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FROM
CUBA
Residents protest government inspectors'
abuse of power
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba - June 20 (Rafael
Ferro Salas, Abdala Press / www.cubanet.org)
- Residents of the Hermanos Cruz district
in Pinar del Río are protesting that
government inspectors whose job it is to
monitor irregularities at the retail level
and services to the population are the first
to abuse their power to secure advantages
for themselves.
The incident that prompted the latest protest
involved a group of inspectors who jumped
a queue at a butcher shop and acquired what
some bystanders thought was more than their
allotted rations of meat.
"Government inspectors are a sort
of sacred cow, but they are the first to
steal and get food, sometimes without paying.
They take advantage of the fear store employees
have toward them. Most store employees steal
and pilfer products for their own enrichment,
and so they reach an accommodation with
inspectors," said one young woman who
said she was a student.
A man who said he was retired said: "Inspectors
show up whenever good products come on the
market. Today, there was fish, and there
they are. When there is beef, they show
up to take their share. All in agreement
with the store's employees. Everybody else
gets strictly what they have coming by the
ration book, but inspectors don't even show
their ration booklet; they get whatever
they want. They are in charge of detecting
irregularities, but they are the ones who
promote them."
Versión
original en español
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