HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Cuba’s annual cigar honest, which was set to be held the final week of February, has been postponed organizers stated Saturday, because the island faces blackouts and extreme gasoline shortages led to by a U.S oil embargo.
In a press release, the cigar honest’s organizer, Habanos S.A. stated it determined to postpone the enduring occasion to “protect its excessive customary of high quality.”
Habanos S.A., a three way partnership between the state-owned firm Cubatabaco and worldwide agency Altadis, holds the worldwide monopoly on Cuban cigar gross sales.
Yearly, the corporate hosts the annual Habanos Competition, a key occasion for cigar aficionados and distributors worldwide, the place attendees tour tobacco plantations, take part in auctions and witness the newest in craftsmanship.
The assertion by Habanos S.A. didn’t set a brand new date for the twenty sixth version of the cigar honest.
Final yr, the occasion closed with an public sale during which $18 million was paid for a batch of extremely coveted, hand rolled cigars. The corporate final yr additionally reported document gross sales of $827 million.
A number of cultural occasions, together with a e book honest, have been postponed in Cuba this month because the island grapples with essentially the most extreme gasoline shortages and energy blackouts in years.
In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any nation that offered oil to Cuba, as Washington places extra stress on the island’s communist management to implement political and financial reforms.
Cuba imports about 60% of its vitality provide, and had lengthy relied on Venezuela and Mexico for a lot of its oil.
However shipments from Venezuela have been canceled in January following the elimination of that nation’s then-president Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. army raid, a transfer that additionally resulted in better U.S. oversight over Venezuela’s oil trade.
Shipments from Mexico stopped in mid-February following Trump’s tariff risk.
Earlier this week, three Canadian airways canceled flights to Cuba after the island’s authorities introduced there can be no jet gasoline for planes looking for to refuel at Cuba’s airports. Different airways have maintained their flights to the island however shall be refueling their planes with stopovers within the Dominican Republic.
The gasoline shortages have additionally harm tourism on the island, with some companies canceling journeys as the federal government shuts down some inns, and relocates vacationers in a bid to save lots of electrical energy.
Tabacuba, a state-run tobacco firm, lamented the postponement of this yr’s cigar honest in a press release, saying it had come about resulting from “the complicated financial scenario that the nation is going through, because of the intensification of the financial, industrial and monetary blockade” imposed by the US.