A young freelancer intimidated by police in Pinar del Río

At 10.30 am, Gisela Padin Perera, who works self-employed and belongs to the Independent Self-employed Trade Union (SCPI), was selling her stuff on the Pepe Portilla Street where she has been working for more than 5 years. Suddenly, a patrol car no. 109 appeared next to her and two policemen got off the car asking her seller's license. When she showed them her authorization and said that she had been working at that place for many years without any problem, the policeman took her license and told her to pick it up in the police station. The young woman told him that police is not entitled to do so and this is an abuse of power and extremism. This made the policemen angry, detained her and put her into the car. This triggered a reaction from her husband, who is also self-employed and a member of the SCPI. He tried to explain, that they had been authorized by the Council of Popular Administration. Her husband was handcuffed and they were both taken to the Municipal Police Unit in Pinar del Río. There, Gisela was fined 700 pesos based on the Decree-law 315 and was threatened that if she came back to the same place to sell her goods, she would not be lucky again and her license would be confiscated for good.