Belgium’s ambassador to Cuba enjoys Cuban culture at its best as he tries to build bridges of friendship and collaboration between his country and the island nation.

When His Excellency Pierre-Enmanuel De Bauro came to Havana as ambassador from the Kingdom of Belgium to Cuba, the small Caribbean island was an unknown place to him. With his wife and three children in tow, he made up his mind to share his diplomatic responsibilities with a desire to discover the land that has harbored him for little more than one and a half years. Despite this short span of time, De Bauro admits he could be speaking about Cuba’s culture for hours. At his office in the Belgian diplomatic mission in Havana, surrounded by the classical European soberness and elegance, Mr. De Bauro talked exclusively with Excellencies magazine and disclosed the kind of man he is: someone who knows Cuba’s cultural values and traditions well.

After a few months living on this island, what’s actually seducing you in this country? Coming to Cuba has been a very positive experience. I’ve toured many parts of the country and I’ve loved to see a nation that has a great variety and great richness within its own people. It’s hard to pick one particular thing. The natural scenes, the historic cities and the architectural heritage of Havana, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. I’m also fascinated by the northern shore beaches and I’ve been to eastern Cuba as well, to the Sierra Maestra, the Gran Piedra and Santiago de Cuba. There’s no doubt it’s nice living here and there’s so much culture to discover.

Talking about culture, I’d like to pause for a while and refer to one of its most representative elements. Excellencies magazine is putting out a special issue on the International Habano Festival and to one of the country’s identity symbols that has gone beyond our borders. What’s your relationship with Cuban cigars? I wasn’t a cigar smoker when I came to Havana, however I’ve spent a good deal of time with cigars ever since. I’ve been in contact with cigar factories and hand rollers, because it’s something that really strikes my attention. Habanos are highly popular in Belgium and there are plenty of smokers who stand up for Cuban cigars due to our close ties there with Cuba’s tobacco industry. Habanos S.A. has an office in my country that’s in charge of distributing the product. That’s important at both a commercial and cultural level.

For many smokers, cigar smoking is a very special moment that takes a few rituals and is even given a touch of intimacy. Do you have any special rituals when it comes to smoking cigars? Why do you choose Cuban cigars? For me, it’s the pleasure of enjoying something good, talking with friends or just puffing at a cigar in a moment of relaxation. It helps me think in a softer fashion and drives stress and strains away. I believe spending time while doing something you truly like very much is an attitude toward life. I usually smoke a cigar with a glass of rum, which is another natural product from here, yet the most interesting thing is the culture behind each and every cigar. I’m not really a great smoker and I don’t have preference for one particular brand. I do what I do with delight, to really enjoy it.

Beyond your preference for Cuban cigars, what other distinctive element of Cuba’s culture strikes your attention? Beyond cigar smoking, well, I love everything related to the architectural heritage. There’s so much diversity and incredible riches here, so unique in the Caribbean. That interests me a lot at a personal level, as well as the topic of bilateral cooperation between Cuba and Belgium. I adore many painters, too, great classical painters from Cuba, like Wilfredo Lam, Rene Portocarrero, Amelia Pelaez and the younger generation of Kcho and many others. I also like sculpture and photography, especially of various artists with a powerful tradition in those fields. Dancing, ballet and music, of course, are very dynamic in Cuba.

Bridges of Friendship As Mr. De Bauro insists in discovering Cuba’s cultural values, his personal life is nourished by the wish to help people understand each other. With this view in mind, he’s managed to become an expert in international relations, a full-fledged diplomat who has been stationed in Colombia and the United States, with posts at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Royal House in Brussels.

Perched on the heart of the Old World, Belgium is a melting pot of Germanic and Latin cultures, a condition that opens the country to the world in many senses. This small European nation earmarks huge monetary resources to the development of trade and foreign investment. As part of its national priorities, international collaboration reaches out to a number of regions, with this Caribbean country getting a considerable chunk of that cooperation.

At the level of colleges, NGOs and development projects sponsored and spearheaded by the United Nations, the aide is doled out to key sectors for the advance of the island nation’s agriculture, biotechnology and environmental protection. In the field of heritage preservation, housing projects for residents of Old Havana, training courses at the Gaspar Melchor School in Matanzas’ Jovellanos and the grand opening of the Museum of Chocolate are good cases in point.

That exchange has given Mr. De Bauro the possibility of getting closer to Cubans –people he labels as highly professional. Friendly ties are by and large one of the Belgian ambassador’s top priorities in his tight agenda. He doesn’t regret a bit having chosen this job as a diplomat and says unhesitatingly: “I like everything that has to do with dialogues, with building bridges between people and my country. I’m lured by relationships among individuals, among nations and the human character of international relations.”

With that spirit, Mr. De Bauro takes on his job in Cuba, an island he discovers every single day from his office, by touring natural landscapes, by visiting historic places and other sightseeing spots, or just by taking some time off to smoke a good Habano.