Pubdate: 2 Nov 1998 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Section: Sec. 1 Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Copyright: 1998 Chicago Tribune Company Author: Associated Press CUBA CRACKS DOWN ON VICE, CRIME November 2, 1998 HAVANA -- Cuban police have launched an energetic crackdown on crime in Havana, which has seen growing hordes of prostitutes and a surge in violent acts. Prostitutes, who once swarmed tourist locales, and the shadowy men offering cheap cigars and independent taxis have all but disappeared from the streets. Dozens of new police cars patrol nightly, stopping suspicious vehicles and ordering any prostitutes still bold enough to go outside to return home. Prostitution is not a crime in Cuba, but an order by a Cuban police officer usually is enough to get anyone off the street. Cuban authorities occasionally round up prostitutes and put them on buses back to their provincial hometowns. Pimping and pandering -- making money off a prostitute -- is seen as a much more serious offense and can mean several years in prison for repeat offenders. Communist officials see the crackdown as more than a battle against crime. For them, it is a war on a "lack of discipline" threatening to rip the seams of the island's socialist system. Juventud Rebelde, the weekly newspaper of the Union of Young Communists, recently described criminals as "enemies of the Revolution." Leaders of Havana's ideological neighborhood watch groups, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, have met with police leaders to discuss ways to work together to fight crime. "There are tendencies and types of crimes never seen before," Gen. Jesus Becerra, head of the National Revolutionary Police, told a group of municipal leaders. A Foreign Ministry spokesman attributed the growing crime problem to drugs brought into the country by traffickers trying to use the island for smuggling between Colombia and the U.S. Drug use in Cuba appears to be limited mostly to marijuana brought in by tourists. A proliferation of prostitutes and marijuana use in Havana's discotheques prompted police to shut most of them several weeks ago. - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady