Cigar diplomacy is back—and once again it is clouding the landscape for an American president. As the Cold War raged in 1962, a trade embargo against Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba was an easy political call for John F. Kennedy. The president had a personal conflict-of-interest, however: JFK loved a good smoke. So he quietly secured 1,000 of his soon-to-be-contraband favorite, H. Upmann Petit Coronas, for his personal humidor before taking “necessary actions to promote national and hemispheric security.” As a nonsmoker, President Biden has a clear conscience as the feds prepare to take on the tobacco industry of Latin America. It’s politics alone that put him in a bind: Does he back policies that would hinder premium cigar imports from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic to appease the antismoking lobby, or let them be, to promote economic growth and help staunch the current massive flow of migrants …
Will Snuffing out Fine Latin Cigars Strike the Match of Illegal Immigration?
August 30, 2021
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