Guantánamo.- The III Bio Cuba 2024 International Fair, as part of the eighth edition of the Chocolate con Café Festival, will take place on November 29th in a debate forum at the University of Guantánamo (UG) and with an exhibition of products made of coffee and cocoa, at the cultural center Zona de Arte, until December 1st.
Michele Curto, president of the BioCubaCafé Company, in coordination with the Agroforestry Group (GAF) of the Ministry of Agriculture, explained that this year the fair covers the territories of Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba, in which 15 young foreigners can take a tour to find out the historical heritage, natural environment and coffee cocoa routes and will visit Guantánamo to attend BioCuba.
The program for the eighth edition of the chocolate with coffee festival is presented by Idaliena Díaz Casamayor, president of the Municipal Assembly of People´s Power in Guantánamo, Waldo Mendoza, honorary president of the event, Elio Omar Fuentes Caboverde, municipal director of Culture, and president of the fair, Michele Curto.
The event will have a plenary session at the UG, in which scientists, technicians, directors and businessmen will debate on the future of coffee and cocoa, and will also bring together organic coffee growers from the 16 municipalities in eastern Cuba that contribute to this productive system, which does not use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Honorary President of the Event. Waldo Mendoza interacts and feels satisfied with the work carried out by the Dance Musician Nengon Imias
As part of his purpose of contributing to the development of coffee-growing communities, Curto explained that the price of a can of coffee for producers was increased by 50 percent and food modules are being distributed, among other actions.
He added that the BioCuba program also includes a visit to the El Salvador Municipality for a collective coffee harvest and a peasant party with the producers.
“We may have had a hurricane, but the fair does not fail, and we are growing. This year we will have more than 70 foreigners and we will be classified as one of the fairs with the greatest international participation in Cuba; despite the difficulties, we are achieving it,” he said.
He said that the majority of the attendees were Europeans, mostly Italians, some of them natural coffee or cocoa distributors and that they will announce a very important collaboration with a European airport, with the presence of the person who created this cooperation.
We also have international-level baristas (specialists in the preparation of espresso coffee) and a group of young activists from the Italian brigade Gino Doné, that is, it is a rather varied group but the majority are coffee professionals, he stressed.
He explained that as in the previous edition, different coffee sale points will be activated in the José Martí Park, in La Dominica, the Martí Hotel, in the Pedro A Pérez Plaza, in the Guantanamo night areas, where the population will be able to taste a good coffee.
