Canadian tourists getting squeezed by Cuban dictatorship extortion

It’s all fun and games in Cuba for Canadian tourists until the Castro dictatorship wants to squeeze a little more cash out of them. Especially Canadians who choose to rent cars while vacationing on the island prison who become prime targets for Castro mafia extortion.

Via the Ottawa Citizen:

Hugh Adami: Vacationer’s minor traffic accident in Cuba costly ordeal

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/cms/binary/8549649.jpgOTTAWA — Elie Raffoul found out the hard way why driving in Cuba isn’t such a good idea.

The Ottawa man was in an accident last March 23, involving a motorcyclist who suffered relatively minor injuries, and was forced by Cuban authorities to remain in the country for almost two weeks. He was planning to return to Ottawa on March 24.

Raffoul, who was on his fifth vacation in Cuba when the accident occurred, says he was left so shaken by the ordeal that he is never setting foot there again. Though he was cleared in the end, he says he doesn’t trust the Cuban system any more to want to return. There are other countries to visit, he says.

“I was scared. I was so scared.”

[…]

Yet, Raffoul, 41, counts his blessings he wasn’t detained as long as Cody LeCompte was in 2010. Then 19, LeCompte, of Norfolk, Ont., remained at a Santa Lucia resort for three months following a car crash that resulted in injuries to himself, two family members and a friend. Charges were never laid, but it cost LeCompte’s parents about $30,000 in lawyer’s fees, hotel rooms and flights.

Charges were never laid against Raffoul, either, but he was ordered to remain in Cuba while police investigated the accident and doctors determined how serious the injuries were to the motorcycle rider — in case he required compensation. Raffoul remained at the Santa Maria resort. Two Winnipeg friends, Alexis Reynolds and Monique MacPhearson, extended their trip to provide moral support. Reynolds says it wasn’t any big deal. Both women like Cuba so much and neither had to get back to work right away, so they had a good excuse to stay. They crashed in Raffoul’s room.

The self-employed general contractor says the delay in getting home cost him $3,500. Besides the additional resort bill, he says, he spent quite a bit of money on several return trips by taxi between the resort in Santa Maria and the police station in Santa Clara, where the accident occurred. It is a two-hour drive.

Read the entire article HERE.

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