nino

Cannot agree more to your post - thanks. After spending beautiful days at Hector's farm for many years I am still touched by the clip of the farm. After having attended many Festivals I am tired of that blah blah circus. If you can make it to Cuba, try and visit the Vuelta Abajo and its tobacco farmers - you will see that they are all passionate, dedicated people. Do it before that too becomes a circus.

Nice.

Yes, been to enough Festivals to last me for a lifetime. Which is why I have not attended any Festivals last few years and did not fly this year to HAV - had enough. Interesting for sure for a newbie if you can afford the ticket prices. But the only thing I miss about NOT being at the Festival are the private parties, gatherings and encounters with good friends. That is where you get the best & most accurate information on what's going on - not from the Festival and the official meetings/seminars. Looking forward to be in HAV next month for some quiet time away from the Festival circus, and I am quite sure I will have a try at all the new releases, new cigars and all the gossip - just in a more relaxed and private atmosphere. But, again, if you are into this, go and attend, by all means.

Rob, sorry - you may know a few foreign investors/ partners in Cuban paladars, but I am certain you don't know a single official foreign owner of a Paladar. The owners have to be and are Cuban, whether genuine owners or front-men for foreign investment, but Cubans. I don't believe there is a single foreign owned Paladar in Cuba ... Correct me if I am wrong.

Lovely video ! Thanks. Happy to have been there and visited Ybor City and its cigar legacy.

Those are long, long gone .... 🙂

I'd go for Herzog ....

Great pictures and happy you had a good time with the familiy Andy !! Good to see the usual suspects in good form, Jose, Jürgen, Toby et. al. That newly released Perla del Norte is quite tasty and fast becoming my new favourite rum.

Regarding the lack of cash and the long overdue and unpaid debts by Cuba - some very recent information : https://thecubaneconomy.com/articles/2019/01/reality-bites-cuba-plans-more-austerity-as-finances-worsen/ ‘REALITY’ BITES: CUBA PLANS MORE AUSTERITY AS FINANCES WORSEN HAVANA (Reuters) DECEMBER 28, 2018 / 3:14 PM Cash-strapped Cuba plans fresh austerity measures and will pressure the sluggish bureaucracy to tighten its belt and cut red tape to address weak growth, falling export earnings and rising debt. The economy has averaged 1 percent annual growth over the last three years, compared with a 5 percent to 7 percent rate economists say is needed to recover fully from a 1990s depression caused by the fall of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union. The communist-run country has more recently been hit by the economic collapse of its new sponsor and strategic ally, Venezuela, which began to send fuel and cash its way in exchange for doctors and medicine 18 years ago. Other external shocks, such as Hurricane Irma in late 2017 and the Trump administration’s tightening of U.S. sanctions, have also weighed on the Caribbean island nation’s economy. “The 2019 plan is one of adjustment to current realities. We cannot spend more than we earn,” Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernandez said at a session of the National Assembly last week. State-run companies account for and control most economic activity, including finances and foreign trade, through a planned economy. Cuba last reported its foreign debt at $15.8 billion in 2015. It began delaying payments to some suppliers and investors in 2016, with western diplomats and businessmen estimating the short-term debt accumulated since then at more than $1.5 billion. Foreign trade fell around 25 percent from 2013 through 2017, with annual imports dropping to $11.3 billion from $15.6 billion, according to the government. Gil said trade declined further in 2018, without providing figures. The minister said exports would increase 6 percent next year while imports would be slashed 11 percent compared with the Western diplomats who met with top officials recently said the Cubans said little about how they planned to surmount the crisis and gave no indication they would allow more private initiative and capital accumulation by citizens. “Obtaining inputs and credit on the international market will be more difficult in 2019,” Vidal said.

Yes, Cuban official media ( and party followers ) use it as : Bloqueo economico, bloqueo politico etc. when referring to the US trade measures against Cuba. If you read the relevant article on Wikipedia in Spanish you will notice that "Embargo" is used only once in the title - all other references are to "El Bloqueo" .... https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_estadounidense_a_Cuba Exactly - as Cuba is able to trade with any country ( and does so with the US on foodstuff imports etc ). The correct term would be : Lack of Cash and long overdue & unpaid debts by the Cuban gvt. that scare investors ( and trade ) away from the island ...

I stopped overlooking the article at this "Insight" ... what a BS : Are they tuned into politics? Where do they get their information? Cubans pay very close attention to politics. They get their information through television, radio, print news, social media, and from the world around them.