“They do not expect a resumption of work activities in the short term,” an employee told ’14ymedio’.
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, February 17, 2026 – There is no official statement, but the Lázaro Peña cigar factory in Holguín has been closed for five days. The reasons, two employees of the state-owned company—one of them a manager—told 14ymedio, are the same as those that have put many other operations on hold in Cuba in recent weeks: a lack of fuel. “Raw materials are coming in, but without fuel, the boilers and machines aren’t running,” explains one of the workers, who asked to remain anonymous.
“We closed on the 12th, and it’s an indefinite closure,” reports another employee, who continues: “They’ve talked to us about job relocation, but they haven’t given us any specifics yet.” According to this source, the company is in talks with the Holguín Municipal Labor Directorate. “Because workers are supposed to be paid 100% of their salary for the first month and 60% for the second.” Why are they negotiating this issue with that agency from the beginning? The man answers: “Because it seems they don’t expect work to resume anytime soon.”
Until they decide what to do, the state-owned company’s management will try to reorganize the two shifts working at the factory, he continues. “Let’s see how they manage to give us work on both shifts,” the first employee summarizes skeptically.
The factory, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, has not announced the suspension of its activities, although it has continued to post on its social media accounts after the 12th.
The factory, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, has not announced the suspension of its activities, although it has continued posting on its social media accounts since the 12th. One of these posts was a reproduction of the statement from Habanos SA, the state-owned cigar monopoly, announcing the cancellation of the Cigar Festival, which had been scheduled for February 24-27.
The cancellation of the event, the major international showcase for Cuban tobacco, represents a considerable loss for the state coffers, which have seen the festival set revenue records year after year. Last year, a commemorative humidor from the Behike Line set a historic record by selling for 4.6 million euros, and the seven pieces auctioned totaled more than 16 million euros, earmarked, according to the regime, for the public health system.
Far from such luxury, however, the Lázaro Peña Cigar Company has not been known for offering a quality product in recent times. On the contrary. Last January, the newspaper ¡Ahora! reported that the factory was determined to “diversify production and reduce costs,” a statement that, translated into smokers’ terms, means making more cigarettes with less tobacco.
The article explained that, under the umbrella of the “circular economy,” the use of dust and the central vein of the leaf, the waste that the text itself admits was considered as “industrial waste,” would be increased to “add weight and volume”.
With the news of the work stoppage, the production of these “rompepechos” (literally ‘chestbreakers’) has come to a halt. For most smokers on the island, this simply means less product and higher prices. “We’re going to have to quit smoking,” explains a retired woman from Holguín, “because the cigarettes I was buying at a wholesale micro-enterprise, at 4,400 a pack, first went up to 4,600 and now to 5,000, and the employee told us they’re expected to keep going up.”
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