Brasilia, July 1 (RHC)-- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has taken steps to ban the sale of Cuba's Cohiba brand cigars in Brazil.  According to O Globo, Bolsonaro's administration justified the measure, saying that the cigars had "excessive sorbic acid" when evaluated by the Brazilian National Health Oversight Agency (Anvisa).

Yet the company, Emporium, which has been managing the cigars' importations for the past two decades, denied the allegations.  "There is no additive of any kind in the cigars.  This is a 100 percent natural product."
 
As a result of Anvisa's evaluation, the registration of Cohiba's brand was not renewed, and the agency gave the company a 30-day deadline to collect the product, automatically prohibiting its sales across the country.

However, Cohiba contested the measure, temporarily lifting the ban until an administrative court judges the case.

Cohiba, as a brand, was born in 1966 and for decades has been recognized worldwide as a top brand for cigars and cigarettes.  The products are sold all over the world, except the United States, where its sale is prohibited by the commercial, economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba for more than six decades.