Pedicabs, A Battle For The Streets

Pedicabs, A Battle For The Streets / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 16 May 2016 — A fine drizzle falls on the city
and Felix, a pedicab driver for 22 years, takes advantage of the chance
to take a break. Beside Havana's Capitol building the man recalls a
protest held last Monday by a group of his colleagues in the Plaza of
the Revolution. They were demanding the right to use several streets
that are now closed to their tricycles, along with less harassment from
inspectors.

From a pocket in his fanny-pack he extracts a wad of papers and
displays them with chagrin. They are the traffic fines that have been
imposed on him so far this year, some thirty folded gray papers from the
many he displays. Every one bears a stamp where we can read the word "paid."

"Every day I have to keep all these receipts with me," the man explains,
and recalls that once he had to spend three nights in the police station
because the data base of traffic fines hadn't been updated with his
information. "They work very badly, sometimes after paying, your name
still shows up on the list of the defaulters," comments Felix.

While he details the police harassment they receive, another pedicab
driver arrives. The driver, Alejandro, joins the conversation and points
out that even though they pay for a license to do their work, they don't
have "the right to travel on many of the important streets, like
Galiano, Reina and Monte."

Those three major arteries connect several districts and for decades
have been the principal thoroughfares for this mode of transport,
greatly used by Cubans for short distances. However, the pedicab drivers
complain that the travel restrictions have been imposed on them under
the justification of moving traffic at a higher speed on the avenues.

Yaseil Rodriguez, who has made his living pedaling for nearly a decade,
says that the authorities have informed them that these vehicles move
"very slowly." A justification that does not convince him. "We aren't
allowed on these streets and the horse-drawn carts full of tourists
managed by Eusebio Leal are?"

Rodriguez enumerates the streets where it is no longer possible to
travel in a pedicab: "Monte, Monserrate, Zulueta, Prado, Egido,
Industria, San Lázaro, la Avenida del Puerto y Cuba." This latter "was a
street in Old Havana where we were always able to travel without problems."

The fines imposed for violating these restrictions range from 700 to
1,500 Cuban pesos. The police pay special attention to keeping the
pedicabs outside the area around Fraternity Park. But the fines are not
the most severe punishment; the worst is having the vehicle held at the
police station until the driver pays or clarifies the situation.

Many pedicab drivers consider the application of the law "excessive."
This disagreement led to some forty of them traveling in a caravan to
the Plaza of the Revolution on 10 May, with the intention to demand an
end "to the abuse" against the drivers. So far they have received no
response from the authorities.

For Nolsen Lopez, another young pedicab drivers, the pressure has become
unbearable. "You have to travel looking on all sides as if you were
transporting arms or drugs," he said, explaining the stress he
experiences during the workday. The man complains of the excessive cost
to keep pedaling, because "you have to pay these fines, pay for the
license, pay into social security, insurance, and if I get sick I have
to use my savings because they don't give you anything in these cases."

Among the demands these self-employed workers are championing is also a
reopening of the licenses to practice the occupation. The young man says
that at the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT) it's been "four
and a half years without their issuing permission to drive a
pedicab." For that reason they must work under the category of "helper,"
a condition that limits their work even more.

"If the authorities do not respond on this issue, on Tuesday we will go
to the Plaza again," said Lopez, who did not take part in the first
protest. "This time I'll go because abuse has to end, if more of us go,
it's much better."

Source: Pedicabs, A Battle For The Streets / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar –
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/pedicabs-a-battle-for-the-streets-14ymedio-luz-escobar/