The Guayabita del Pinar factory, founded in 1892 in Pinar del Río and the only one of its kind in the world, resumed its production through an alliance with the private company Veneeryes, a small and medium-sized enterprise that supplies it with alcohol and containers, materials whose shortage had caused interruptions in the production of the liquor.
According to the report from the state media ACN, the factory has already produced 112 boxes of the liquor intended for export, which will reach the European market through the export center La Conchita, located in the province of Pinar del Río.
Oviamna Martínez Barrera, provincial director of the food industry, explained that the partnership with Veneeryes allowed for the completion of about one hundred boxes in 2025 and an additional 112 in 2026, as well as supplying a portion for foreign currency collection stores and the national market.
"The production of Guayabita del Pinar has been intermittent due to a shortage of alcohol, a basic ingredient for the popular beverage that is in high demand in Cuba and abroad," acknowledged Martínez Barrera.
During that period of intermittent production, the factory produced alternatives such as Guayabero rum and guayabita wine, the result of a technological innovation process.
Osmel Hernández Cejas, operations director at Veneeryes, explained that the small and medium-sized enterprise first partnered with the Beverage and Refreshment Company and later with the food industry.
According to what was stated, both parties benefit from the alliance, through which Veneeryes provides raw materials and packaging to market the product in Cuba and abroad.
The Cuban regime has portrayed these types of alliances as progress in its economic reforms, although the reality is that the state industry has been unable to ensure basic supplies for sustaining production on its own for years.
Martínez Barrera acknowledged that the production of Guayabita del Pinar had been intermittent due to a shortage of alcohol, a key ingredient for a liquor in demand both inside and outside of Cuba.
In parallel with the recovery in Cuba, the brand faces an identity dispute abroad: in September 2025, the Cuban-American businessman Tony Haber began marketing his own version of Guayabita del Pinar in the United States.
The precedent found in the U.S. records is a application submitted in 2008 by the Spanish company Ferlura Importaciones to register "La Occidental Guayabita del Pinar," which was declared abandoned in 2010 due to lack of response or responding after the deadline.
Haber, who took seven years to register the brand and reproduce the wild fruit outside the island, summarized his project with a straightforward statement: “La Guayabita del Pinar was destroyed in Cuba, and now we are going to revive it in the United States.”
However, the crisis at the Pinar del Río factory is not an isolated case: the production of 96-degree natural ethyl alcohol fell by 69.6% between 2020 and 2024, from 572,700 to 173,900 hectoliters, according to the Cuba Statistical Yearbook 2024.
However, in 2025, there was a slight recovery to 183,800 hectoliters, while the production of alcoholic beverages —excluding wines— increased by 11.7% compared to the previous year, according to the manufacturing industry indicators published by the ONEI.
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