Ten Months in Prison for a Sancti Spiritus Reseller

Line in Sancti Spíritus this Friday to buy chicken and hygiene products. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 September 2020 — A resident of the Cabaiguán municipality, in Sancti Spíritus, was sentenced to ten months in prison for illicit economic activity within a network that sold essential items on digital platforms and which was dismantled by the Ministry of the Interior.

Another citizen is being processed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in addition to eight ongoing complaints related to the same crime. The police acted on complaints filed by various people and seized 587 items destined for the informal market, according to a report broadcast by Cuban Television.

The objective of theMinistry of the Interior is once again those who promote the products they resell through social networks.

The Cabaiguán authorities have also identified 28 coleros — people who hold places in line for others — to whom they have officially issued warnings. The report shows a list with names and telephone numbers of possible people interested in the purchase of electrical appliances, one of the main evidence that the authorities have against coleros.

The official newspaper El Escambray last July also published that the police had identified 89 coleros throughout the province of Sancti Spíritus, who were officially prosecuted or warned. A month later, it announced the dismantling of a network of 14 “hoarders”, who not only sold personal hygiene products and food online, but also household electrical equipment that is sold in stores in freely convertible currency. On that occasion, three people were charged with illegal economic activity and disobedience.

In recent months the Government has published, with unusual frequency in official media, criminal acts related to the crisis in the country. It misses no opportunity to hold coleros and resellers accountable for the exacerbation of shortages and to issue warnings to other informal traders. Another example is the operation carried out in Santiago de Cuba a few days ago, which dismantled a network that was dedicated to the sale of foreign currency for the acquisition of household appliances.

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