Miami, United States. – One of the vice presidents of the Cuban regime, Salvador Valdés Mesa, admitted last Friday The serious food crisis that the country is going through and the insufficiency of wages to face the high cost of living.
During a public intervention, the leader recognized the difficulties faced by Cubans to cover their basic needs with current salary levels. “Our retirees with average pensions of 1,525 pesos; With that you don’t live. With an average salary of 5,000 pesos you don’t live. No 6,000 pesos live. You don’t live … how prices are, ”he emphasized.
In October 2024, Virginia Marlene García Reyes, General Director of Social Security of the Ministry of Labor of Cuba, acknowledged in statements to the state environment Cubadebate that more than 39% of retirees and pensioners in the country received a minimum amount of 1,528 pesos, equivalent to about $ 4.7 at change in the informal market (at that time).
The official described the economic situation of Cuba as “complex” and, as usual in the official discourse, he attributed much of the problems to the US embargo. However, he insisted that the government was working to improve the living conditions of retirees. “We are working for this situation to improve, although current circumstances do not allow immediate changes,” he said.
In addition, he promised that in the future “the necessary increases” will be implemented to support the most vulnerable sectors.
In the same article as Cubadebate Numerous Cuban Internet users criticized the panorama that is lived in the country and particularly the situation of retirees and pensioners. “Insufficient salaries for inflation that have generated for incapable measures, monetary shortage, medication failure … It is very hard what is faced today and so ask for confidence,” the user identified as Jorge lamented.
For his part, Staly, who appeared as a retiree, questioned the injustice of the pension system: “My mother, who worked all her life and participated in the revolution, today only receives 1,528 pesos. Doesn’t it feel sorry?
Another Internet user, Roberto, stressed that “95% of pensions between 1,528 and 1,733 pesos result from an erroneous formula invented in the Task ordering“
However, the most forceful criticism of the user Mahidevran, who said that in Cuba “social protection is non -existent because pensions and aid are totally ineffective.” He also emphasized that with a pension of 1,500 pesos it is not possible to acquire even a dozen eggs today and commented that the remittances of Cuban emigrants, which are often the only help for families, are not enough to meet the basic needs .
On the other hand, in April 2024 the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) of Cuba reported that the Medium state salary In 2023 it had been 4,648 pesos, although the data did not contemplate the growing inflation in the country.
According to the economist Pedro Monrealcalculating the salary from the official year -on -year inflation, the average “real” salary of 2023 would have been 1,435 pesos.
That amount would be 20% greater than the salary in 2020, calculated from the official inflation (1,194 CUP), but with the prices of Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) the average salary of 2023 would be approximately half of that amount.
According to the Eiuthe average “real” salary, taking into account its price data analysis, only reaches 645 Cuban pesos, which was equivalent to $ 1.72 according to the change in the informal market at the end of April 2024.
And the rice for when?
At another time in his speech, he referred to the importance of rice production as a central element of the Cuban diet and as a strategy to reduce import dependence. “The biggest stimulus to sow rice in this country is the high demand we have of rice because we eat it in the morning and in the afternoon,” he said, highlighting that this cereal is the main component of national food. “The rest of the food does not accompany rice, the rice does not accompany the rest,” he added.
The official acknowledged that the country allocates a significant part of its resources to the import of rice to guarantee the regulated family basket, which implies a high economic cost. “What the country spends most is in the imports we do to give the normal family basket. Then this must really put him with his heart, ”he said.
Despite pointing out that Cuba has land, water and infrastructure to produce rice in a self -sufficient way, Valdés Mesa identified the lack of currencies as the main obstacle. “What do we lack? The currency To have currency you have to export more. The country is in need of exporting, changing our culture of importers to exporters, ”he said.
