Juana Ramos Guerra and her life for COHIBA

Juana „Juanita“ Ramos Guerra is one of the women who played a key role in the founding of the Cohiba factory El Laguito in Havana. Juanita is a torcedora of the highest - the ninth - category. She started there as an apprentice over 50 years ago. She explains how she came to work at this historic site. The interview took place at the 5^TH Avenue Products Trading-GmbH in Waldshut-Tiengen.

From intentional chemistry studies to legendary Cohiba rollers

„I actually wanted to study chemistry,“ says Juana, who is also affectionately known as Juanita. „But my father was a fervent supporter of the revolution. He forbade me to study and ordered me to work in El Laguito. I cried a lot about it. But I always wanted to leave El Laguito when my father died. But then I stayed after all. And over time, I fell more and more in love with this work.“

It was Celia Sanchez (Fidel Castro's partner) and Fidel Castro who came up with the idea of employing Cuban women in El Laguito. They were of the opinion that women have finer hands and are therefore better at rolling cigars. It was a great honour for Juana and her colleagues to be able to work in this place. They felt like children of Fidel and were proud to be part of this organisation. „After the 1990s, men also joined because they needed work. We trained them,“ she smiles.

She takes a puff from her Cohiba cigar and looks into the blue haze. Her eyes light up and she says: „We had it so good there. The women got married, had children, but we kept working.“ The work in the factory was hard, but also fulfilling. Juana and her colleagues worked carefully and with great attention to detail. They knew that they were producing something special - the Cohiba cigar, which is still considered one of the best cigars in the world today.

Women are more maternal when rolling cigars

Juanita was 16 when she started at El Laguito. By the time she was 17, she could already roll cigars professionally. Juanita emphasises: „This work in El Laguito was very important for our country and very important for Cuban women.“

She takes another puff on her Cohiba. You can see that she is enjoying it. „Fidel has always emphasised that women are more careful and maternal when rolling Cohibas,“ she laughs. She looks at her Cohiba and smiles. „The tobacco for the Cohiba was and is a speciality!“

The teachers at the time were Caridad Badilla and Elia Dominguez. They taught the women, who had no schooling, to read and write.

Elia Dominguez later left El Laguito to look after her grandfather. „Then I took over her job and trained the young women who had no schooling. I worked as a cigar roller in El Laguito and trained women,“ says Juana „Juanita“ Ramos Guerra.

Over time, more and more people from Cuba wanted to work in El Laguito. Even the wives of Fidel Castro's bodyguards came and learnt to roll cigars.

Prominent visitors and a message to cigar lovers

There have been many prominent visitors to El Laguito, including kings and heads of state. She reflects and says: „The first visitor was Fidel Castro, of course. The King of Spain was also here, as was Zino Davidoff and many others I can't remember.“ But for Juana, every visit from Eduardo Rivera, the actual founder of Cohiba, was something very special. She adored him like a father and was proud to work for his brand.

Today, Juana is still a cigar roller. In recent years, she has worked as a roller at La Casa del Habano in the Hotel Meliá Cohiba and then in the cigar shop in the neighbouring Hotel Riviera. She is proud to be part of such a successful story and wants the Cuban cigar tradition to live on.

She worked in El Laguito until 1975 and became pregnant; she continued to work until 1984 and became pregnant again. „Then I went to the Soviet Union with my husband. I came back to Cuba in 1997,“ she says.

Her message to all cigar lovers: „Dear cigar lovers, keep smoking Cuban cigars! They are the best in the world! There is nothing better than tobacco from Cuba. It is unique and cannot be compared with anything else. When I light a Cuban cigar in another country, the people around me say: Wow, how it smells! Which cigar do you smoke? I always say: A Cuban cigar, of course. It's delicious, fine, rich and simply incredible.“

Resources on the topic

Celia Sanchez on Wikipedia

5^TH Avenue Products Trading-GmbH

Photos: FotoWerk 132, Christian Schmid