Defeat for a Motorcycle Cop Chasing an ‘Informal’ Vendor in Havana

Some of the vendors confronted the agent saying: “Hey, officer, you can’t come in here.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 April 2022 — Customers of the Youth Labor Army market on 17th and K in Havana were stunned this Tuesday when they saw a policeman riding a motorcycle enter the crowd.

Three sellers of plastic bags, routine in the place despite the prohibition on selling product, left terrified, two men and a woman, but the agent only went after the woman. The girl slipped through the crowd that was doing its shopping at the market and disappeared from sight.

Some of the vendors confronted the agent saying: “Hey, officer, you can’t come in here.” The policeman, perplexed, answered them loudly: “I don’t understand why that woman who came in disappears in here,” implying that the merchants themselves had hidden her.

Without ever getting off the motorcycle, the agent turned around and went back out into the street. He was stationed at the door of the market for a few minutes with a vigilant attitude, until another woman approached him, pointing out a path – which way did the pursued person go? – and, only then, did the man leave.

Some of the vendors confronted the agent saying: “Hey, officer, you can’t come in here.” (14ymedio)

“Luckily he didn’t come in at high speed, what if he hits someone?” said a customer in her forties under her breath, while protesting: “They feel impunity.”

Another young witness to the events reported: “This reminds me of the stories my grandmother told me about Batista, when the police pursued people and the people themselves hid them.”

The market, located on a busy street in El Vedado, has at least two entrances, which made pursuit more difficult for the uniformed man. With a nearby passport and identity card preparation office, plus a polyclinic where PCR tests are carried out for those planning to travel travel, the area is permanently full of people who come and go.

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