First of all I would like to welcome you on our fifth blog. Yesterday we have left the beautiful Jamaica and we have continued our route to Mexico. But before we finish in Mexico we wanted to make a stop in Cuba. Cuba is known for its beautiful nature and environment. But that is not the reason why we wanted to visit Cuba. We wanted to visit Cuba because we wanted to get some more information about the cigar plants.
For over a decade Manuel García, Habanoss who was a commercial vice-president, was the public face for the Cuban cigar industry. All the people who lived in Cuba wanted to be like him, and dreamed of it.But last year he wasnt on the Havana cigar festival, which was very strange because normally he is there to greet the audience. That was because he was caught by the police and rested in jail accused of masterminding graft on a grand scale.
When we were walking on the streets of Havana, we have seen that there is an illegal market of Havana cigars. There are a lot of salesmen who sell the cigars on the street to tourists. Nowadays this isnt the main problem. The main problem is that the export the illegal cigars to Switzerland and the Caribbean. And the export price is improbably low.
Everyone thinks that Manuel García sets up this business, who is the beneficent for a big amount of bribes for each export deal he makes.
But we can conclude that Cuba is one of the nicest countries we have visit on our trip to Mexico. We hope that the we can have the same experience in Mexico as what we have had here in Cuba.
