Havana Cuba. – Citizen Paula Lobón posted on social media the recent experience of leaving a friend’s house, where she found an old man on the verge of fainting. According to what he refers to in his text, the elderly man was preparing to look for his food in one of the establishments of the Family Care System (SAF), where some food is provided to Cubans considered “social cases”, mostly the elderly and people with disabilities.
“He had left his bag at the park stop and told us that he was going to get his food at the SAF. My friend went to the park, at that time her mother gave her coffee and she sat in the shade, then we took her to look for her food, ”she recounted.
Lobón also explained that the old man was 88 years old and lived alone, since his wife died of cancer and his only daughter died at the age of 17. Every day, the man walks more than 20 blocks, twice a day, to look for lunch and dinner, which he pays for with his pension of just over 1,500 pesos, at a rate of 35 pesos each day.
“At lunch we saw rice and croquettes, if that’s the average, pay 1,050 pesos a month,” says the Internet user.
He also explained that the company in charge of the SAF – presumably the Ministry of Internal Commerce – prohibits the elderly from being given both installments at once, which would save them a painful walk, in view of their age.
In her publication, the author included a call for attention to this problem, not only by the elderly in question, but by other people who depend on the SAF and are in similar conditions.
“I advocate that someone with a good heart review the issue, not just for him, because those who are there waiting for their food bring tears to your eyes. If it is difficult for the elderly who have care to drink milk every day, images of how this man can live and suffer passed through my head.”
Lobón closed his letter asking for respect for the elderly and urging that the current laws be reviewed.
