Don’t tell us we’re not Cuban: The Real Havana Club

#ForeverCuban #TheRealHavanaClub #Amparo

Bacardi is synonymous with Republican Cuba. Two generations of the Bacardi family fought for Cuban independence with one family member fighting alongside General Antonio Maceo. During the Republic the family not only had enlightened business practices but also engaged in civic activities that promoted a democratic culture.

Each time dictatorship arose in Cuba under Machado, Batista and Castro the Bacardis joined the democratic resistance. They have recognized the work of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and in 2017 that of his daughter, Rosa María Payá and they are supporting the Cuba Decide initiative to push for a democratic transition.


Bacardi embodies the love of freedom and a good party.  They are also patrons of the arts and were also involved in an immersive theater experience called The Amparo Experience.

The anti-Bacardi's, the antithesis of a free Cuba are the Castros throughout Cuban history beginning with the war for independence through to the present day with the Castro dictatorship. Angel Castro, Fidel and Raul Castro's father fought for the Spanish crown against Cuban independence. The Castro brothers emerged out of the worse elements of political gangsterism to impose a dictatorship that has lasted 60 years and destroyed a great people.

Now they are setting the record straight and defending the legacy of Havana Club with a challenge: Don’t tell us we’re not Cuban.

"The Arechabala Family started their rum-making business in 1878 in Cuba and first registered the original Havana Club trademark in 1934. It wasn’t long before Havana Club Rum became a beloved and iconic Cuban brand – becoming a favorite amongst locals as well as American and European tourists.

Then everything changed. On January 1st, 1960, at gunpoint, the Cuban regime unrightfully seized the company’s assets without compensation. The Arechabala family lost everything and was forced to flee the homeland they loved, with a scant few of their remaining possessions – the precious Havana Club recipe being one of them. Meanwhile, the Cuban Government started to sell their stolen version of Havana Club, and continues to do so to this day.

It wasn’t until 1995 – after decades of rebuilding, the Arechabala family finally joined forces with another Cuban family in exile: Bacardi. The latter acquired the Havana Club brand and began producing rum based on the original Havana Club recipe and selling it in the one country that didn’t recognize the Cuban Government’s 1960 illegal expropriation, the United States.

The Havana Club brand is an example of how, despite the circumstances, Cubans in exile have never accepted their fate. Havana Club rum holds onto its rich Cuban culture." 

Worse yet the Castro regime's rum business in addition to providing a substandard product uses child labor. Back in 2016 news broke that Cuba wanted to pay off $276 million dollars in Czech debt with rum. "This Film Used To Be About Rum" is an interesting attempted exploration of this agreement between the Czech Republic and the Cuban dictatorship to negotiate Cuba's debt with the Central European country through rum shipments.

The filmmakers interviewed Tomas Zdechovsky, a Czech representative of the European Parliament who made a shocking revelation in the film.

"I don't think we've mentioned that the whole rum industry is based on child labor. When you come out to the countryside and take a look at who's working on the fields, you'll see ten, twelve-year-old children working there.  And then we go ahead and drink the rum wth no ethical dilemmas whatsoever. We just accept it as being part of a culture.But when you think about it, when you drink Cuban rum, you're helping the Cuban regime survive."

Let us look forward to the day that both Bacardi and the real Havana Club can return to Cuba, and make the rum on their home turf and not in exile. But that necessitates the return of freedom that also means private property rights, freedom of expression and freedom of association. It will also mean an end to child labor and a return to enlightened business practices were workers would get stock options as they did before the communist revolution.