Yanelys Nuñez Leyva
HAVANA TIMES — I still haven’t managed to let go of the anger or overcome the surprise.
While strolling down a street in Old Havana next to a foreign friend of mine, a police officer stopped me to ask me the most ludicrous questions I’ve heard.
I don’t want to embellish or distort the events with flowery prose. I will try to offer a faithful transcription of the conversation I had with this police officer, as I recall it.
“Good evening, citizen. May I see your ID, please,” said the officer.
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
“Is he your husband?” he asked, pointing at my friend, who was standing nearby, unable to understand what was going on, as he doesn’t understand Spanish.
“No.”
“Then, what are you doing with him?”
“We’re walking around the city. Is that a crime?”
“Are you a tour guide?”
“No, I’m an art historian and he’s an artist. We’re preparing an exhibition that will open in Cuba very soon.”
“And how do I know what you’re telling me is true? Do you have any papers on you?”
“I don’t have any documents on me, not even a student ID, because I’m no longer a student. But, if you wish, we can head down to my place and I can show you my degree. Or perhaps you can go to my place of work and confirm all of this.”
The officer remained quiet.
He hands my ID to another police officer, who asks me the same question the first did:
“Is he your husband?”
“No,” I replied, and proceeded to tell him the same story.
This officer tried to see if I had a criminal record over the radio, fruitlessly, as they had communication problems.
He gave me back my ID and I stood there, waiting for a reply, perhaps even an apology for having wasted my time, anything.
Nothing. Seeing I wasn’t leaving, he told me I could “continue on my way,” with a tone suggesting he had nothing more to say to me.
I was left perturbed and confused. I think I need to read my country’s laws more carefully and see how much of a right they have to unjustly question who I walk with or talk to.
