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An old man lying beside his little stall. —AFP/File
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Havana: With a monthly pension, barely 15 eggs or a small bag of rice, Cuba’s elderly struggle is found in one of the poorest and fastest -aged countries in Latin America.
Since the Communist Island fights its deep economic crisis in three decades, the state is finding hard to care for about 2.4 2.4 million inhabitants – more than a quarter of the population – 60 years and older.
Sixty is the age in which women – it is 65 for men – qualify for state pensions that start with 1,528 Cuba pensions a month. It is less than $ 13 at a government exchange rate and only $ 4 in the informal street market where most Cuba purchases their own.
“Fight for life, is sure to die,” told AFP, 73 -year -old vendor Asidro Manate, sitting on the sidewalk in Havana’s heart.
When he spoke to AFP, Manote saw when small groups of people saw a bag full of food through his stall. He was coming out of Casland, one of the government -administered parts that sells goods exclusively to US dollars.
Most relying on informal stalls, such as Menuity and other old Cuba are applied to the sidewalks every morning to sell fruits, coffee, cigarettes, candy, used clothes and other hand equipment.
‘Things are bad’
Near the manate stall, 70 -year -old Antonia sells clothing and makeup. “Those things are bad, really bad,” they fill their heads, and shook their head. A large number of Cuban elderly has been without family support since 2022, when the country’s largest migration began through food, fuel and pharmaceutical shortages, which faced a crisis, causing a crisis, causing a crisis to suffer, and a crisis.
More beggars can be seen on the streets of Havana – though there is no official personality here – and every time and then an elderly person can be seen walking through a garbage box to eat or sell something.
The Cuban crisis, which Havana has accused of US sanctions for decades, but analysts say fuel has been created by the government’s economic mismanagement and tourism tanks under Kovide 19 pandemic diseases, which has also affected public purse, which has reduced welfare costs.
As a result, the government has been struggling to buy enough parts available for poor Cuba for decades under the ‘Liberta’ ration book system under the ‘Liberta’ ration book system.
This is the only way that many people have to access cheaper staples such as rice, sugar and beans-when anyone happens. Dies said she would occasionally receive state -sponsored food package, “but it’s been a while when she sent something.”
‘No future’
This means that many products can only be found in ‘dollar stores’ such as Casland, or private markets where most people cannot afford to buy.
According to the University of Havana’s Center for Cuba Economic Studies, a Cuban family of three people in 2023 will need an average of minimum monthly salary of at least 2,100 money (about $ 17) to meet their basic food needs.
Official data shows that more than 60 Cuba rely on the soup kitchen operated by the state family aid system for a hot meal a day. One such facility, ‘Las Margaretas’, costs about 13 pyconds ($ 11 cents) in a food plate. The 78 -year -old pensioner Eva Sawyer has been there for 18 months.
He told AFP, “The country needs like this. There is no food, nothing,” he said, adding that his pension is basically useless “because everything is so expensive.” Inflation has increased by 190 % between 2018 and 2023, but pensions have not maintained its pace.
Some people are losing confidence in communism, which have been brought to the island through the Fidel Castro’s revolution, and its incomplete promise, such as a liter of subsidized milk for every child under seven years of age every day.
“The situation is serious. The nation has no future.” This is not just the suffering of the elderly. In 2021, Cuba was shaken by extraordinary anti -government protests, and students have arrived seven years ago in recent months due to the rise in mobile Internet prices in recent months.
