"I fought to have everything," says the elderly ex-combatant of the revolution

An elderly ex-combatant of the revolution does not hide the frustration he feels in the face of a reality very different from the one for which he fought.

4 | 20/02/2024 - 12:02pm (GMT-5)

An elderly man from Matanzas, a former combatant of the revolution, did not hide the frustration he feels in the face of a reality very different from the one for which he fought.

“I fought to have everything in life, so that everyone could have it. Everyone to drink milk, all the little children…”, commented the older adult in statements collected by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH).

The old man gave as a concrete and painful example that there is not something as basic in Cuba as milk for the people and that there is in Varadero or other tourist places.

“Why don't they share it with the population instead of taking it for foreigners?” he questioned bitterly.

“I gave my life for this, I fought for this and I never thought I would reach this situation”, he lamented in a slow tone; and immediately concluded: “This has to change, my friend.”

The questioning and frustration of that old man does not differ from that previously shown by other people who have reached old age facing a panorama that radically differs from what they dreamed of for the end of their lives, not only for them, but also for their entire environment.

Recently the Cuban regime recognized that 1,236 communities in Cuba live in misery.

The elderly are, without a doubt, one of the groups most affected by the crisis of recent years. Every day it is more common to find older people in Cuba who survive by begging for alms, searching for food scraps in the garbage and even sleeping on the street. Begging has increased significantly on the island in a context marked by inflation, shortages of basic products and low salaries and pensions.

At the same time, on social networks more and more Cubans have noted the seriousness of the phenomenon of begging, especially among the elderly, a reality that for decades the regime assured could not be found on the streets of the country.

In recent months, reports and images have exploded on social media of elderly Cubans taking to the streets to try to find what to eat, since they have absolutely nothing at home.

In mid-January, a young Cuban woman turned to Facebook to make the case of a 75-year-old man who knocked on the door of his house to ask for something to eat Well, according to what the older adult told him, he had not eaten anything for two days.

“Hunger is killing me”, another 89-year-old man admitted in September of last year in shocking statements to the independent media. Cubanet.