Alcohol

Ah, yes, let’s talk about Cuban rum ... new figures released by the official media show that despite the global economic downturn, sales of Havana Club outside Cuba grew by 13 per cent last year to a total of 3.4 million cases.

It seems the Germans in particular, have developed a taste for Cuban rum – sales there increased by about 26 per cent.

In fact, those thirsty Germans have now overtaken the Italians as the top overseas market for the Havana Club brand, which as with almost everything else in Cuba, is controlled directly by the Castro brothers, with a little help internationally from the French group Pernod Ricard SA.