| FROM
CUBA
Street vendors fined HAVANA, Cuba, April 1 (Reinaldo
Cosano Alén, Lux Info Press / www.cubanet.org) - Police raided an agricultural
market and fair and imposed fines and confiscated merchandise from vendors the
government charges with illegalities. Two commerce inspectors and four police
carried out the raids March 29 in Antilla, Holguín province. Mario
Cantillo, one of the vendors in the market, said he was fined 80 pesos and lost
120 pounds of boniato that he hadn't declared. Another vendor, Rafael Muñoz,
said he was fined 75 pesos and lost pork and lamb that he hadn't declared. The
same happened to Junior Navarro. One of the vendors said the chief of police
had said during the raid: "From now on there will be no more abusing the
people. We are going to wage war on speculators and profiteers." Consumers,
however, have a different take on affairs. One local said: "Thanks to these
people (the peasants who sell their produce at markets such as this one) we can
eat a little bit better." One merchant said: "The only abuses
are committed against us. Every day they want us to weigh all our produce, declare
the weight and pay an excessive tax. We also have to pay for the space we occupy.
The general practice is to underdeclare the weight to make ends meet."
Versión
original en español | 
