Some 300 producers were consulted: six chose Mercedes-Benz, about 15 opted for Foton rural vehicles, and the rest rejected the “stimulus.”
14ymedio, Havana, August 27,2025 — Tabacuba staged the delivery, this Tuesday, of six modern Mercedes-Benz to two Cuban tobacco growers to “encourage tobacco production.” In the announcement, the State did not admit, of course, that it is the farmers themselves who pay — out of their pockets and in freely convertible currency (MLC) — for the “privilege” of having a car.
In a short statement, Tabacuba was extremely brief about the vehicles, which were “provided” by the company and “purchased” by six “exemplary” farmers. Not only are there no data on them, but it is also not known who they are or which region they belong to, although they probably come from the tobacco production areas par excellence, like Pinar del Río.
Asked about the sale of vehicles, a tobacco grower of that province confirmed to 14ymedio that Tabacuba offered the deal to some 300 producers from all over the country months ago. At the moment, he believes, the offer has not been very successful. “The quantities of vehicles sold, as shown, speak for themselves,” he says, although he adds that the deal — which offers them a very favorable exchange rate — will eventually attract the farmers who want to get rid of their MLC.
What happens, he explains, is that Tabacuba pays for the cars in dollars but charges the farmers in MLC, at the official exchange rate, while the informal market pays twice the virtual one. For the farmers, this seems initially beneficial, especially given that the MLC has depreciated rapidly in recent weeks, and paying the value of the vehicle in dollars would be impossible or extremely expensive. The catch is that, for a sector that generates so much currency and profit for the State, the producers are paid in a virtual currency without purchasing power, and not in the dollars generated by their crops.
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“In addition to supporting the value of the MLC, Tabacuba is also responsible for buying the vehicles abroad and paying for them, something that natural persons would have to do on their own,” he explains. The State has also guaranteed another 5% discount on the import taxes for the vehicles.
However, the perk is not for everyone. When the announcement was made, recalls the farmer, Tabacuba specified that it could benefit “the producers with two or more hectares of sun-on-stick tobacco and those who over-fulfill in the collection.” For these “exemplary” tobacco farmers, a stimulus of 10% in national currency of the gross value of the sale had already been promised.
He believes that the company does not care about the difficulties of the tobacco growers, who must use the MLC they earn to pay for materials, insecticides, fertilizers and workers’ salaries for the next campaign. “I am considering buying [a vehicle] with a loan in order to have cash to start the next campaign,” he says. But his case, he points out, is not the same as that of other producers who “do have money.”
At the bottom of Tabacuba’s notice on the delivery of Mercedes, a user who claims to be legal advisor to the tour operator Cuba Travel, said that it is a payment to growers for “meeting the requisite requirements” during the tobacco campaign 2023-2024. The amount for vehicles comes from the MLC that was paid to the producers last year for the harvest.
The cars, he states, were “chosen at the pleasure of the producer,” while others “opted for a two-seater tractor made by Foton and a semi-trailer for the development of their tobacco farms and the production of various crops.” Foton is one of the Chinese brands of vehicles that have begun to circulate in Cuba in recent times. They enter the island through MCV Comercial, an importer that is the official representative of Mercedes-Benz in Cuba, with headquarters in Havana, where the six cars were delivered to the tobacco growers.
In total, the consultant says, “more than 20 vehicles have been contracted, some of them imported or manufactured outside the country.”
Among the readers, some considered the sale of vehicles to the farmers positive, but others denounced it as a reward system that could only work in a country like Cuba: “In any other part of the world, a farmer, without being “exemplary,” could buy a car and pay for it without needing a great initiative of some company.”
Others questioned the ability of such lucrative companies as Tabacuba to offer similar incentives to their workers. “Why can’t BioCubaFarma do the same with scientists? After 32 years of creating Trofin [an anti-anemic drug] and its product line, my 80-year-old father still asks for help with his car, a Lada. Help that has been missing for almost 20 years,” criticized Elizabeth González Aznar, daughter of the drug’s creator, who has already denounced on social networks the institutional neglect towards her father, Raúl González Hernández. “The 1% of sales of Trofin in those 32 years is enough to help him, but no. Isn’t this theft? Is this logical in a socialist country? No. Meanwhile, we see the sons, stepchildren and nephews of high leaders in the latest model cars.”
This is not the first time that Cuba has provided so-called incentives that the producers themselves have to buy. One year ago, in June 2024, Marino Murillo, president of Tabacuba, gave the Pinar del Rio tobacco growers 13 Yto-X904 Chinese tractors for $26,000 each. Payment had several conditions: it must be in MLC and earned from the production of tobacco.
For those who still had not been paid for that year’s campaign, explained a local producer to 14ymedio, there was the option of obtaining the tractor and not receiving the money. “Ten years ago, buying a tractor was a joke. A thousand letters and requirements were needed. But now Murillo was clear: if you have the money, you can buy the tractor. According to them, the government doesn’t ’win’ anything for the tractor. What they are interested in is producing more tobacco. I will not deny that this is a certain improvement,” he said.
Translated by Regina Anavy