Maritza Carrillo González Named Co-President of Habanos S.A.

For the first time in its history, Habanos S.A. has named a woman as one of its co-presidents.

That woman is Maritza Carrillo González, who most recently served as the manager of Tabagest S.A., the Cuban merchant association that is part of Tabacuba, Cuba’s state-run tobacco monopoly that also includes Habanos S.A. She also worked at other Tabacuba businesses including as president of Comercial Iberoamericana S.A., a related company that sells Habanos S.A.-branded non-tobacco products like cigar cutters and ashtrays. González also previously served as business development director at Habanos S.A.

Habanos S.A. is the company tasked with marketing and distributing Cuban cigars worldwide. While the growing of tobacco and manufacturing of cigars are controlled by other entities owned by Tabacuba, Habanos S.A. serves as the public-facing company in charge of Cuban cigars. It holds the trademarks for Cuban cigars that are sold in countries across the world. In addition, Habanos S.A.—through Altabana S.L.—owns an ownership stake in each distributor it selects to distribute Cuban cigars in a local market.

While Habanos S.A. did not announce which of the two co-presidents would be affected by Carrillo’s promotion, sources tell halfwheel, Carrillo is replacing Inocente Núñez Blanco, who started his tenure as co-president in 2015. Luis Sánchez-Harguindey Pardo de Vera, the other Habanos S.A. co-president, is believed to be unaffected by this move. Earlier this month, halfwheel was told that Carrillo’s appointment was confirmed by Habanos S.A.’s management board, though Habanos S.A. representatives have repetitively declined to comment on the matter until a statement was issued this morning.

The move comes as part of a reorganization at the top level of the company, which started earlier this month when Jorge Pérez Martel was announced as the commercial vp, replacing Leopoldo Cintra González. Next week, the Festival del Habano XXIII begins in Havana, the marquee event for the Cuban cigar world during which Habanos S.A. shows off most new cigars and a time in which most Cuban cigar distributors will be in Havana.

Even in its public announcement today, Habanos S.A. gave no reason for the change, it also declined to give a reason for Martel’s promotion, but late last year sources informed halfwheel that both moves were on the horizon.

Habanos S.A. is a joint venture with 50 percent owned by the Cuban government and 50 percent owned by a secretive ownership group, once known as Allied Cigar Corporation out of Hong Kong.

Allied Cigar Corporation, seemingly in an effort to shield its owners’ identity(s), has changed names and countries of registrations. As halfwheel first reported in May 2020, Allied Cigar Corporation had known links to Suncity Group, a gambling and hospitality company run by Alvin Chau. A report from Radio Free Asia has tied Chen Zhi, a Chinese national with close ties to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, to the deal as well, possibly as part of an ownership group that also includes Chau.

More than two years after the deal, there has been no official statement about who owns the other half of Habanos S.A., a share that was purchased from Imperial Brands, plc as part of a $1.4 billion deal. In addition to Habanos S.A., that secret group also purchased 100 percent of Altadis U.S.A. and JR Cigar—two of the largest companies in the American cigar business—as well as the Casa de Montecristo chain and two factories that produce cigars for Altadis U.S.A.

Charlie Minato contributed to this story.