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HABANOS S.A.’S FLAGSHIP BRAND CAME INTO BEING WHEN CUBA WAS UNDERGOING A REVOLUTION, NOT ONLY A SOCIAL ONE, BUT CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC AS WELL

Just like Cohiba cigars, born in 1966, the Coppelia ice cream parlor will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in June. The curious thing is that this monumental establishment, nestled in the heart of modern Havana, has never been officially inaugurated. One day, it just opened to the public and people walked in there to enjoy the different 26 ice cream tastes it was serving at the time, which later ramped up to 54. It became Havana’s gathering ground per se and still is so in a way. Before heading to any other place, youngsters used to go to Coppelia or wrap up the night near that facility. The offer of ice-creams was complemented by whey drinks and milk shakes, and the prices were scandalously low, unbeatable if compared to the quality of the product. Coppelia ice-cream is Coppelia ice-cream. Period.
The triumph of the 1959 Revolution not only gave people access to education and healthcare. It also opened the doors of consumption and recreation. Those who couldn’t afford dining out before were now doing it, and the clubs and amusement facilities that had been exclusively reserved for the middle class and the local bourgeoisie, were jam-packed by workers and students. The National Institute of the Travel Industry (INIT was the Spanish acronym) schemed a plan of national tours, with an unprecedented advertising campaign under the slogan “Let’s travel throughout Cuba with INIT”, which could be defrayed up to twelve months after having those trips. Major events and conferences were held at the Habana Libre Hotel, and Pabellon Cuba, built in 1963, became the venue of choice for great exhibits, such as Salon de Mayo, directly from Paris. The sidewalks along La Rampa were embellished with granite flagstones that showcased artworks by remarkable Cuban painters, thus becoming a one-of-a-kind art gallery.
 By the time the Cohiba brand was launched, actress Miriam Acevedo was belting out Virgilio Piñera’s poems at El Gato Tuerto. At La Roca, Martha Strada was performing Aznavour’s La Mamma. Bola de Nieve was pleasing his fans in a small, almost intimate hall at the Napoleonic Museum, and waves of public were swarming over the Amadeo Roldan Auditorium to enjoy his midnight concerts. Jose Tejedor, a phonograph singer, was having three daily shows on the Cuban radio, and mozambique rhythm, created in 1964 by percussionist Pedro Izquierdo, known as Pello El Afrocan, was catching on throughout the country in 1966. Several drums played different rhythms, from open rumba and columbia to conga and ekón abakuá, thus making mozambique go beyond the carnival boundaries and call the shots in ballrooms, the airwaves and television, perhaps a tad overboard.

Songs and boleros gave way to ballad, and numerous tunes were included in the repertoire of dance popular music bands. Versions of international songs were performed. Chucho Valdes, an undisputed musical talent, orchestrated pop songs.  Thousands of young women and men waited for the clock to strike eleven p.m. to flip on their radio sets and listen to the latest contemporary foreign and national hits in Nocturno. Cuban music is always on both scores and dance floors. Roberto Faz moved crowds with his dengue –a variant of mambo created three years ago by Perez Prado- and Pacho Alonso set his pilon beat. At Tropicana’s Mambi Hall, on Saturdays and Sundays, 5,000 people danced to the beat of the finest bands; and numerous cabarets, from the most luxurious to the el cheapo ones, attracted hoards of customers with live music shows. Social centers for workers were transformed into huge ballrooms.
 In 1966, when the Cohiba brand was unveiled, the first book fair was held at Pabellon Cuba and the nearby area. Two key books to the Cuban narrative were put out that year: Paradiso, by Jose Lezama Lima, and Biografia de un Cimarron, by Miguel Barnet. Roberto Fernandez Retamar published his Poesía Reunida; another poet, Fayad Jamis, aired Cuerpos and Eliseo Diego launched his best collection of poems: El Oscuro Esplendor. Onelio Jorge Cardoso published Iba Caminando, and such young short story writers as Norberto Fuentes, Jesus Diaz, Antonio Benitez Rojo and Eduardo Heras Leon buttressed their work. Lina de Feria and Luis Rogelio Nogueras became the revelations of the year. Poet Nicolas Guillen chaired the Writers League and Casa de las Americas fostered the presence in Cuba of outstanding Latin American and European authors: Cortazar, Martinez Estrada, Benedetti, Cela, Moravia, Vargas Llosa, and many others. It’s also important to include in this quick recount such painters as Mariano Rodriguez and Rene Portocarrero, and playwrights like Abelardo Estorino and Anton Arrufat, also a storyteller and poet.
 Fifty years ago, other buildings joined Pabellon Cuba and Coppelia. Some of them were the National Center of Scientific Research, built by architect Joaquin Galvan and his collaborators, who also designed Las Ruinas restaurant (1972), a clash of contrasts between concrete and nature, the powerful motionless structure and the changing sinuosity of its trees, the luxury of marbles and the land around them. The experimental building that stands out in Malecon and F streets in Vedado was a project outlined by architect Quintana Simonetti and eventually built in 1967. The five art schools located in Cubanacan were built in 1965, designed by architects Porro, Garatti and Gottardi, a complex that was declared a National Monument. Porro was the head designer. According to specialists, the School of Modern Dance –also authored by Porro- beyond the evident and primary sense of the educational function, stands for a moment to the anguish endured during the early years of the Revolution, the instability and uncertainty of the struggle among social classes. The traumatic clash between two social systems is expressed by its plant-like layout, described by the architect as glass broken by a blow.
That was the year when the U.S. couldn’t prevent Cuba from attending the 10th Central American and Caribbean Games, held in Puerto Rico. It was also a period of aggressions, sabotage, enemy infiltrations, assassination plans against high-ranking government leaders. From the naval base in Guantanamo, U.S. soldiers killed a member of the Border Battalion, and the Revolutionary Government ordered the state of alert due to a cynical and interfering statement issued by Washington. The Island was hit by two hurricanes: Alma in June and Ines in October. The National Civil Defense Council was created that same year, a year that came to an end with a huge dinner offered at the Revolution Square to hail the anniversary of the victorious Revolution occurred in January 1959.
Italian cuisine was gaining momentum among the preferences of the Cuban people. Despite the rationing process, people could exquisitely eat in such restaurants as 1830 and Centro Vasco, and the spectacular Cuban sandwich was the star at El Carmelo de Calzada, Casa Potin and La Alborada, in the Hotel Nacional. A sandwich and a beer could be bought with just a couple of Cuban pesos at the time.w Because in that year when women’s hands whipped and rolled Cohiba cigars into shape, common citizens from all walks of life could go to those places, take a seat at a table and eat pleasantly.