Cuba on the Move: Reaching the island's westernmost province

teleSUR English

The Cuba on the Move team travelled to the westernmost province of the Antillean island, Pinar del Río, to continue reporting the experiences of its people. teleSUR

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00:00 [MUSIC]

00:10 And now shifting topics, the Cuba unmoved in travel to the western most province of

00:22 the Antillean Islands, Pinar del Rio, to continue recounting the experiences of its people.

00:27 >> [FOREIGN]

00:37 >> The place where Ian, the most powerful hurricane to hit the area in a long time,

00:43 entered just a year ago.

00:44 >> [FOREIGN]

00:46 >> This is where Miguelis Canales lives,

00:48 a 51 year old teacher with a master's degree in educational sciences,

00:53 who has been working in tobacco since the death of her husband seven years ago.

00:58 >> Times are difficult, it is true, but you have to overcome them and

01:03 keep moving forward.

01:04 >> Do you miss your time as a teacher?

01:06 >> Yes, I do. Teacher children is a beautiful career.

01:09 >> Miguelis is one of two women tobacco growers from the Benigno Acosta Credit

01:14 and Services Cooperative, who are in the process of irrigating seed beds

01:19 to ensure planting for the 2023-2024 season.

01:23 >> In addition of being a teacher, Miguelis has had the challenge of becoming

01:28 a tobacco producer because of her life story, which have been a bit complicated,

01:32 because she has had to raise her family. But with the drive of her children,

01:36 she has managed to carry out her dual role as a mother and as a tobacco producer.

01:42 Now, she is the president of the Cooperative Grassroots Organization,

01:46 which also gives her a special touch.

01:49 She is a producer with a great desire to work, very entrepreneurial.

01:53 >> When Hurricane Ian passed through here a year ago,

01:57 only six of the 59 tobacco houses on this land were left standing.

02:02 Today, 28 have been rebuilt, and Miguelis is one of them.

02:06 Jorge Luis and Luis Enrique Miguelis' sons helped their mother to put it up.

02:11 >> I'm going to be honest.

02:19 I didn't think that my tobacco house would have been right,

02:22 completely destroyed, because it wasn't new, but

02:25 it wasn't in such bad conditions.

02:27 What the cyclones, we say after the eye pass, it was the most difficult part.

02:32 And what the first part hadn't done, the second part didn't.

02:36 Everything was destroyed.

02:38 All these fields were devastated, completely devastated.

02:42 >> Did you cry?

02:44 >> Of course, and quite a lot.

02:46 My children were very discouraged,

02:48 fearing that we wouldn't be able to do the next harvest.

02:52 How could we rebuild the tobacco house?

02:54 I said, we are going to collect what we can, the wood we can,

02:58 the things we can, and we will see what we can do.

03:02 >> Miguelis says that with the effort of his children and

03:05 the help of the cooperative, she rebuilt the tobacco house and

03:09 was one of the few producers who were able to plant last season.

03:13 With the house half built,

03:15 they were able to obtain more than 50% of what they were supposed to collect.

03:20 What is the most difficult thing for a tobacco producer, and

03:23 what is the greatest satisfaction?

03:26 >> The most difficult moment is the development of the campaign,

03:29 because it takes a lot of dedication.

03:31 Tobacco is a plant that does not wait.

03:34 If today you have to water it, it is not tomorrow, it is today.

03:37 If today you have to fumigate it, it is today, not tomorrow.

03:41 That is to say that all its cultural attentions have a moment, and

03:45 they have to be fulfilled.

03:46 It is a plant that lets you know its needs, and

03:49 you have to provide it at the right time.

03:51 So the greatest satisfaction is to see the final result,

03:55 which of course is in benefit for the producer.

03:58 It is a benefit satisfaction for my children because it is not a secret that

04:03 when you have a good production, you have good results.

04:06 When you have good results, you have a little money that satisfies

04:11 all the basic needs of your hand, and others that perhaps are not so basic,

04:17 but that makes your life more human.

04:20 >> [FOREIGN]

04:23 >> Mijeles proudly tells Telesur that

04:26 the lands around here are part of the tobacco massive that produces the best

04:30 tobacco in the world and provides more than 50% of the country's tobacco exports.

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