October 22, 2008

Protecting their turf

The Cuban regime is cracking down on individual Cubans who are price gouging or stealing government materials after the island was ravaged by two hurricanes. They have a zero tolerance policy for any Cubans who dare steal things such as downed power lines, or the most heinous of all crimes in Cuba, illegally slaughtering large farm animals. According to the dictatorship's mouthpiece Granma, a quarter of all those arrested for these crimes against the state have been sentenced to to jail terms.

This crackdown comes as no surprise. On the island, there is only room for one criminal enterprise: Castro, Inc. All others must either work for them and kick-up their share to the crime boss, or risk a sudden end to their careers. The regime takes the protection of their turf quite seriously.

I found the last sentence in the AP article linked in this post to be very amusing, however:

"Cuban authorities earlier promised to crack down on people who tried to take advantage of the hurricane hardships to get rich."

Get rich? I guess having some food for your children to eat and some materials to cover the holes in the roof of your home equates to being rich.

Posted by Alberto de la Cruz at October 22, 2008 06:36 AM

Comments

They have a word for this in Sicily, "pizzo." It's paid to the local mob boss. So, tell us again about the EXILES being mafia, Fidel?

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 22, 2008 07:52 AM

They are using the Democrat definition of rich.

Posted by: TomSawyer [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 22, 2008 08:23 AM

Gee, I wonder if all the now very rich members of Castro, Inc. ever took undue advantage of anything they shouldn't have. You know, like power with no accountability, and impunity for any and all wrongdoing. Just wondering.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 22, 2008 10:11 AM


You have reached an old version of a post at BabaluBlog.com, probably because a search engine referred you or you followed an old link. If you'd like to view this post at its new home you can do so by clicking here and searching for the post on our new site. Tip: Take note of the date of this post and use our calendar feature to find it in its new home.