Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba

by Gjelten, Tom

Chapter 19. Socialist Rum

  P. 280. By the time Fidel: “Fidel en Oriente: Examina obras de rente,” Noticias de Hoy (Havana), July 6, 1963. The report included a full text of his remarks.

  P. 282. In spite of Soviet: Dumont, 75.

  P. 282. “Compañeros: Castro’s visit to the former Bacardi factory is described in Gabriel Molina, “Entusiasmo en Santiago por la visita de Fidel Castro,” Noticias de Hoy (Havana), July 7, 1963, and Gabriel Molina, “Los errores de la burocracia,” Noticias de Hoy, July 12, 1963. Additional details from author interviews with eyewitnesses: Alberto “Korda” Díaz, February 2000, Washington, DC; Enrique Oltuski, October 2004, Havana; Gabriel Molina, July 2005, Havana; and Gilberto Cala, July 2005, Santiago de Cuba.

  P. 285. employing more than 150,000: Thomas, 1334 and 1334n84.

  P. 286. “Fidel makes bad: “Bacardi Boss Leads 3 Lives,“ Miami Herald, August 13, 1964.

  P. 286. “If [Cuban] Bacardi: “La calidad de los productos de Bacardi,” Diario de la Tarde (Havana), January 3, 1964.

  P. 287. “They pampered me: Cabrera, “Marianito (Ron Caney) Lavigne.”

  P. 288. Lavigne claimed later: Manuel Pereira, “Ron del bueno,” Cuba Internacional, July 1970, 58-63.

  P. 288. “So where do you make: Lavigne told the story of the Che Guevara visit in Cabrera, “Marianito (Ron Caney) Lavigne.” Other details are from Pepín Hernandez, interview by the author, July 25, 2002, Museum of Rum, Santiago, Cuba.

  P. 289. Lavigne’s daughter: Felicita Lavigne, interview by the author, January 7, 2005, Santiago de Cuba.

  P. 290. A labor regulation issued: Nelson, 119-22.

  P. 291. All workers were required: Karol, 517n22.

  P. 291. In 1961 Che Guevara: Executive Committee of the Central Planning Board, decision no. 11, April 1961, cited in Castañeda, 212.

  P. 291. “what is scarce today: Fidel Castro, speech before the National Sugar Cooperatives Congress, Havana, August 18, 1962.

  P. 291. “our production of milk: Nelson, 100.

  P. 291. By 1970, with the labor: Mesa-Lago, Market, Socialist, and Mixed Economies, 190-91; Nelson, 99-108.

  P. 291. The problems and inefficiencies: The critique of economic management in Cuba under Castro’s rule is drawn largely from Karol; Dumont, Cuba; and Dumont, Is Cuba Socialist?; Nelson; and Sergio G. Roca, “Managing State Enterprises in Cuba,” in Horowitz and Suchlicki; and Mesa-Lago, Market, Socialist, and Mixed Economies.

  P. 291. “reeks too much of capitalism: Fidel Castro, speech before meeting of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, Havana, August 29, 1966.

