CUBA NEWS
May 19, 2006
 

FROM CUBA
Rough time to be a pedicab driver

Marilyn Díaz Fernández, Lux Info Press

CAMAGÜEY, Cuba - May (www.cubanet.org) - "The situation is bad, man. They don't want to give you a permit to work and they are always after you." So says a 25-year-old pedicab driver in the city of Camagüey known to everyone simply as "Havana."

The "they" he is talking about is the National Police, who stop pedicab drivers asking for their working papers and, absent those, can fine them up to 1500 pesos.

The catch is that the government office in charge of granting the permits, the National Office of Tributary Administration, is not granting permits and hasn't for some time. "Havana" says he has spent a long time on a waiting list for his
license. Thus, he, like many others who also pedal the streets for their income, play a cat and mouse game with police.

"I can't stop, my man, because if I do, my mother and I would starve. How am I going to make a living? This morning I spent 200 pesos in some things to eat, and I didn't get anything very substantial. It's a good thing there's only the two of us," he concluded.

"Worst part is, all we are trying to do is make a few bucks, and we even help with the transportation problem, which is horrible. But that evidently bugs the government, and they won't allow us to become legal. All we want to do
is be allowed to work," he said.

Versión original en español

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