A Havana resident identified as Alexis Torriente published an extensive complaint on Facebook addressed to the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, and the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, in which he describes years of arbitrariness, mistreatment, and abuses of power by the police officers at the El Rincón checkpoint, located in the Boyeros municipality of Havana.
The most recent incident he recounted occurred on November 3, when an officer dressed in blue stopped him to ask for the registration of his trailer. Torriente explained that he had been unable to register it because the official digital platform was frequently down, and the process cannot be handled in person, as stipulated by Resolution 47/2026 of the Ministry of Transport. The officer himself acknowledged that he had rarely seen a trailer in such good condition.
Still, the police officer entered the premises with the documents in hand and began filling out the ticket. "Choose, I can give you a fine of 6 points or I can arrange a transfer to the Santiago de las Vegas unit," he said, according to Torriente's account. When he asked for the reason, the officer replied, "For issues with the lights, to help you."
Torriente accepted the fine to continue his journey, for which he had been preparing for almost a month. "I made it clear that this trip was necessary, that I understand there are regulations and laws to respect, but necessity compelled me to go take care of my own, and he didn't understand," he wrote.
It wasn't the first time. In previous episodes at the same checkpoint, he was fined 6 points for moving an improvised trailer— which wasn’t even his—to transport a boat, and on another occasion, he was taken to the police unit for carrying a gas cylinder without the receipt from the distribution point.
Torriente also reports a fine for alleged speeding imposed by a motorcyclist, where the time recorded on the speed gun was 12 minutes off from the actual moment of the stop. He filed a complaint with Public Attention, Citizen Services, and at 5 Palmas, but the sanction was never canceled.
"It seems that the order is: screw all the drivers," wrote Torriente.
"Whoever is involved in this, it's necessary to educate these police officers, if they can be called that. They should be better trained before they clash with the public, because they've left ethics behind. You earn the people's hatred with your disrespect, and we are tired of so much incompetence," she concluded.
During the first quarter of 2025, over 425,000 fines were imposed in Cuba amounting to over 1 billion pesos, with 269 cases referred to the PNR for non-payment.
Reports of police arbitrariness in traffic operations are common. In September, a woman publicly confronted inspectors, accusing them of soliciting money from bicitaxi drivers before issuing fines, and in July, a citizen reported being beaten by six police officers in Guanabo.
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