HAVANA, Cuba, June 9 (Aleaga Pesant , www.cubanet.org) –Border guards and national police carried out a roundup last Saturday of fishermen, boaters and divers off the Malecón.

The operation started at 4 p.m. and involved the seizure of fish and the sinking of rafts. Those arrested were taken to a police station, where fines of up to 1,500 pesos, the equivalent of more than three monthly salaries for the average Cuba, were meted out.

Two cigarette boats were used in the roundup.

Those who fled on foot were captured by police in patrol cars.

A source related the roundup to the coming ashore last week of rafters on the coast near the U.S. Interests Section. That incident resulted in police swarming the area.

Under Cuban law, fishermen need government permission to fish and to build boats or rafts from which to fish.

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