  P. 292. “I have seen the havoc: Karol, 47.

  P. 292. “The failure of the non-autonomous: Dumont, Cuba, 124.

  P. 292. Dumont condemned: Dumont, Is Cuba Socialist?, 95.

  P. 293. “I thought they: Lavigne’s trip is described in Pereira, “Rondel Bueno.”

  P. 294. “the engagement of the nation’s: Dumont, Is Cuba Socialist?, 73.

  P. 294. So many resources: Suchlicki, 159.

  P. 294. “Learning to build the: Fidel Castro, speech, July 26, 1970, as reported in Granma (Havana), July 27, 1970.

  P. 295. Some managers found they: Sergio G. Roca, “Managing State Enterprises,” in Horowitz and Suchlicki, 283-84.

  P. 295. “The man who opposes: Dumont, Is Cuba Socialist?, 108.

  P. 295. “We have some difficulties: Cabrera, “Marianito (Ron Caney) Lavigne.”

  P. 296. “As a rum drinker: Herbert L. Matthews, Revolution in Cuba, 372.

  P. 296. With all his might: Padura Fuentes, 147.

  P. 297. “When the blending: “Normas de Empresa,” unpublished document, Combinado de Bebidas Santiago, 1982.

  Chapter 20. Family Business

  P. 298. “Tío, it’s too: José Argamasilla and Clara María del Valle, interview by the author, September 27, 2004, Miami.

  P. 298. “If only the mambises: Luis Varona, “Coronel Emilio Bacardi Lay,” Diario Las Américas, June 12, 1977.

  P. 300. “You have a successor: Zenaida Bacardi, essay dated June 5, 1974, Emilio Bacardi Archive, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Richter Library.

  P. 301. “I made every one: George Volsky, interview by the author, April 11, 2006, Coral Gables, Florida.

  P. 303. “I’m looking now for: “Complex Bacardi Empire Tries Collective Leadership,” New York Times, August 16, 1976.

  P. 303. A year earlier: Ibid.

  P. 303. Business school professors: L. J. Bourgeois, interview by the author, Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia, July 7, 2004, telephone. See also, e.g., Nancy Bowman-Upton, Transferring Management in the Family-Owned Business, Emerging Business Series, EB-1 (U.S. Small Business Administration, 1991); Paul Karofsky, “A Conversation with Harry Levinson,” Family Business Review 10, no. 4 (December 1997): 411-19; and Geraldine Fabrikant, “Do Families and Big Business Mix?” New York Times, April 24, 2005.

  P. 304. “by sheer strength: “Complex Bacardi Empire Tries Collective Leadership,” New York Times, August 16, 1976.

  P. 306. the New York Times had already: Ibid.

  P. 306. From 1976 to 1979: Foster, 176.

  P. 306. Consumers during those years: Raúl Mármol, former marketing director, Bacardi USA, e-mail message to the author, September 4, 2007.

  P. 306. By 1983, about two thirds: “How Bacardi Became The Best-Selling Rum This Side of Havana,” Wall Street Journal, July 29, 1983.

  P. 307. Eddy Nielsen and his Nassau ally: The story of the Bacardi diversification is well told by Foster, 181-94; I have also drawn from several interviews with Guillermo Mármol in Miami and Robert O’Brien in Arlington, Virginia.

  P. 309. The conflicts within the: The account of the Bacardi privatization battle draws from Anne Swardson, “Bacardi Rum Faces Potent Family Revolt,” Washington Post, May 10, 1987; Mimi Whitefield, “Bacardi Family Splits Over Firm Going Private,” Miami Herald, May 25, 1987; and Gail DeGeorge, “Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Battle for Bacardi,” Business Week, April 16, 1990; as well as Foster, 195-230.

  P. 310. “A picture is emerging: Jason Nisse, “Citizen Cane,” Independent (London), August 1, 1993.

  P. 311. “No one knows about: Ricardo Blanco, interview by the author, February 20, 2004, telephone.

  P. 311. “Bacardi has a culture: Juan Grau, interview by the author, June 1, 2004, Miami.

  P. 311. “When the company: Richard Gardner, interview by the author, June 6, 2004, Nassau, Bahamas.

  P. 311. increasing worldwide: 1960 figures are from Foster, 152; 1989 figures are from Impact International industry newsletter.

  P. 312. “One can’t fault: Gail DeGeorge, “Yo, Ho, Ho.”

  P. 313. Rather than lower: Carlos Bosch, interview by the author, March 16, 2006, Hamilton, Bermuda.

  P. 313. “the naïve segment: Jon Nordheimer, “Bacardi’s Glass Is Half Empty,” New York Times, February 15, 1987.

  P. 314. Bacardi took on a company: Bacardi CEO Rubén Rodríguez discussed the Martini & Rossi acquisition in “Strategies for a New Millennium,” an udiotaped presentation before a spirits industry forum in New York City sponsored by IMPACT magazine in February 2001.

