According to the Spanish-based organization Prisoners Defenders, more than 11 million Habanos are made each year by inmates in the island’s prisons.

Inmates in Cuban prisons are subjected to forced labor to roll cigars for export, according to a document released yesterday by the Spanish NGO Prisoners Defenders.

The report details the situation in Quivican Prison, south of Havana, which, according to the NGO, has a Tabacuba production site. The site houses two civilians supervising 40 inmates producing handmade cigars for export.

According to Prisoners Defenders, inmates working at this factory must meet a production target of 60 cigars per day for a salary of 3,000 Cuban pesos. The salary of a typical Cuban torcedor can reach up to 25,000 pesos for the best workers.

According to the Madrid-based NGO, the situation is repeated in at least six other prisons on the island, with a workforce of around 500 inmates and a total production of around 11 million cigars per year.

According to our sources, total Habanos SA production in 2024 was around 60 million units. Last June, Marino Murillo, president of Tabacuba, set a production target of 70 million cigars for export by 2025.

Between April and August 2025, interviews were conducted with 53 people from 40 prisons, selected from a random sample drawn from a total population of approximately 90,000 inmates and 37,000 in open detention.

Neither the Cuban government nor Habanos SA responded to this report when contacted by the British daily newspaper The Guardian.

The document states that other Cuban products intended for export, notably charcoal, are produced under the same conditions.

Photo : © Luc Monnet