$250,000 fine and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for buying a Cuban cigar

• Even if you smoke it outside the United States

CITIZENS of or permanent residents in the United States cannot now buy a Cuban cigar in another country, even if they are thinking of smoking it outside of their homeland. The Bush administration has reinforced the blockade on the import of the island’s cigars.

Current legislation allows U.S. citizens who have traveled to Cuba to return with a maximum of $1000 of Cuban goods, including cigars. But the new text suppresses this clause and now there is a general embargo on importing cigars originating from Cuba, according to as a recent Treasury Department communiqué.

The communiqué states that it is often asked if U.S. citizens can legally purchase Cuban goods, including cigars or alcoholic beverages, in a third country for their personal use outside the United States, and the answer is no.

Violating these regulations could lead to legal charges, including fines of up to one million dollars for corporations and $250,000 for individuals, plus a 10-year prison term, the Department affirms. That would be the sanction for a U.S. citizen who, passing through Madrid or Mexico City, decided to stop by a cigar store, buy a Cuban cigar and smoke it.

Thus every inhabitant of the land of the free who wants to smoke a Havana will have to ask a friend to buy it because he or she is not allowed to. (Pascual Serrano, Rebelión)