Of these, 320 receive temporary monetary aid from the Government, which boasts of benefiting 495 people.
14ymedio, Havana, 30 May 2024 — At least 559 families in the municipality of Yaguajay, in Sancti Spíritus, live in conditions of extreme poverty, a situation that authorities describe with the euphemism of “vulnerability.” Of these, 320 receive temporary monetary aid from the Government, which boasts of benefiting 495 people.
However, even this money – the official press omits the amount – is insecure, since a “socioeconomic study” is about to be carried out that will analyze the degree of need in which these families find themselves and how much they really need.
Among those requiring assistance are families whose members are unfit to work due to age or disability. Added to this is the serious general crisis that the entire country is experiencing, which in itself entails energy instability and shortages.
According to the official press, “vulnerable” families are also given food modules
According to the official press, “vulnerable” families are also given food modules and toiletries, among other resources, but it is insufficient. The residents of Sancti Spiritus do not even receive the basic family basket on time – a common problem on the Island. Julio Águila, an older man who worked as a driver in the province, denounced it on his social networks, alleging that “in April, soap was not distributed in the basic family basket in Yaguajay.”
“This month of May we are almost at the 20th and those in charge of solving this problem have not come either. They have gotten the idea that in Yaguajay people don’t bathe or wash [their clothes],” he laments.
In just 15 years Cuba has fallen thirty places in the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by the United Nations and is at risk of moving from the group of States at a high level to a medium level This would be a severe blow to the Government, which for years has displayed this indicator – which, along with income, takes into account the life expectancy and literacy of the population – as one of its great successes. The data is even more worrying if one observes that in 1995, in the middle of the Special Period, the Island was 13 positions higher than it is today.
Last February, Manuel David Orrio del Rosario, economist, former spy and retired journalist, published an article in which he alludes to the data and shows the percentages of public money on the Island destined for business and real estate services, hotels and restaurants and investment in agriculture. The regime dedicated 47.6% of these funds to these sectors in 2020 – the most severe year of the pandemic – in contrast to just 5.9% that was allocated to food.
Cuba has fallen thirty places in the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by the United Nations in just 15 years
“This policy is causing, from the beginning, a severe deficit in the supply of food and subsequent inflation, recognizing that this deficit is the first cause of the galloping rise in prices, without prejudice to the impacts caused in other sectors and the effects on the value real wages and pensions, which have long been below 1989!” said the author of several recent texts that are very critical of government policy.
Last April Cubadebate published a report in which the authorities acknowledged that the State was not capable of dealing with the number of homeless people in the country, although they are pleased to offer meals to more than 4,000 homeless and “vulnerable” people a day, in the Quisicuaba dining room, in Havana, a cultural and religious association related to the regime.
If this figure were true, it would mean feeding three people per minute for 24 hours a day. They also did not explain where the food and resources to serve them comes from.
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