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By: Ramón Brizuela Roque/Translation: Dainarys Campos Montesino

American blockade affects every Cuban citizen, but also affects themselves, the rest of the world and specially the inhabitants of Pinar del Rio.

You might wonder why the westernmost part of the island is so special. Well, it’s nothing, I say special, because if we refer to possessions they only count on the landscape,in which nature drew the face of Jose Marti in the mountains.

That optical phenomenon can be seen when you drive to El Moncada cooperative towards Viñales town.

Before we continue I should clear something up, the contradiction Blockade-Pinar del Rio, forbids many tourists, scientists, researchers and lots of Americans to travel to Cuba.

But is not only Viñales, have you ever heard of Soroa?, Cuba’s rainbow, which besides its natural beauty, counts on the singular orchid garden that has become a center for botanic research studies; and just at a few kilometers away is Las Terrazas, the land of Polo Montañez, Moka Hotel, and a region of amazing landscapes of Sierra del Rosario, UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Actually, the western province’s beauties extend to the tail of the alligator; there is Guanahacabibes Peninsula, a national park, also a Biosphere Reserve, with the charms of Maria La Gorda beach.

The Peninsula has a tourist resort that Americans miss because of the stubbornness of their government, the same happens with Jutia and Levisa keys, both at the north of the province.

Unfortunately, in the United States to import Cuban cigars is forbidden, while some get satisfied with fakes from Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, even grown by experts, but they don’t have the soil or the climate conditions, determinant elements that make the difference from Robaina’s fields, Hoyo de Monterrey and some other famous farms.

The blockade is absurd when forbids people to travel, maybe the state think that eating the delicious lobster of La Coloma, in Jazmines Hotel or La Ermita, or the roasted pig in Dos Hermanas Ranch, tourists would get infected with communism.

They will have to wait until tasting a good drink of Guayabita del Pinar, the exclusive booze of Vueltabajo, or the golden honey elaborated under the orange blossoms, because the OFAC is afraid that bees, as proletarians, also infect them with left feelings.

These are some of the reasons why the blockade affects Pinar del Rio... there are others which are worse.