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FROM
CUBA
Police direct sweep against self-employed
taxi operators
HAVANA, Cuba, December 9 (Ernesto Roque
Cintero, UPECI www.cubanet.org) - A sweep
by police and transportation inspectors
netted several arrests and a number of confiscated
cars Wednesday in the area around the Havana
bus station.
Another raid later on that day, this one
in the environs of the Parque de la Fraternidad,
yielded more arrests.
The enforcement action targeted private
operators who pick up passengers, but who
don't have a license.
Eyewitness Reinaldo Hernández explained:
"It is true that many of the taxi drivers
are operating without a license, but the
problem is that the government will not
grant them, in spite that many of them have
applied for them. Some of these people driving
are retirees, some even from the Ministry
of the Interior itself of the Armed Forces.
The government doesn't grant the licenses
for self-employment, but neither does it
solve the transportation problem."
According to Hernández, bystanders
were astonished as they watched the raid
unfold. "This is the end, it's as if
they were arresting criminals or murderers,"
Hernández said one of them said.
A woman said: "They should be chasing
drug dealers and those holding people up
in the street." A newspaper vendor
explained: "You can't live decently
on what you make. The government told us
back in October to stop selling magazines
and newspapers, but we have to continue...
It is abusive; we don't even have the opportunity
of doing it legally."
Versión
original en español
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