Smoking ban in the home of the cigar
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
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