultivation, the official press reported, with major material damage and the loss of thousands of tons of raw material.

Hurricane Ian — a category three storm with heavy rains and winds of up to 125 miles per hour — caused massive damage, “both in tons and in the quality of a crop that contributes hundreds of millions of dollars for export every year,” according to the official newspaper Granma.

The digital media Cubadebate also reported on the destruction of much of the infrastructure of the tobacco sector in Pinar del Río, the province where a large part of Cuban tobacco is grown and where the raw material of the most sought-after cigars comes from.

The Pinar del Río Agriculture delegate, Víctor Fidel Hernández, told Granma that “it’s the biggest blow that the tobacco infrastructure has suffered in its history.”

In the country’s main tobacco-producing region, 90% of the approximately 12,000 rustic curing houses, where tobacco leaves are stored for drying, have been damaged.

The storm also dampened “around 11,000 tons of tobacco” that was in the process of drying, and much of it will have to be discarded.

This blow to the sector comes at an already delicate time for the Cuban tobacco sector. The Cuban state tobacco company produced less than half of what was planned from January to June, due to lack of basic inputs, logistical problems and breakdowns, among other problems.

The situation, a continuation of the one experienced in 2021, has caused “instability” in the “distribution in the retail sales network” of tobacco within Cuba, Granma acknowledged this August.

Tobacco, which employs about 200,000 workers — 250,000 at the peak of the harvest — is one of the largest sources of income for Cuba.

Production decreased from 32,000 tons in 2017 to 25,800 in 2020, according to official data; 2021 was one of the worst years for the Cuban countryside in the last decade, as the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Perez Brito, recently said.

 

[LLC]

How much more can they take. It is one thing after another the last three years. 

[madandana]

The hits just keep coming 

[helix]

Distasters and crumbling infasture aside.   https://fhrcuba.org/2020/05/evictions-of-the-homeless-in-cuba/

Homelessness in Cuba?

"Sixty six years after Castro's promise, no less than 7.4 million Cubans (67% of the population) do not have a “decent home”. And worst of all, the “revolution” constantly evicts poor families from their precarious homes, which are flattened. The housing crisis is endemic and as severe or more than that of Haiti."

[vladdraq]

i assume this will translate in new price hikes very soon. 

[Bigkahuna]

The US needs to ignore the whiners that live in 1962 and just roll up sleeves and help them. Open trade up again, allow new crops to be planted with help from actual scientists and pump money into the country with tourism. Enough is enough already. Help them out ! 

 

4 hours ago, vladdraq said:

i assume this will translate in new price hikes very soon. 

Lol. I saw some farm rolls selling now for more than actual top Marques did earlier this year. It’s unsustainable. 

[helix]

https://havanatimes.org/diaries/pedro-pablo-morejon/cuba-is-bleeding/

[NSXCIGAR]

7 hours ago, Bigkahuna said:

The US needs to ignore the whiners that live in 1962 and just roll up sleeves and help them

The problem is government aid goes to the state. Maybe 10% gets to the people. Private donations to actual Cubans are key. Plenty of people here can point the way. Visit, bring supplies and medicine. I'll be there in a couple weeks doing just that. 

 

[SCgarman]

3 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

The problem is government aid goes to the state. Maybe 10% gets to the people. Private donations to actual Cubans are key. Plenty of people here can point the way. Visit, bring supplies and medicine. I'll be there in a couple weeks doing just that.

Unfortunately there are likely not enough like you to make a difference. I would venture to say more US citizens are concerned about their economy, energy prices, and cost of living and being able to stay above water. Not concerned at all about disasters in other countries. There is literally nothing reported about Cuba on any US news media organization.

[anacostiakat]

Wash Post had an article today (Thur) on how the administration was in discussions with Cuba on aid.  Buried in the front section.  That is pretty much all I have seen.

[Blakes]

23 hours ago, helix said:

https://havanatimes.org/diaries/pedro-pablo-morejon/cuba-is-bleeding/

Those blackouts seem to have changed Cuba's coastline! 🧐

[joeypots]

It’s always the same. The people on the lower end of the economic ladder get hit the hardest.