Cuba reiterates to WTO existing illegalities in the US about rum Havana Club

Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo, Cuba’s Ambassador to the International Bodies in the Swiss city of Geneva, denounced once again on Monday at the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) belonging to the WTO that Bacardi Company has placed in the U.S. market a rum labeled “Havana Club”. Nonetheless, nor the rum itself, or its ingredients are made in Cuban soil.

The Cuban diplomat made a new statement where she blamed the U.S. for the breach of “Section 211 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1998”, despite the decision issued more than 3 years ago.

Besides the illegal activities identified by the DSB in connection with the WTO Agreement about the trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, there is an important cultural and traditional line of the product that can’t be ignored.

Mrs. Rodriguez highlighted that this is a genuinely Cuban rum. She stated exactly that Havana Club was born in Cuba in 1878 and its name has to do with Cuban traditional roots.

“It represented the patrimony of the Cuban rum production and the environment of Havana in the XIX Century”, she stated. She also reaffirmed Cuba’s request to the U.S. to remove Section 211 with all the negative consequences against the Caribbean island, the implementation of the economical, commercial, and financial blockade, which must be lifted definitely and unconditionally.

Cubasi Translation Staff