Former combatant from Angola denounces abandonment by the government: "I sleep on the street, I eat whatever appears"

A former combatant from Angola denounced the abandonment he suffers from the Cuban regime.

After dedicating his entire life to working for the government, Yurbio Gonzalez Rosemary, from Camagüey, reaches the age of 57 without even a roof over his head.

Yurbio told CubaNet who fought in Angola and was decorated. Upon his return to Cuba, he joined the Ministry of the Interior as a member of the Police and was the founder of the Special Brigades, which he joined for 11 years.

He had the misfortune of losing a leg in a traffic accident and becoming disabled reduced his work capabilities. Because of this inability, he receives a checkbook for 800 Cuban pesos, which is not enough "not even for a croquette."

Since he had nowhere to live, the government suggested he go to a refugee center, but he assures that he feels like a prisoner there.

"They gave me the option of eating in a dining room, but I never go because I sleep on the street. I eat whatever appears," he said.

Disappointed, he pointed out that the MSMEs with their prices are starving the people.

In his opinion, a change in the system must occur so that the current situation in the country improves.

"All that number of Cubans who are emigrating is because the government is not useful," he stressed.

There are thousands of Cubans who participated in wars and other missions in Africa and today they live poorly, abandoned by the government, without a pension that allows them to live with dignity and many times not even without a place to live.

At the beginning of the month, the case of Ernesto Tamayo Osorio, a former war combatant in Angola, who still suffers the consequences of his wounds and survives with a very poor pension of 1,500 pesos per month, emerged.

Tamayo, 61 years old and resident in Holguín, lives on the street.

The severe injuries left him unable to work. "When I returned to Cuba they told me that they were going to give me a withdrawal, but I spent more than two months without assistance," he told CubaNet.

"Several times I have asked the government for help and I am still waiting for a response. They always tell me that it is not possible now, that I should continue insisting, but I was tired. I realized that they were avoiding me and I have not gone anymore," he said.

"Some people had to come here to give me gifts so I could eat. Praise the people of the Church, to the Lord, who always helps me," he added.

In late July the news became known of an elderly ex-combatant from the Angolan and Ethiopian wars who survives by eating leftovers he finds on the streets from Holguin.

The veteran, identified as Julián Hidalgo Expósito, said that sometimes he goes up to three days without eating, and when hunger is so strong he eats whatever he finds: "I know that if I eat from the floor I get sick, but it is worse to die of hunger." ", he claimed.

The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) denounced on its Twitter account that "older people, ex-combatants, tell how after fighting for the revolution, now the government has them helpless."

The organization shared a video of the situation in which two of these elderly people live poorly, without a home and without a pension that allows them to live with dignity. Both They are dedicated to collecting cans in the trash and the streets to sell them and be able to eat something.