Official journalist admits that his salary is not enough to buy gasoline

The veteran Cuban journalist,Jesus Alvarez Lopez, a radio reporter with 40 years of service in official media such as the Villa Clara network CMHW, acknowledged this Monday that hissalary he couldn't afford to buyGasoline.

“I had a gasoline ticket but I couldn't buy it, 30 [liters] for 156 CUP equal to 4,680 pesos, my monthly salary. “This is an abusive price,” the official journalist protested in hissocial networks.

In the middle of theacute fuel crisis that crosses the country and after thefuel price rise that the regime sells in dribs and drabs to transporters and vehicle owners, there are many Cubans who desperately see that their salaries are not enough to cover the costs of living and feel the burning iron of poverty in their flesh.

The rise in fuel prices greatly worries the population, which is beginning to detect increases in the rates of private transporters, while drivers suffer long lines at the few gas stations supplied.

This was stated at the beginning of March by several interviewees in Havana, where a reporter fromFrance 24 to see how the 500 percent increase in fuel prices, decreed by the Cuban government, affected Cubans.Miguel Diaz-Canel as part of the “package” of measures to “correct distortions” and achieve macroeconomic stability.

Álvarez López's publication, complaining about the mismatch between his salary as a journalist and the cost of fuel, received a barrage of comments from colleagues and other users who expressed their discomfort.

“Without words, dear Jesus,” the journalist fromRadio Mouse Luis Orlando Espino Ramírez.

“Would that be a well-studied, analyzed measure regarding the consequences...?” asked the user identified on Facebook asAlejandro Basulto Anzardo, to which Álvarez López replied: “I thought it was one of the mistakes ofAlejandro Gil Fernandez, but it seems I was wrong.”

“Maybe it was Gil's influence, but it's time to rectify it! You cannot sell without taking into account the salary of your people. The state is not a Mypime! Many deputies will have raised their hands, but people do not agree with those prices,” said another user.

This Monday, the Cuban government recognized during its monthly meeting of the Council of Ministers that the new fuel prices, which came into force on March 1,“they have not achieved the expected effect”, especially in relation to the offer offered by private carriers.

Since these new rates came into effect, which will be subject to review every three months, the regime has been put on alert, due to fear of a price increase in the private transport sector, aware that such a fact has repercussions on the already delicate circumstances of mobility throughout length and width of the island.

At the beginning of the year, the Cuban government decided to equate fuel prices with the current official exchange rate of approximately 120 pesos to one dollar.

In this way, retail fuel prices were established at the following values: regular gasoline (B90), 1.10 dollars per liter or 132 Cuban pesos in service centers that sell in that currency.

For its part, special gasoline (B94) will be sold for 1.30 dollars or 156 CUP (this is the case of the fuel that Álvarez López requires). Likewise, regular diesel (the most consumed in Cuba) will have a value of 1.10 dollars per liter and 132 Cuban pesos, while the super special gasoline (B100) will cost 1.65 dollars and the retail price in Cuban pesos will be 198 CUP.

Regarding the new prices, the Minister of Finance and Prices,Vladimir Regueiro Ale, stated that they reflect a “recognition of all the costs and expenses incurred from their acquisition, processing and marketing.”

The increase, announced for early February, finally came into effect in March, a delay that the regime explained was motivated byan alleged cyber attack of which he did not offer details. However, among the population, the postponement was perceived as a response to the general unrest caused by the measure.

After his complaint on social networks, Álvarez López felt the need to reaffirm his commitment to the regime and his work as a journalist at its service. “Let no one try to make me accept that those of us who remain are the wrong ones, to live is to fight,” he said in a new publication. Well, that's it: to continue "living."