Havana Cop: “I Could Care Less”

HAVANA TIMES, Feb. 5 — BBC Mundo blogger in Havana, Fernando Ravsberg, reported Thursday on an unpleasant encounter with the Police “for having drank a coffee and conversed with a [Cuban] journalism student who I had helped with his graduating thesis.”

The blog entry warns of the role played by some waiters to listen in on conversations and notify the authorities of anything “suspicious”.

“…What’s certain is that on the way out we ran into two “Specialized” Police agents (they never said what they were “specialized in”).  With a not so friendly approach, “they asked us for our ID and refused to tell us why we were being stopped.”

When Ravsberg pointed out to the Police that such actions “hurt the image of the country,” the officer’s answer was unequivocal: “I could care less about any image and I can ask anyone I want for ID.”

To read the full entry published in Spanish by Fernando Ravsberg in his “Cartas desde Cuba” blog, click here.