Interdependence And American Garlic

Interdependence: Cuban Style

About a year ago I went on a vacation to Cuba. Our cigar factory tour guide explained the procedure to us.

1. State approves farmers to grow tobacco
2. Harvested tobacco is shipped to Havana
3. Grading and sorting is done in Havana
4. Sorted tobacco is then shipped to the many cigar factories spread throughout Cuba
5. Cigars are rolled and packaged at the factories
6. Packaged cigars are shipped back to Havana
7. Havana decides how many will be exported and where within Cuba the remainder will be sold

The result is that the cigars sold to tourists outside the cigar factory were not even made in that factory and have actually done some serious travelling around Cuba. Our tour guide cheerfully told us that this was a clever scheme hatched by ‘Fidel’ (everyone seemed to be on a first name basis with their dictator) to create jobs. A strange way to create jobs in a country starved for petroleum, don’t you think?

What this really does is create an interdependence within the country controlled through Havana. There are no cigar factories anywhere near the tobacco fields. Grading expertise is nowhere near the cigar factories. Etc. etc.

Read full article here. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 13, 2007]

Note: Brent Jessop - Knowledg... here