  Chapter 21. Havana Club

  P. 316. “Within the revolution, everything: Castro’s 1961 “Words to the Intellectuals” speech is described by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, who was present at the meeting, in Mea Cuba 69- 70.

  P. 317. In 1977 Fidel: Larry Luxner, “Havana Pushes Rum Exports,” Journal of Commerce, March 2, 1990; Barty-King and Massel, 115.

  P. 318. “Who’s going to give: trial and deposition transcripts, Havana Club Holdings, S.A., et al. v. Bacardi-Martini USA, et al., docket no. 99-7582, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, E 1556.

  P. 318. As a marketing man: Juan Prado, interview by the author, January 12, 2007, CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA.

  P. 318. In 1973 Prado helped arrange: Trial testimony, Havana Club Holdings, E342, E453.

  P. 319. A Washington Post travel: Ronald Goldfarb, �
�Rum—Distilling Gold From the Sugar, Sun, and Politics of Cuba,” Washington Post, April 13, 1978.

  P. 319. A rum reviewer: Emanuel Greenberg, “The Cane Mutiny: Caribbean Rum Drinks,” Playboy, December 1983, 129.

  P. 319. In 1978 the president: Norman Heller to Carlos Rodríguez Benítez, October 10, 1978, cited in Havana Club Holdings, E 3499.

  P. 319. Between 1975 and 1984: Export figures cited in “Convenio Asociativo” between Havana Rum and Liquors, S.A., Cuba Ron Corporación, S.A., and Pernod Ricard, S.A., November 22, 1993, reproduced in Havana Club Holdings, E 2592.

  P. 319. The Soviet Union shipped: Figures on Soviet and East European aid and trade with Cuba are from Oppenheimer, 227.

  P. 320. In 1989 Cuba: Carmelo Mesa-Lago, “The Economic Effects on Cuba of the Downfall of Socialism in the USSR and Eastern Europe,” in Cuba: After the Cold War, 180.

  P. 320. Cuban economists: Jorge F. Pérez-López, “Cuba’s Socialist Economy: The Mid-1990s” in Cuban Communism, ed. Irving Horowitz and Jaime Suchlicki, 9th ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1998). Other economic figures are from José F. Alonso, “Current Political and Economic Trends in Cuba,” paper presented at Second Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE), Florida International University, Miami, August 15-17, 1992.

  P. 321. “True revolutionaries never: Fidel Castro, speech before the closing session of the Sixth Congress of the Union of Communist Youth, April 4, 1992.

  P. 321. As of 1988, the only: Philip Peters, “A Different Kind of Workplace: Foreign Investment in Cuba,” paper published by Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Arlington, Virginia, March 1999.

  P. 321. “Capital and capitalism: Damian Fraser, “Cuban Revolutionary in an Army Green Business Suit,” Financial Times, July 14, 1992.

  P. 322. In 1986 Cubaexport: “Ventas de Ron Havana Club, 1985-1998,” Havana Club Holdings, Plaintiff’s Exhibit 381, E 2295.

  P. 323. “The idea was that the: Jacquillat trial testimony, Havana Club Holdings, E 1281.

  P. 323. Bord told Jacquillat: Ibid., E 1284.

  P. 324. “Bacardi has reason to: Manuel Jorge Cutillas to Robert J. Maxwell, President, National Association of Beverage Importers, October 28, 1993, reproduced in Calvo Ospina, Ron Bacardi: La guerra oculta (Havana: Casa Editorial Abril, 2000).

  P. 325. The thirty-six-page: “Convenio Asociativo,” Defendant’s Exhibit 186, Havana Club Holdings, E 2592.

  P. 326. Forbes magazine: “Royals and Rulers,” Forbes magazine, March 15, 2004.

  P. 326. Prado wrote to Jacquillat: Juan Prado to Thierry Jacquillat, December 3, 1993, Defendant’s Exhibit 497, Havana Club Holdings, E 3336.

