Posted on 10/06/2004 1:13:23 PM PDT by martin_fierro
US tightens ban on Cuban cigars
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s administration has tightened a ban on Americans importing Cuban cigars.
"There is now an across-the-board ban on the importation of Cuban-origin cigars," said a notice released this week by the Treasury Department (news - web sites)'s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Previously, the rules allowed Americans licensed to travel to Cuba to bring back to the United States up to 100 dollars' worth of Cuban goods, including cigars.
That loophole was closed in the latest regulations.
The anti-Cuban cigar rules were already strict.
For example, Americans are barred from buying a Cuban cigar in other countries, even to smoke it outside the United States.
"The question is often asked whether United States citizens or permanent resident aliens of the United States may legally purchase Cuban goods, including tobacco and alcohol products, in a third country for personal use outside the United States," the notice said. "The answer is no."
Breaking the rules can lead to criminal penalties, including fines of up to one million dollars for corporations and 250,000 dollars for individuals and up to 10 years in prison, the department said.
FReeper Cigar Aficionado |
|
"Never mess with a man willing to suck on a raging trash fire." -- Tijeras_Slim Send FReepmail if you want on/off FCAP list |
Hooooray! I feel safer already!
oh DAMN!
Aw, what about the soldiers that got their paws on Saddam's stash?
You know, I was prepared to cut communism some slack until I heard that.
Dominicans are better than Cubans anyway.
Maybe Red China has good cigars...anyone know? I am sure they would be at a lower cost...WalMart should check into it.
But how will they prove that a particular stogie isn't a "pre-ban" stick?
I smoked some "pre-embargo" Cuban tobacco once.
Bloody awful.
Yet Walmart can sell, in America, the products of Chinese near-slave labor. Sheesh.
so what's better? an A.Fuente or a Paloma?
They are prohibitively expensive too.
I'll stick with my Fuente 8*5*8s and Punch Double Coronas.
Why do we restrict Cuba so much? Why cant we travel there and buy things from there?
Red Communist China is the real enemy, the real threat. We should ban imports and exports of all kinds, esp anything involving technology or manufacturing capabilities, i.e. we should have absolutely no trade at all with china. Anyone who buys anything made in china, should be prosecuted. Anyone who helps china build a factory or who gives china any technoolgy should be sent to prison for a very long time.
I smoked some 2 weeks ago, and it was a wonderful cigar.
Those stogies must be destroyed. One by one. With fire. Under close supervision.
You do understand my sarcasm...right?
I for one will be glad when Castro kicks the bucket.
I look forward to a good "Legal" Cuban cigar.
Not to take anything away from some of the other great cigars out there but I have to say the best I have smoked were from Cuba.
I do have to wonder though that part of what makes them so good in my mind (and perhaps others) is the fact that they are "taboo". Just a thought.
Oh, well, I guess that makes me a criminal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.