Florida, May 4.- The Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba gave the green light to the application of Decree 82 of the Council of Ministers, which modifies the legal measures against natural or legal persons who violate the regulations on the protection of sugarcane plantations and sugar cane.
The new provision increases up to 15,000 pesos the amount of the fines for the owners of large cattle and other animals that enter the sugarcane plantations, for those who commit irresponsible acts that cause fires in the same, and for any citizen who profits or commercialize sugar cane or products derived from it without justifying the legality of their origin.
Decree 82 also provides for the payment of between five, 10 and 20 thousand pesos of fines for those who use the canes destined for the production of sugar or reserved as seed to feed animals; they do not adopt the security measures established for the transport of the grass during harvest time; transfer them by any means without the required authorization or cause damage to the vines and compact the land through the use of improper actions, devices or machinery.
The new amending precept of the current Decree 230 of the «Violations of the regulations on the protection of sugarcane plantations and sugarcane» also provides for the confiscation of herds of recidivist cattle and any means of transport and other goods for agricultural use causing damage to that crop.
The accelerated deterioration of the sugar agro-industry, the inefficiency in the defense of the sugarcane massifs by the producers and the impunity of some in the aggressiveness against the referred spaces forced the government to decree the aforementioned containment rules and others, in search of save and protect the sector due to its strategic importance in the economic and social development of the country.
