Cuba, the Caribbean island long recognised as the home of the cigar, is on the verge of banning smoking in public.
The Independent reports that the ban – in a country where half the adult population smokes and anyone born before 1955 still gets a monthly ration of specially-discounted cigarettes – will take place in two weeks’ time.
The newspaper reports that a resolution published this week announces that it is “taking into account the damage to human health caused by the consumption of cigarettes and cigars, with the objective of contributing to a change in the attitudes of our population”.
The restrictions will reportedly apply to offices, shops, theatres, cinemas, buses, taxis, schools and all air-conditioned buildings. Restaurants and clubs, the newspaper reports, will have to create special cordoned-off sections.
The Independent points out that while the initiative is “about as probable as France outlawing wine-drinking or Japan putting a stop to eating raw fish”, Cuba’s president has been setting an example for nearly 20 years.
While, to many, Fidel Castro is perhaps known as the archetypal cigar-smoker, he in fact gave up smoking in 1986.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