  P. 327. “to recover possession: Letter from Ramón Arechabala to Patrick Ricard, December 14, 1993, Defendant’s Exhibit 488, Havana Club Holdings, E 3334.

  P. 327. Thierry Jacquillat said later: Jacquillat trial testimony, Havana Club Holdings, E 1293.

  P. 328. Six months after the: Faxed memorandum from Javier G. San Miguel, Distribuidora Bacardi, S.A., Madrid, to G. N. Bichard, Bacardi Imports, Miami, May 25, 1994, Plaintiff’s Exhibit 58, Havana Club Holdings, E 1606.

  Chapter 22. Rum Politics

  P. 331. In his introductory: A. Armando Alejandre, “Habla Helms de la posibilidad de un bloqueo naval a Cuba,” Diario Las Américas, April 19, 1995.

  P. 331. The luncheon at the: Mark Matthews, “Helms Tapping a Fresh Source of Funds,” Baltimore Sun, May 22, 1995; Christopher Marquis, “How Bacardi and Politics Mix: The Cuba Embargo Bill,” Miami Herald, July 17, 1995.

  P. 331. A year earlier: “Trade Briefs,” Journal of Commerce, April 19, 1994. See also, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, prepared statement of Otto Reich, President of the U.S. Cuba Business Council, 104th Congress, 1st Session, June 14, 1995.

  P. 332. “It is exactly because: Roberto Fabricio, “Latest U.N. Vote Condemns Trade Embargo Against Cuba,” Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, October 27, 1994.

  P. 333. the Bacardi Claims Act: Wayne Smith, a former Havana-based U.S. diplomat, is said to have used this term first, while working at the Center for International Policy in Washington.

  P. 335. to goad its French-Cuban: Ignacio Sánchez, interview by the author, February 9, 2007, Washington, DC.

  P. 336. “Your honor,” he said: Trial transcript, Havana Club Holdings, E 10.

  P. 336. “Don’t start with the: Campo-Flores, 63.

  P. 337. Sánchez himself recognized: Ignacio Sánchez, interview by the author, February 9, 2007, WASHINGTON, DC.

  P. 337. He introduced his proposal: House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, Hearing on Miscellaneous Patent and Trademark Issues, 105th Congress, 2nd Session, May 21, 1998.

  P. 338. Fidel Castro was outraged: Ana Radelat, “Decision on Trademark Rights for a Rum Spurs a Global Dispute,” New York Times, June 1, 1999.

  P. 338. “It is exactly as if: Ibid.

  P. 339. “The question about 211: Daniel Fisk, interview by the author, October 30, 2000, Washington, DC.

  P. 339. Cuban accounts of the: For example, “De cómo el ladrón fue declarado inocente,” Granma (Havana), April 27, 1999.

  P. 339. A retelling of the Bacardi: “Rock Around the Blockade” leaflet available at www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/boycott/bacardi.pdf.

  P. 340. In the 1996 election: Bacardi political contributions are identified in Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, as well as in such databases as the Congressional Quarterly’s CQ Moneyline; the Center for Responsive Politics’ www.opensecrets.org; and the National Institute on Money in State Politics’s www.followthemoney.org.

  P. 341. “We need your: The e-mails were later obtained by the Florida Democratic Party through a lawsuit and made publicly available.

  P. 341. On April 23: Thomas B. Edsall, “Letter by Jeb Bush in Trademark Fight Followed Donation,” Washington Post, September 14, 2002. A full chronology of the letters and e-mail exchanges is laid out in Dan Christensen, “Governor Worked to Help Company in Trademark Dispute Amid Barrage of Emails, Timely Political Contributions,” Miami Daily Business Review, October 17, 2002, and in Thomas B. Edsall, “Gov. Bush Reveals Lobby Effort; Documents Show Intervention in Trademark Case of GOP Donor,” Washington Post, October 18, 2002. The denials of a quid pro quo between the contribution and the Bush letter are cited in all three stories.

