Arechabala Ruins, New Tourist Attraction in Cuba

HAVANA, Feb 8 (PL) The ruins of the historic Arechabala rum plant will be included this year in tourist trips on a route that will link the famous beach resort of Varadero with that industrial zone of Cardenas, official sources reported Thursday.

The president of the CubaRon SA corporation, Juan B. González, told Prensa Latina that this is an attractive plan already discussed with the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur).

The ruins are located in the town of Cárdenas, very close to Varadero, the main sun and beach destination of this island, about 87 miles east of Havana.

González, in the company of his legal advisor, Emilia Horta, and the head of commercial intelligence, Gabriela García, provided details on the results of CubaRon during 2017 and the outlook for this year.

The plans for an immediate future include the manufacture of a rum in order to honor the 500 years of Havana (2019), as they did with the 500th anniversary of the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

Precisely, before concluding the previous year they registered in Europe the bottle of a special edition of the Santiago 500 (three-dimensional registration), very special drink with 100 pieces, 20 properly of a triangular box, and 80 of another type of packaging, no less luxurious .

With a numerical record, the Santiago 500 with a luxurious presentation costs five thousand dollars each, while the other pieces that complete the edition are worth three thousand each.

They remembered the 156th anniversary this year of the best rum in the world, which is made in this land. They pointed out that this product arose precisely in Santiago, prepared by Facundo Bacardi; and from there arrived at Cardenas, at Arechabala, via Santa Cruz del Norte.

The president emphasized that light rum was born in Santiago de Cuba and explained that today there are two larger rum plants, both in the west of the country, Santa Cruz and San Jose (dedicated to dark rums), which represents a productive expression of tradition and culture.

Apart from the Santiago 500, they now manufacture other wonders such as Isla del Tesoro, and Cubay 1870, of an interesting list of luxury products that attract the attention of the international market.

González is also the president of the Cuban side of the Havana Club International mixed corporation (1993, with Pernod Ricard of France). At present, they export almost three million boxes of Havana Club of nine liters per year, of which 60 percent are produced by the state-owned CubaRon. In Cuba, 6.5 million boxes of nine liters of rum are produced and sold per year (85 percent of CubaRon).

Its plans cover by 2030 the production of 6.5 million boxes per year of Havana Club, of which 4.5 million will be exported, when currently 2.9 million of that brand are sold.

The main Havana Club market is Cuba, followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain, with growth in the United Kingdom and Canada. More than 100 markets buy the Cuban rum, the sources said.