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Home > What's New > An Interview with Alejandro Martinez Cuenca
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An Interview with Alejandro Martinez Cuenca
Q: What was the consumer reaction to Antaño?
A: When we sent the first trials, Brad [Weinfeld, who is in charge of the brand at S.A.G.
Imports] called me and said, "We hit it. That's what the market wants." And then, some years
later, some people tried to get the same wrapper, the same filler, but they couldn't make the
Antaño. When we came out with Celebración, we asked the question why the market hasn't taken to
Celebración, which is a full-bodied cigar, but much less strong.
Q: It hasn't been the hit that Antaño is?
A: No, no, no. If I were to choose between Celebración and Antaño, for a soft, nice smoke but
still with strength, I would take Celebración.
Q: When people reach for a Nicaraguan cigar like yours, what do they expect?
A: I want them to recognize that Nicaraguan tobacco is a tobacco that has won its place in the
market not only because it resembles Cuban tobacco. Nicaraguan tobacco has much of the greatness
of Cuban tobacco, but it's more than that. It's something genuine. When you come to Nicaragua and
smoke a cigar, you will find the Nicaraguan tobacco has some likeness to the Cubans, but there is
more to it. There is the Nicaraguan identity.
Q: What does the future hold for Nicaragua?
A: I think there is no possibility that we're going to go back to the past. Everything that is
in front of us—regardless of who is sitting in the presidency of Nicaragua—should be forward.
Nicaraguan tobacco, regardless of the political situation in this country, will continue to be the
best tobacco in the market, the best quality. I am still confident that Nicaragua will continue to
be a good place to make cigars and grow tobacco as we have been in the last part of the 1990s and
the 2000s.
Q: How important is the cigar and tobacco business to Nicaragua?
A: There are 23 formal businesses dealing with tobacco and cigars in this country. There are 14
owners. In total, we are benefiting around 80,000 individuals directly and indirectly in
Nicaragua. In the northern part of Nicaragua, including Jalapa, Ocotal, Condega, Estel’, you see
booming activity. The major cause of that is tobacco: production of leaves, companies that
manufacture boxes, companies making the tools for cigars, cellophane—simple companies. At the end
of the day, you're talking about 80,000 Nicaraguans depending on the business. Sugar doesn't
contribute as much. The only industry that can compete is coffee. Aside from coffee, tobacco is
the highest labor-intensive activity that is carried out in this country.
Q: With Daniel Ortega being made president again, many people are concerned about the future,
given the man's past.
A: I think people are taking the new situation in terms of Ortega relatively quietly, not too
much concern. People understand very well that the vote that Ortega has taken is very fragile.
There's the minimum required number of votes. People get concerned because they don't know what
route he is going to take. What I have said is there aren't too many routes—continue, that's the
only route, because anything else would be putting the country in a very difficult situation. The
country cannot afford it.
The point is, here we are, and the new president is being sworn in, and everybody is saying,
I'm going to wait and see. I don't see people moving out of the country as they did in the 1970s
and 1980s for one basic reason: I think the experience of Nicaraguans outside Nicaragua was so
harsh and so difficult—even though some of them were successful—that people are convinced that if
they leave this place, they are going to lose their niche and others will take it.
Q: That said, though, do you think some people are thinking of contingency plans? Many
cigarmakers making cigars here also have cigar factories across the border in Honduras.
A: I think anyone who is serious in business needs to have a contingency plan. I think it would
be terribly irresponsible, not only in terms of yourself, but in terms of your customers, not to
have a backup plan in case things go worse than you think. At the end of the day, we are 14
individuals making decisions on what to do in regards to cigars in this country. And I have talked
to all of them. In the beginning they were concerned. And I have told them, it's never going to
happen.
Q: You don't think nationalization will happen in Nicaragua again?
A: No. And let me tell you, I never thought Ortega would win. That's why I proposed an
alternative candidacy.
Q: You yourself.
A: Yes. Once he won, it's important we all have some backup alternatives, but it's important to
take the opportunities the country has today, which is demonstrating tobacco is improving
tremendously, not only in terms of volume of tobacco being exported, volume of cigars being
exported, but also people are more concerned today with quality than they were before. So leaving
this niche would be suicidal for anyone. You have a lot of producers from the Dominican Republic
buying tobacco from Nicaragua, you have many Hondurans buying tobacco from Nicaragua. Why leave
that to someone else?
Q: Should investors be worried about the close relationship that's developing between Ortega
and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez?
A: The talk of Ortega on his partnership with Venezuela should be viewed more of rhetorical
position than anything else, even if the many promises Chavez made for cooperating with Nicaragua
were to become real. Do not forget theÊpolitical leverage Ortega has is very limited, and
therefore, political realism should prevail over and above the concerns that have now
flourished.
Q: You were instrumental in reconvening the group of Nicaraguan cigarmakers and tobacco
growers, which convened in December. Can you talk about that?
A: When I called for this organization to finally be put on its feet, I told them there is the
possibility that Fidel [Castro] is going to pass away. Even if he doesn't pass, the reality is,
now you have a Democratic majority in the [U.S.] House and Senate. I think sooner or later Cuba is
going to open. What I said to that group is we should not [pull together] because of fears of
Ortega. We should do it to prepare ourselves better, to continue to put the name of Nicaraguan
tobacco on the minds of international consumers in the United States and everywhere else, so when
Cuba opens we will not be hurt as an industry, and we will maintain the niche markets. So
regardless of what happens to Cuba, we will continue to sell our products and continue to grow.
Some say Cuba is never going to compete with us. But they now make 300 million cigars for the
market, and you don't feel it that bad. But when they have the American market open, most likely
most of the product is going to go there. The important thing is we continue to hold our niches in
the American market, and whatever is left in the rest of the world, we can take opportunities in
those markets.
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