  P. 342. DeLay’s spokesman, Jonathan: Ana Radelat, “DeLay Aids Bacardi Rum Empire,” CubaNews, October 1, 2003.

  P. 344. The conservative Washington Times: “A Special Interest Cocktail,” Washington Times, January 20, 2002.

  P. 344. “is chosen by such corrupt: José Martí, Political Parties and Elections in the United States, 19.

  P. 344. “the whole culture: David Brooks, “Saving the House, New York Times, January 5, 2006.

  P. 344. They had this corporate: Otto Reich, interview by the author, February 22, 2007, Washington, DC.

  Chapter 23. Who Gets Cuba

  P. 347. “The time has come: Associated Press, “Cuba Exile Joy over Castro’s Illness Gives Way to uestions,” August 2, 2006; “Speculation Swirls in Miami, Havana,” Miami Herald, August 2, 2006.

  P. 350. “key to the whole policy: Tom Gjelten, “Castro and Bacardi Battle over Cuban Rum,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, August 3, 2001.

  P. 351. In 1995 he had complained: Quoted in Marifeli Pérez-Stable, “La victoria pírrica del comandante,” Foreign Affairs en Español, April-June 2007.

  P. 351. totaled only about forty million dollars: “Foreign Investment in Cuba Plummets,” Reuters, July 8, 2002.

  P. 352. “Transactions and business: José Fernández González, “Riesgo y miseria de invertir in Cuba,” Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) News Service, February 22, 2004.

  P. 352. By 2006, the London-based: Doreen Hemlock, “The Grim Outlook for Cuba,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fe
bruary 11, 2007.

  P. 353. By the end of 2006: Doreen Hemlock, “Cuba Curbs Foreign Investment,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, August 10, 2004; and “Experts Predict Grim Outlook for Cuba,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, February 19, 2007.

  P. 353. “Rum is not a wicked: Howe, 78.

  P. 360. and, in his own words: Facundo Bacardi e-mail to author, March 3, 2004.

  P. 360. “to move both the family: David Willison, “Bacardi: One Family’s Exquisite Quest for Perfection,” Value Rich, Winter 2006.

  P. 362. Tom Pirko, the analyst: Elaine Walker, “Visitor Center Offers Window onto Bacardi Brand’s History,” Miami Herald, April 28, 2003.

  P. 362. “Following this company: Tom Pirko, interview by the author, August 8, 2006, telephone.

  P. 363. “Obviously there will be: Jacquillat trial testimony, Havana Club Holdings, E 1299.

  P. 364. “when the preconditions: Trial transcript, Havana Club Holdings, E 14.

  P. 364. One dissident Cuban: Anonymous, “Las dos caras de la esperanza,” www.cubanet.org, February 3, 2004.

  P. 365. José Martí, writing: José Martí, “Coney Island,” in Selected Writings 89, originally published in La Pluma, Bogotá, Colombia, December 3, 1881.

  P. 365. “We are neither: Emilio Bacardi to Leonard Wood, March 19, 1907, Leonard Wood Collection, Library of Congress.

  SELECTED SOURCES

  In addition to the following cited sources, I reviewed correspondence to and from Leonard Wood, Elihu Root, and Emilio Bacardi in the Leonard Wood Collection at the Library of Congress and the Emilio Bacardi Archive at the Cuban Heritage Collection of the University of Miami’s Richter Library. I had limited access to materials from the Museo Emilio Bacardi (Fondo Emilio Bacardi), the Biblioteca Elvira Cape, the Museo del Ron, and the Archivo Histórico Provincial (Fondo Compañía Ron Bacardi, S.A.) in Santiago de Cuba and from the Archivo Nacional in Havana.

  Aguilar, Luis E. Cuba 1933: Prologue to Revolution. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972.

  —.“Emilio Bacardi, en el tiempo y para el tiempo.” Diario Las Américas (Miami), March 25 and 26, 1988 (in two parts).