HAVANA — A Cuban minister sparked grievance Tuesday, together with from the president, after pronouncing that there are not any beggars in Cuba, most effective folks disguised as such, and suggesting that those that blank windshields at crossroads have an “simple” existence.
Cuba’s Minister of Hard work and Social Safety, Marta Elena FeitĂł Cabrera, made the feedback on Monday earlier than deputies in a Nationwide Meeting committee. They went viral, prompting requires FeitĂłs’ impeachment and a wave of grievance in a rustic experiencing a difficult financial scenario in recent times.
The industrial disaster in Cuba has larger social vulnerability and ended in bizarre scenes for the island, akin to folks — particularly the aged — begging or scavenging thru rubbish, or some cleansing windshields at corners.
“We’ve observed folks, it appears beggars, (however) whilst you take a look at their arms, take a look at the garments those individuals are dressed in, they’re disguised as beggars, they don’t seem to be beggars,” FeitĂł mentioned earlier than the Nationwide Meeting committee. “In Cuba there are not any beggars.”
She added that folks cleansing windshields use the cash to “drink alcohol.”
FeitĂł additionally lashed out in opposition to those that seek in the course of the rubbish dumps. She mentioned they’re recuperating fabrics “to resell and no longer pay tax.”
With out bringing up her title, however regarding the assembly on the Nationwide Meeting committee the place FeitĂł participated, President Miguel DĂaz-Canel mentioned on his X account: “the loss of sensitivity in addressing vulnerability is very questionable. The revolution can not go away any person at the back of; this is our motto, our militant accountability.”
Till a couple of years in the past, regardless of the poverty, there have been no indicators of begging or homelessness at the island due to advantages that experience now been a great deal diminished.
The pension of a retiree is ready 2,000 Cuban pesos per 30 days, kind of $5 at the casual marketplace, and slightly below the price of a carton of eggs. For many who don’t obtain remittances from circle of relatives in a foreign country, it method going hungry.
Self-employed Enrique GuillĂ©n believes the minister is mistaken and that some folks don’t see the location obviously, and hopes the federal government will take motion.
“They’re aged individuals who depend on a pension that doesn’t exist. They can not even purchase a carton of eggs. It’s the fact we live in Cuba,” GuillĂ©n mentioned.
On Monday, island government reported that Cuba’s gross home product fell by means of 1.1% in 2024, gathering a decline of eleven% over the last 5 years.
