May 10 (teleSUR) Robert F. Prevost Martínez, now Roman Pontiff, walked the streets of Havana, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas, Holguín and other Cuban provinces.

From the Parish of San José in Puerto Padre, Las Tunas, Cuba, residents were thrilled to discover the name of the man chosen by the 2025 Conclave to fulfill the immense task of Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. For the people of Puerto Padre, the cardinal’s name was familiar and much loved.

Robert Francis Prevost Martínez was then Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine when he visited the Caribbean island for the second time in February 2011, spending the night at the home of Manuel Miguel Hallal, at 31 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Street, in the Villazulina city of Puerto Padre.

“(…) I am a very simple person, just like the Pope, and it gave me a great feeling to know that he spent one night under the roof of my house sharing with me,” said this resident in an interview with teleSUR collaborator Yordanis Rodríguez Laurencio, who went to meet him after the expected announcement.

The resident remembers Prevost Martínez fondly and asserts that “God puts things in their place,” referring to his pontificate. “Before going to sleep, I offered him coffee, and he said I should give him a little. We stayed up talking at the two front desks. He asked me how long I had been a lay member of the Church, and I told him since I was baptized,” he remarked emotionally.

he resident remembers Prevost Martínez fondly and asserts that “God puts things in their place,” referring to his pontificate. “Before going to sleep, I offered him coffee, and he said I should give him a little. We stayed up talking at the two front desks. He asked me how long I had been a lay member of the Church, and I told him since I was baptized,” he remarked emotionally.

See video link below:

https://www.telesurtv.net/cuba-leon-xiv-visito-en-dos-ocasiones

For his part, Monsignor Emilio Aranguren, Bishop of the city of Holguín, recalls having the opportunity to share with the current Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, after meeting him on a visit to Rome in 2005. They became friends and he informed him of the “need for priests we had in the Diocese” of Holguín.

“He’s a very simple, very natural person ,” he states calmly. The Monsignor recounts that upon hearing the news, he was surprised, bowed his head, and prayed for him, writing him a message in which he first called him “Holy Father” and then “dear brother .” He thanked him for his “yes” to the Church, a “yes” that would allow him to visit Cuban soil again, now as Pontiff.

Aranguren recounted that they recently met twice, first at a meeting of the Latin American Episcopal Council in Puerto Rico in 2024, and then in Rome in September of last year, where Prevost was already present following an invitation from Pope Francis. The Holguín native attended this last meeting accompanied by the Bishop of Pinar del Río (a province in western Cuba) and met him at the Dicastery, where, of course, “they talked about Cuba.”

For his part, the priest from Puerto Padre, Emilio Rafael Fernández, believes that for the universal Church, “the fact that the Holy Father continues to have that Latin American imprint is a blessing ,” and he asserts that they consider Leo XIV to be the ideal person, and that he is the one the Holy Spirit has given them.

With the Pope’s footprints in Puerto Padre, these Cubans are more deeply connected to their faith and are grateful that the Church is now led by a simple and humble brother.

Author: teleSUR: MMM

Judge dismisses General Cigar’s lawsuit in the decades-long legal battle over the Cohiba trademark

May 8, 2025 | By Gregory Mottola — Cigar Aficionado

he legal battle for Cohiba, Cuba’s flagship luxury cigar brand, has been going on for nearly 30 years, and a judgement has just gone in favor of the Cubans—again. 

This most recent ruling is a result of a suit filed in February 2023: General Cigar Company v. Empresa Cubana Del Tabaco d.b.a. Cubatabaco. General sought to reverse a decision made by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in 2022, which ruled to cancel General’s Cohiba trademark registration in the United States. Yesterday, General lost the case. 

General Cigar currently sells many non-Cuban versions of the Cohiba cigar brand in the United States, where Cuban Cohibas cannot legally be sold. Cuban company Cubatabaco, which owns the Cohiba name and the rights to market Cohiba internationally, challenged the legality of the U.S. trademark and first filed suit in January 1997. The case has been in litigation ever since with losses and victories for both sides. 

The Cohiba Serie M is one of many non-Cuban versions of the Cohiba brand sold in the United States.

Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the TTAB’s 2022 decision to cancel General’s use of the Cohiba trademark, an issue that’s been in contention since the Clinton Administration. According to the judge, Cubatabaco’s trademark was protected under the Inter-American Convention (IAC), a 1929 law that protects international trademarks. The court ruling reads:

“Because the Court finds that Cubatabaco has established that the TTAB’s cancellation of General Cigar’s registrations was proper under Article 8 of the Inter-American Convention (IAC) and that the Cuban Assets Control Regulations do not prohibit such cancellation, General Cigar’s requested relief will be denied and its Amended Complaint will be dismissed without prejudice.”

According to the legal document, Cubatabaco applied for the Cohiba trademark in September 1969 and was granted registration on May 31, 1972. Nearly six years later, on March 13, 1978, General Cigar applied to register Cohiba with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registration was issued on February 17, 1981. One of General Cigar’s primary arguments in the suit was the claim that Cuba allowed the Cohiba trademark to lapse from non-usage in the 1970s, but the court rejected this notion. An article published in Forbes magazine in 1977—presented as evidence by the Cubans—states the existence and use of a Cohiba brand. The fact that Cohiba cigars were disseminated noncommercially at the time (as diplomatic gifts, as Fidel Castro’s personal brand, etc.) was deemed irrelevant—the trademark was still protected. Cohiba was released commercially by the Cubans in 1982.

“Because. . . General Cigar had knowledge of Cubatabaco’s use of ‘Cohiba’ for cigars in Cuba, the Court finds that the TTAB validly cancelled General Cigar’s registration under Article 8 of the IAC,” the ruling states.

Gold highlights, holographic elements and the iconic Taino profile are the unmistakable hallmarks of the cigar bands found on all Cuban Cohibas, perhaps the most prestigious cigars in the world.

So what does this mean for General? Does the company have to now cease production and sale of its Cohiba cigars? That doesn’t seem likely. In addition to this suit, General has a pending appeal with the TTAB that has yet to be resolved. The appeal was filed in 2023 as well. According to a statement from General issued today, the company will also consider appealing yesterday’s decision.

 “We are of course disappointed by this decision,” says Régis Broersma, chief commercial officer of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the owner of General Cigar Co., “but we and our advisors will now study the ruling closely and of course consider the opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Our federal trademark registrations which are the subject of the dispute, would remain valid and enforceable during a pending appeal. We expect the long dispute to continue before the courts.”

Furthermore, General added that the recent ruling “deals with the federal trademark registrations and does not impact General Cigar Co.’s common law trademark rights based on its long use of the Cohiba mark on its cigars marketed and sold in the U.S. These trademark rights remain valid and enforceable irrespective of the current dispute.”

Habanos S.A. has yet to issue a statement, but fans of non-Cuban Cohibas don’t need to worry, as it appears that these cigars won’t be disappearing from retail shelves any time soon. 

For a complete timeline of the Cohiba case and its back-and-forth legal decisions since 1997, click here.

Havana, May 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today congratulated American Robert Prevost, the newly elected Supreme Pontiff who took the name of Leo XIV, as revealed this Thursday by Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti.

In addition to congratulating Pope Francis’s successor, the head of state also expressed his willingness to collaborate with the Catholic Church in promoting dialogue and peace.

“We share the desire to promote dialogue and peace,” Díaz-Canel stated in separate messages on WhatsApp and Telegram.

He also stated that the island will continue working to strengthen “relations between Cuba and the Holy See,” which will celebrate their 90th anniversary in 2025.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also greeted the first American pope.

“We join in congratulating His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on his recent election,” the Chancellor wrote on the social network X.

“We reiterate the Cuban government’s willingness to continue strengthening the positive relations between Cuba and the Holy See,” he added.

Son of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent, Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, in the American city of Chicago.

He studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he earned a Master’s degree in Theology with a specialization in Intercultural Mission in 1982, and his doctorate at the Angelicum University in Rome.

He speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, and in his first speech after his election, he emphasized the importance of building bridges to promote peace, guarantee justice, and solve the problems affecting humanity.

rc/raj