E. León Jimenes

In 1903, Eduardo Antonio León Jimenes (Guazumal, Tamboril, Santiago, 1884-1937) founded La Aurora, a cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. The factory was located in the community of Don Pedro, Guazumal, near Tamboril, which is now famous for its cigars. His father, Antonio Gavino León González (1848-1914), had purchased tobacco lands in Guazumal from the Hernández and Polanco families of Tamboril at the end of the 19th century. Some tobacco came from that area, and other fields were in Gurabo, Jacagua and El Ingenio, five or six miles away. At the time, the country was an undeveloped Caribbean nation, and had only gained independence from Haiti in 1844 after twenty-two years of occupation, and from Spain in 1865, after four years of colonial reannexation. Until that moment, fine cigars, in the eyes of the world, came from Cuba and nowhere else.

In 1903, the Dominican Republic still had dirt roads, which difficulted transportation, and to make cigars La Aurora had to pack tobacco in wood containers and ship them by donkey. The rainy season created a quagmire and the beasts of burden trudged through the muck to deliver tobacco to the tiny factory. The first La Aurora’s cigars were perfectos, pointed at each end with a bulbous middle. The cigars were called preferidos. Sales, like the cigars, were entirely within the Dominican territory. In 1912, Herminio León Jimenes – Eduardo's brother – suggested moving the fabric to Santiago; said move was made during the end of that year.

U.S. military forces marched into the Dominican Republic and occupied the country from 1916 to 1924. Various local generals vied for power and civilians took the streets. Before La Aurora's 30th anniversary, with the revolutions and the uproar, the company was forced to stop production. In 1930, just a few months before the movement that ended the government of President Horacio Vásquez and the acquisition of power by General Rafael Trujillo, the company La Aurora was transformed into E. León Jimenes, C. por A., which was created with the purpose of acquiring La Aurora cigar factory, along with the exclusive rights to use its trademarks and commercial names.

In 1930, General Rafael Trujillo seized power from President Horacio Vásquez, creating a dictatorship that lasted for more than three decades. In the government of Trujillo business opportunities became limited. La Aurora wanted to expand its business from the commercialization of cigars into the lucrative cigarette trade business, but Trujillo owned the only company that was producing cigarettes at the time and was actively monopolizing the production and commercialization of tobacco. Despite these restrictive conditions, E. León Jimenes, C. por A. decided to ask Trujillo permission to produce cigarettes. At first, his answer was positive, however it shortly became a resounding no, as he passed laws making it impossible for new entrants to compete due to the highly elevated duties.