EnglishYesmoke breaks the Cuban Embargo
Big Tobacco always finds the way to migrate – everywhere…
Last July, the Marlboro cigarettes of the Yesmoke site began migrating to Cuba, where this top American brand is omnipresent, as it is everywhere in the world.
Yesmoke had purchased the cigarettes on the parallel market, that same market that is highly criticised but is perfectly legal and actively bankrolled by the manufacturers.
Actually, it appears that some of the goods on this commercial channel are systematically detoured to the smuggling market, and here we are talking about real smuggling … that must not be confused with online cigarette sales accompanied by regular customs declarations.
“What can we do with these 20 million packets? We would like to sell them wholesale but what if they fall into the hands of smugglers?”
—This was one of the questions Yesmoke addressed some months ago to the OLAF, the new European anti-smuggling police force and to Philip Morris, OLAF's new “outside collaborator”.
“Sell them to anyone you want, that's your right” was the unanimous answer.
A worker in the field usually doesn't need much to understand what irregular directions containers of cigarettes that a legitimate company is purchasing might follow.
Until proven otherwise, anyone who approaches Yesmoke today to buy a supply of cigarettes cannot be considered a smuggler.
But who is responsible if someone tries to reroute some of the goods from the parallel market into smuggling channels?
To preclude this, Yesmoke has made the most responsible decision: sell the cigarettes to Cuba, where they are welcome. In this way the company prevents some of them from going, very probably, to supply the smuggling market in the European Community and in the countries of Eastern Europe.
So from the bonded warehouse of Rosendhal, near Rotterdam (Holland), on 10 August, the first 2 containers departed with 100 thousand cartons of Marlboro Reds and Lights.
A) The Embargo for Big Tobacco
Marlboro Cigarettes typify Cuba 's branded future. New York-based Philip Morris Company is conducting Cuba 's most successful branding experiment.
When it comes to branding Cuba, Philip Morris is a top champion. Using techniques like, for example, the distribution of its omnipresent brand-marked ashtrays in Cuban restaurants, Philip Morris has boosted Cuban Marlboro sales to between five and six million packs per year.
Marlboro has adapted the American ideals of rebellion and individualism and packaged them for Cuban consumption. What the Cubans get, however, is neither revolution nor individualism, just conformity.
B) The Embargo for the Pastors for Peace
A humanitarian group, the New York City-based Pastors for Peace, delivering 140 tons of aid to Cuba, after a nearly 24-hour delay, was allowed to cross the U.S.-Mexico border on July 29, 2005.
The Pastors for Peace buses
The U.S. Department of Commerce agents hand-inspected the eight buses filled with food, medicine and medical equipment. “The delay came at a time when the need for aid in Cuba is particularly urgent because of damage caused by Hurricane Dennis”.
After searching one of the buses, officials confiscated computers and other electronic equipment outlawed from exportation to Cuba. “We feel the Bush administration is going to get a tremendous amount of pressure on this issue, and rightly so, for obstructing humanitarian aid to the Cuban people”, group members said.
The group could have traveled to Cuba legally by applying for a humanitarian license. But they chose not to apply for the license to show their opposition to the embargo.
Consequently, the aid workers could also face civil and criminal charges when they return from Cuba.
More info
- US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control – Cuba: What You Need To Know About The US Embargo
- Pro-Cuba group says U.S. seized Canadian computers – Redorbit.com – 29-07-2005
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