Ernesto Castillo Reyes, a disabled and sick old man who lives in conditions ofextreme poberty in the city of Santiago de Cuba, reported that he does not receive a pension from the government.
His precarious house is located on Calle 8 #149 and a half, Mariana de la Torre neighborhood, very close to the historic center of the eastern city.
The communicator Yosmany Mayeta Labrada published on Facebook avideo where the man is seen cooking his grandchildren's lunch with firewood and also the very poor conditions of his home.
“I am hypertensive, diabetic, disabled, and this is still the holy hour, and the holy year and month, that they have not given me a checkbook and I fight with what I sell, without harming anyone,” Castillo explained.
The old man, who has been missing a leg for nine years, reported that he had not eaten for three days: “And they have not been interested in a checkbook yet, and I have to fight, what can I say to myself? Going through work and need. I soften some peas and food, since I don't have money I didn't buy rice for 250 pesos.”
The video also shows a woman talking to a child. She asked the little boy if he had eaten, and he answered no.
In his publication, Mayeta explained that Castillo's neighbors sent him this material and that the old man lives with his autistic grandson in a home in critical conditions.
He added that the little boy does not receive help either and many times it is the neighbors who give them a “plate of food.”
The elderly man's home is located in the Vista Hermosa Popular Council, which has social workers, led by Bárbara and also Teresa Cereijo López, who works at the Directorate of Labor and Social Security on San Francisco Street, the reporter detailed in his post. on Facebook.
“I call on the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of Santiago de Cuba, the Municipal Government of Santiago de Cuba, the Leaders of the Government of District #3 Antonio Maceo, the Social Workers of Vista Hermosa and its adjoining localities that, if They are not going to serve vulnerable families, people with special needs, children with chronic illnesses and every Santiago family that needs urgent intervention, LEAVE YOUR COMFORT POSITIONS AND GIVE YOUR SPACES TO PEOPLE WHO DO WANT TO DO FOR THE ORDINARY CUBAN,” Mayeta demanded.
The Cuban regime recognized that at leastSome 1,236 communities live in misery on the island.
Just when the country is going through one of the worsteconomical crisis of its history,Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, Minister of Labor and Social Security, admitted that 96% of the problems related to extreme poverty in the country are "in the process of comprehensive transformation."
In March 2023, Cuba was already the poorest country in Latin America. According to the renowned international electoral observatoryDatoWorld, the nation then registered a poverty rate of 72%, well above Venezuela (50%) and Honduras (48%), which are the states that followed it in the Latin American ranking.
To reach this conclusion, data provided by theCuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), which in September 2023 denounced a worrying increase in national poverty.
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