In November 2006, the citizens of Nicaragua again elected Ortega as their President, following an 18-year absence from elected office. While not entirely surprising — the brash leader has been actively seeking the office for years — it none-the-less sent a nervous jolt through the cigar industry, especially among foreign companies owning factories and farms in the Central American nation.

This time, the elections were deemed “clean” by international observers, and many are taking the optimistic stance that today’s Ortega is much more moderate than the younger upstart of years past.

But Ortega’s ties to several countries with anti-American leadership — including Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba — has led to nervous speculation that American legislators might set their sights on another U.S. embargo against Nicaragua. But are such fears unwarranted?

For their part, most foreign-owned cigar makers in Nicaragua are staying the course, forging ahead with a number of new factories already under construction there. Nicaragua exported over 50 million premium cigars to the U.S. last year, by far its biggest market. Cigar makers are trying to stay optimistic that this time around, nationalization and embargos aren’t in the cards. Ortega has little incentive to tinker with the few economic successes that have been nurtured in recent year, and foreign investment has been a major part of the cigar industry’s success there. Even so, for cigar makers who lost everything in Cuba, and rebuilt in Nicaragua, “hope” is no substitute for solid contingency plans.

Nicaraguan cigars have taken a highly-regarded place in American humidors, and “hopefully” they are here to stay.

E.H. & C.C.S.