Planted in key points of the city, the inspectors seek to identify the drivers who transport passengers without a permit.
By Juan Diego Rodríguez (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – In Havana, a game of hide-and-seek between private taxi drivers and inspectors has been unleashed in recent days. The former, for the most part without permission to transport passengers, flee from the authorities using all kinds of tricks. If they are stopped and don’t have a license or taxi signage, the fine can amount to 12,000 pesos; or even, in the worst case, their license plate can be taken away.
Interviewed by 14ymedio, Rolando, the driver of a 1950s US car that operates as a collective taxi in the capital, says he is nervous despite the fact that he has his papers in order. “It’s incredible the number of inspectors and police officers there are, planted in any corner, waiting for an unfortunate person to pass without permission,” he says.
According to the 56-year-old Habanero, the routes that the boteros [taxi drivers] take to travel from La Víbora or La Palma to El Vedado have been among the most monitored this week, and the drivers, “who are not fools,” have been more careful. “On the corner of the Habana Libre, at 23 and L, where the taxi stand is located and where cars leave for La Víbora, the drivers are letting off passengers but not picking them up. The inspectors are hidden where they turn, on 23rd Street,” explains Rolando. The same thing happens, he says, at the other end of the route, at the Plaza Roja.
This is just one of the tricks that the boteros use to mock the authorities. “The other day I took a car to go to El Vedado that had only one free seat. As soon as I got on, th