The Cuba on the Move team travelled to the westernmost province of the Antillean island, Pinar del Río, to continue reporting the experiences of its people. teleSUR
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 And now shifting topics, the Cuba unmoved in travel to the western most province of
00:22 the Antillean Islands, Pinar del Rio, to continue recounting the experiences of its people.
00:27 >> [FOREIGN]
00:37 >> The place where Ian, the most powerful hurricane to hit the area in a long time,
00:43 entered just a year ago.
00:44 >> [FOREIGN]
00:46 >> This is where Miguelis Canales lives,
00:48 a 51 year old teacher with a master's degree in educational sciences,
00:53 who has been working in tobacco since the death of her husband seven years ago.
00:58 >> Times are difficult, it is true, but you have to overcome them and
01:03 keep moving forward.
01:04 >> Do you miss your time as a teacher?
01:06 >> Yes, I do. Teacher children is a beautiful career.
01:09 >> Miguelis is one of two women tobacco growers from the Benigno Acosta Credit
01:14 and Services Cooperative, who are in the process of irrigating seed beds
01:19 to ensure planting for the 2023-2024 season.
01:23 >> In addition of being a teacher, Miguelis has had the challenge of becoming
01:28 a tobacco producer because of her life story, which have been a bit complicated,
01:32 because she has had to raise her family. But with the drive of her children,
01:36 she has managed to carry out her dual role as a mother and as a tobacco producer.
01:42 Now, she is the president of the Cooperative Grassroots Organization,
01:46 which also gives her a special touch.
01:49 She is a producer with a great desire to work, very entrepreneurial.
01:53 >> When Hurricane Ian passed through here a year ago,
01:57 only six of the 59 tobacco houses on this land were left standing.
02:02 Today, 28 have been rebuilt, and Miguelis is one of them.
02:06 Jorge Luis and Luis Enrique Miguelis' sons helped their mother to put it up.
02:11 >> I'm going to be honest.
02:19 I didn't think that my tobacco house would have been right,
02:22 completely destroyed, because it wasn't new, but
02:25 it wasn't in such bad conditions.
02:27 What the cyclones, we say after the eye pass, it was the most difficult part.
02:32 And what the first part hadn't done, the second part didn't.
02:36 Everything was destroyed.
02:38 All these fields were devastated, completely devastated.
02:42 >> Did you cry?
02:44 >> Of course, and quite a lot.
02:46 My children were very discouraged,
02:48 fearing that we wouldn't be able to do the next harvest.
02:52 How could we rebuild the tobacco house?
02:54 I said, we are going to collect what we can, the wood we can,
02:58 the things we can, and we will see what we can do.
03:02 >> Miguelis says that with the effort of his children and
03:05 the help of the cooperative, she rebuilt the tobacco house and
03:09 was one of the few producers who were able to plant last season.
03:13 With the house half built,
03:15 they were able to obtain more than 50% of what they were supposed to collect.
03:20 What is the most difficult thing for a tobacco producer, and
03:23 what is the greatest satisfaction?
03:26 >> The most difficult moment is the development of the campaign,
03:29 because it takes a lot of dedication.
03:31 Tobacco is a plant that does not wait.
03:34 If today you have to water it, it is not tomorrow, it is today.
03:37 If today you have to fumigate it, it is today, not tomorrow.
03:41 That is to say that all its cultural attentions have a moment, and
03:45 they have to be fulfilled.
03:46 It is a plant that lets you know its needs, and
03:49 you have to provide it at the right time.
03:51 So the greatest satisfaction is to see the final result,
03:55 which of course is in benefit for the producer.
03:58 It is a benefit satisfaction for my children because it is not a secret that
04:03 when you have a good production, you have good results.
04:06 When you have good results, you have a little money that satisfies
04:11 all the basic needs of your hand, and others that perhaps are not so basic,
04:17 but that makes your life more human.
04:20 >> [FOREIGN]
04:23 >> Mijeles proudly tells Telesur that
04:26 the lands around here are part of the tobacco massive that produces the best
04:30 tobacco in the world and provides more than 50% of the country's tobacco exports.