Steht Kuba vor einer neuen Revolution, die dem Land die freie Marktwirtschaft bringen wird, fragt der britische Independent im Artikel «Cuba: The second revolution?». Was diesen Beitrag für den Zigarrenfreund speziell lesenswert macht: Die Autorin beginnt ihre Suche nach Antworten am Festival del Habano:

It’s the sort of glitz you would expect to see in Hollywood, not Communist Cuba. Drop-dead gorgeous, 6ft-tall women, stitched into the skimpiest of red dresses, work their way around the gala dinner to which 1,500 men and woman have come from around the world, paying $500 a head a ticket to attend. And what a spectacle it is: stunning opera singers caress a selection of tasteful arias, lithe dancers spin to Cuban rhythms, while Jim Belushi, the American actor and comedian, keeps guests on their toes as Master of Ceremonies. What you won’t have seen in Hollywood, though, is a room so big filled with cigar smoke so thick that it hangs like a mushroom cloud, making it hard to breathe, if not see. Yet the cigar-girls in red are tempting guests to smoke still more, giving away the latest hand-rolled vitolas to sample between the four-course meal. Welcome to the gala dinner, the finale of the week-long 14th Habanos Cigar Festival held in Havana – and a festival that the visiting cigar aficionados acclaim as the most glittering ever.