Havana/A liter of oil, a kilogram of powdered milk, a pound and a half of pork … Cuban retirees do not think of numbers when asked How much will your pensions upbut in what they can buy with it in private, well -assorted businesses. It is common in the interviewees for this report, along with something else: all of them think that the increase, announced last month by the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, and made effective with the Resolution published on Wednesday in the Official GazetteIt won’t help much.
“The prices are so high, that this increase is not significant for the purpose of covering the basic needs, especially food,” says Manuel, retired from a 68 -year state trade company, which will benefit from the measure. In his case, he charges 1,500 pesos, and starting on September 1 – with collection at the end of August – his pension will reach 3,000. “For me that does not represent much, maybe a milk bag or an oil knob, and now.”
However, he declares himself luckily, because he has a daughter who sends him money abroad. “Pensioners who have no other possibility, who have no health to find some work to increase their income or do not have remittances, are destined to pass needs.”
“Pensioners who have no remittances are destined to pass needs”
This is the case of sweet, pensioner from the Ministry of Culture. Their skepticism and discomfort are capitalized, after months waiting to receive the winery oil, for the rationing notebook. “Small bottles did not arrive for family nuclei of a single person and now I have to wait several shipments to complete a bottle and be able to buy it,” he laments, and complete with irony: “So I will use what they upload to me, in buying the oil in some mipyme.”
As indicated by the standard, an increase of 1,528 pesos for pensions of up to 2,472, as well as a rise to 4,000 pesos for pensions between 2,473 and 3,999 pesos. As for pensions due to death – as widow’s or orphanhood -, which also rise, they will “recalculate” on the updated pension of the deceased based on the beneficiaries that are: 70% more if there is one, 85% if there are two and 100% if there are three or more.
On the other hand, the general director of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Benito Rey González, declared the official press that citizens with the right to more than one social security pension “will receive the increase in the amount of the unified pension.”
“Even if they rise to 4,000 pesos, or 5,000, or 6,000 or 7,000,” says Olivia, retired from the Ministry of Education. “With any of that you can solve A person who has worked 30 or 40 years. ”She is especially bothering to try to sell this as an achievement.” In all the countries of the world, that money comes out of your salary, monthly, for that you discount it, and taxes to other workers. It is not the state that gives it. ”
“In all countries of the world, that money comes out of your salary, it is not the state that gives it”
Despite 37 years of uninterrupted work, he tells 14ymedioOlivia had a minimal pension. “The first trip uploaded a little and then I got another little, 1,500 pesos,” he says. And she says resigned: “Well, law is law. We will have to accept, because everything they tell you must be accepted. What are you going to do, where are you going to claim? But that, really, I don’t think it will solve anything, when a pound of milk is worth 1,200 or 1,300 pesos. That is a Cover your mouth for all the hunger and misery that is the elderly in this country. ”
The rise in Maria’s pension, which until now has charged 1,400 pesos, will be enjoyed by a friend of her: resident in the United States, prefers that they charge her in Havana, “where so many needs pass.” It is something quite common: retirees who do not live in Cuba but maintain the collection of their pensions through third parties.
In a maximum poverty panorama, solidarity among citizens is the last resort. In this regard, Tania, resident in Centro Habana, says that she helps her 96 -year -old neighbor, who charges 300 pesos less than her, 1,200. “I am not going to a church and tithing, I try to help people who approach me because I know they use it and need it,” he explains. And he says: “When I learned about the climb I was more happy for her than for me. He is an older, very sweet, very educated, very good family, but who worked very little, in a kitchen, and left him the minimum.”
The old woman lives in her home with her two daughters, also pensioned with the minimum. Not only are evidence of the hardships suffered by those over 60 in Cuba, but one of the main problems of the island: the aging of the population.
Leonardo, former policeman, will have no increase, because he charges 4,000 pesos. “With 26 years of service and lost view.” Disappointed, he went to a colleague from the Ministry of Interior, who assured him: “He is studying to see if there is an augments for December.”
