The Quesada family has been a part of the tobacco industry for over a century. When they first arrived in Cuba from Spain they were bakers. It was in the late 1800s that they began their tobacco business when a debt to the family was paid with tobacco.
In 1929, in searching for new and different tobaccos, the Quesada family arrived in the Dominican Republic, but the company remained based in Havana, Cuba until the 1960’s.
A new company was formed by the Quesada family to handle the manufacture in the Dominican Republic. This new firm, Manufactura de Tabacos, S.A. (MATASA), was established in a new free trade zone in Santiago in June 1974. The company began as a small operation, employing just three rollers. Soon there were 35 rollers and growing.
In the early 2000’s Manolo Quesada assembled a new management team around him which included general manager Julio Fajardo, Manolo’s brother Alvaro Quesada, who as vice president was in charge of the company’s farms and fledgling cigarette operation,and his nephew Alvarito. Unfortunately, in April 2002 a plane crash took the lives of all three, leaving Manolo to run the company.
Today Manolo Quesada works with his two daughters, Patricia and Raquel and his niece Esther Quesada, Alvaro’s daughter. Now the fifth generation of the Quesada Family runs the manufacturing facility with over 300 people keeping the tradition of making premium cigars.