José Castelar Cairo

José Castelar was born into a humble family in the town of Rancho Veloz, attended his town's public school, and as a child learned the trade of cigar maker in the small tobacco factories (small manufacturing plants) that existed there. Cueto is an employee of the La Triada store, part of the Caracol company in Havana, and has spent more than 50 years in tobacco manufacturing.

Like many children from small towns, he moved to Havana and worked in the trade he learned in childhood, while also taking on various tasks assigned to him by the Revolution, which he undertook as a young man committed to his time.

Founder of Popular Campismo, he directed the Puerto Escondido Base and later worked in the Provincial Campismo Management office.

He returns to his labor origins and begins a process of experimentation and creation; for Cueto, cigar making is an art and his cigars are highly sought after, influenced by the tourist boom taking place in the country, thus undertaking the task of crafting a great tobacco product. He has created cigars that have become famous throughout the entire world by achieving Guinness Records. He achieved the first in 2001 with a cigar measuring 11.4 meters in length; the second in 2003 with a Havana cigar of 14.86 m long; the third in 2005 with a cigar of 20.41 m; and the fourth in 2008 with a specimen of 45.38 m, all certified by the prestigious London house.

Cueto's experience has reinforced the prestige of Cuban cigars. This simple and fraternal man, now linked to the tourism field, considers these awards a great honor and feels happy to have made it possible for Cuba to hold the record of the world's longest Havana cigar.

Cueto performs his work manually and uses leaves from Pinar del Río tobacco fields, mixing the raw material the same way as when making a conventional cigar. His gigantic cigars possess the same quality as traditional ones.

José Cautelar Cairo works in the Morro Cabaña Historic Military Museums Complex and travels on behalf of Cuba to prestigious Fairs in various corners of the world.

He maintains a long marriage with a prestigious tobacco maker, and as a father and grandfather does not forget his town, and whenever his duties permit, his elderly parents and siblings receive his visits, which is also a source of joy for his friends and townspeople. Cueto's generosity is evident in hospitals and social institutions.