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New Cuban government restrictions actually support U.S. Customs controls
Los Angeles, June 29 – In a remarkable twist, a new set of Cuban governmental restrictions designed to support the domestic cigar industry have the effect of supporting the efforts of the United States Customs Service in stopping the illegal entry of cigars from Havana into the U.S. from tourists who visit the island, legally or illegally.
A lengthy article in last weekend’s English-language edition of Granma, the government-run newspaper, urged visitors to Cuba to resist buying counterfeit (and cheap) Havana cigars in a mocking tone:
“With rings under his eyes, loud-color shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, with the famous and more or less voluminous waist pouch, our tourist leaves his hotel, generally located in Old Havana. Thus attired, that being his right, he takes his first steps towards the Capitol, the Plaza de Armas or Empedrado Street, converting himself into the prey of sharks, jackals or carrion, daytime or nighttime versions. At least $30 for a box of “puros” - our imprudent friend ends up buying at least two of them - the tourist who usually doesn’t know anything about cigars or is not even an enthusiastic amateur, has the feeling of having completed part of his agenda, as if he’s visited the famed hump-backed hills of Viñales, swum in the lipid waters of Varadero or savored one or two cocktails under a sunshade beside a hotel swimming pool.”
To counter this, regulations at airports and ports now require visitors leaving Cuba to show a receipt for even one box of cigars, although up to 23 loose cigars can be taken without proof of purchase. To accommodate this, visitors must show the boxes and the authorities are to compare the receipt details with the hologram now incorporated into one side of all new boxes. A database containing information on all purchases can also be called up for verification.
Travelers to Cuba from the U.S. often pack their boxes of Havanas carefully in their luggage, but this is now impossible as each box must be produced at departure. Thus, bulky boxes of cigars must be placed in carry-ons and are more easily inspected at arrival points in the U.S. or other countries.
Cuban customs reported confiscating 29,891 boxes of fake Havanas in 9,914 separate instances in 2003 and, armed with these new regulations, started 2004 with a roar, with 6,949 boxes seized in the first two months, an annual rate of almost 84,000 boxes! The ultimate irony is, of course, that the U.S. Customs Service couldn’t be more pleased.
~ Rich Perelman
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