San José de las Lajas (Cuba) (AFP)

They reached the planned production, not without difficulties: the manufacturers of Havana Club, the most famous Cuban rum, must overcome a hurdle as the administration of Donald Trump continues to tighten its sanctions against the island.

In the modern distillery and bottling plant of San José, 30 km from Havana, the director of development of Havana Club, Sergio Valdés, is proud to announce that the group, a joint venture between the French Pernod-Ricard, number two in the world in spirits, and the state enterprise Cuba Ron SA, manufactured 4.7 million cases (nine liters each) in fiscal year 2018-19, an almost stable volume (+ 1%) .

However, not everything was so simple. Admittedly, "the Havana Club liquid is 100% Cuban", but "the cases, the bottles, the labels, the corks, we have to import them and it is these imports which can sometimes be complicated", he specifies.

For example, it is "a historic supplier who tells us that he can no longer continue to sell us or another who tells us that he has problems with his bank", the banking sector having become more cautious than never vis-à-vis the island.

Behind this adverse context, the rain of sanctions from Washington, which accuses Havana of militarily supporting the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, which Cuba denies.

The American embargo, in force since 1962, already complicates the life of Cuban rum: "To be excluded from 40% of the world market (what the United States represents in consumption of premium rum, editor's note), it is an undeniable impact on the brand ", underlines Sergio Valdés.

- Desert Museum -

But the horizon has darkened again. The Rum Museum is now almost deserted, noted an AFP journalist. Located 150 meters from the cruise ship terminal, it has suffered since American cruise ships were prohibited from calling at it.

The Trump administration has also activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Law, which wants to discourage foreign investment in Cuba by allowing legal actions around nationalized goods after the socialist revolution of 1959.

This has only rekindled the legal battle, initiated over 20 years ago, over the ownership of the Havana Club brand, between Cuba and the American giant Bacardi, which registered it in the United States, where it markets Puerto Rican rum.

Rum is a flagship export product for Cuba, which shipped 397,642 hectoliters in 2018 to 126 countries, mainly in Europe, for $ 136 million. The fall is 40% in volume, but only 9% in value because the sector relies on more elaborate and therefore more expensive products.

"The effects (of sanctions) are numerous, but what is important is that Havana Club, until now, has had the wisdom (...) to compensate for the possible negative impacts of these measures," asserts Sergio Valdés, "sometimes paying a little more, taking more time or requiring better planning ...".

- "The heart of rum" -

Inaugurated in 2007 for a budget of $ 66 million, the San José bottling plant is responsible for preparing brown rums, as opposed to white rums produced in the traditional factory in Santa Cruz, east of La Havana.

Molasses - residue from the crystallization of cane sugar - is distilled there with modern technologies to make an aromatic brandy containing more than 70% alcohol: it is "the soul, the heart of rum ", recounts with passion the master rum maker Asbel Morales.

When to know if this brandy is ready? "We have the most modern equipment possible", but the process "is above all based on sensations", he confides.

To prove it, he takes a sample, pours it on his hands and rubs it. If the liquid takes on an oily consistency, this means that it is ready. Once evaporated, the master rum maker checks the aroma by inhaling his hands.

"It is a very traditional technique, very simple and which makes it possible to reveal the truth, the quality of a brandy".

The latter will then rest for several years in American white oak barrels, formerly used to make whiskey. It is there that it will take its dark shade, its fruity flavors, under the effect of the high temperatures and the typically Cuban humidity.

© 2020 AFP