“Red” Smoke

Communist authoritarian Danny Ortegas was reelected President on November 7 in a fraudulent election in which Ortega detained 40 opposition figures earlier this year, including seven potential presidential candidates.

Why do I care?

I will smoke an occasional cigar and prefer a lighter “smoke” provided by Dominican broad leaf tobacco in what is called a “Connecticut” wrapper.

That’s when I recalled Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Nicaragua and his “No Reservations” program that aired in March 2011. While the ordinary people in Nicaragua struggle to survive and some are compelled to scavenge for food in garbage dumps, Ortega amassed a fortune of more than a billion dollars.

Bourdain, certainly held no sympathy for free market economics, but he knew gross injustice when he saw it and severely criticized Ortega.

When my supply of cigars had dwindled to three “Churchill” sized “Connecticut” cigars, I noticed how many Nicaraguan leaf cigars are low cost. Tobacco is grown on plantations, but who owns the plantations in Nicaragua?