Thursday, May 14, 2009

A warning

Havana’s roads and traffic com-
mission put a state-
ment in Granma indicating that as of tomorrow, enforcement of regulations governing transportation of people will increase. People who drive state vehicles and use them to pick up passengers for fares, unlicensed taxi drivers, and others will face stricter enforcement, and repeated infractions can result in confiscation of vehicles.

The statement says this action is being taken in light of improvements made in public transit in Havana.

The Cuban government had eased enforcement of taxi regulations, and earlier this year announced that more licenses for private taxis would be issued. I have seen no recent figures on the change in the number of licensed private taxis.

Cuba Colada summarizes the commission’s statement here, and my previous discussion of these issues is here and here.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I guess the relaxation on the sending of remittances to Cuba is having an effect. Why allow private enterprise in Cuba when you can live off private enterprise in Miami?

Vecino de NF

Anonymous said...

is this an example of Raul lightening up to impress the Obama Administration? what do you think Phil, any way to put lipstick on this pig?

leftside said...

Umm, this has nothing to do with the US guys. Besides, even the "land of the free" does not allow non-licensed taxis to operate...

Anonymous said...

Leftoide said: "Besides, even the "land of the free" does not allow non-licensed taxis to operate..."

Huh? You mean the purpose of licensing laws in La Yuma is a paranoid compulsion to choke off the possibility of anyone earning a decent living, or of feeding, clothing and housing their families above a "North Korea-with-palm-trees" subsistence level? And to subject the peons of La Yuma to blindly serving a parasitic and dictatorial Party elite, without any right to demand economic or political reform, on pain of being thrown into a tropical Gulag?

Anonymous said...

Apparently Phil Peters is taking a vacation from this blog. Fidel Castro in his last "reflection" lists his position as a "militant of the Cuban Communist Party" not the Secretary General. Has there been any formal announcements that he has stepped down as Secretary General, and who is replacing him? I am posting this here because it is the last post.

Also he seems to be obsessing with the influenza A H1N1 outbreak although he has announced that it can not be blamed on the CIA. Sometimes he appears like a tropical communist version of Howard Hughes.

Vecino de NF

leftside said...

He doesn't "list his position" as a militant of the CCP. He says that people are wondering in what role his "reflections" should be taken. He was simply making clear that he is speaking as a citizen, not as a member of the Government.

And he is responding to the H1N1 stuff for the reason that it has caused something of a diplomatic stir b/w Mexico and Cuba. He's been trying to show that his claim that Mexico knew about the virus before Obama came is not realy controvertial given what we know today and that Calderon ought to chill out.

Anonymous said...

Leftside,

The only reason for Fidel Castro's (FC) reflections to be published in Granma in a regular fashion is that he is (was) the Secretary General of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). If Fidel Castro announces to the world that he is just another member of the PCC, then who is the Secretary General? That is extremely important under democratic centralism. If it doesn't matter who is the Secretary General, then Cuba is no longer run/directed by the PCC in a leninist fashion. So the next question would be who is running Cuba, and how?

Cuba doesn't need false modesties but clear signals of how it is governed. Maybe this is a way for FC to torpedo the next meeting of the PCC by starting to institute a more personal less institutional role for himself. If I were a PCC member (militante del Partido, I would be asking myself those questions.

Vecino de NF

Anonymous said...

oh, this doesn't have anything to do with the United States? ok, we'll just continue to wait then for those signals of reform....

Anonymous said...

yes, vecino, it appears Peters is flagging. It is not an easy job carrying water for this regime....

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 6:44PM,

We should treat everyone like the Cuban government does: They are either actual CIA agents or potential CIA agents regardless of their opinions.

Vecino de NF

leftside said...

Who inside Cuba has the Government called a CIA agent of late? Despite that, I hope you acknowledge that there are indeed CIA agents inside Cuba right now (they have their desk" in Washington as well).

Anonymous said...

leftside said...

"Who inside Cuba has the Government called a CIA agent of late?"

The answer is: anybody who dares to doubt the wisdom and benevolence of the Glorious Maximum Leader, or is suspected of doing so. So relax, Lefty, the complete absence of a brain inside your skull excludes you from suspicion.

Cuban joke: a policeman walks up to Pepito and snarls: "What do you think of our commander in chief?" Pepito hesitates for a moment and then blurts out: "The same thing as you do!" To which the cop replies: "Then you are under arrest!"