Cargando...Early, very early, since last August 20th, grandparents—retirees from before the “Tarea Ordenamiento”—have been arriving at banks across the country. These are the men and women who worked for more than 30 years in building our social and economic process and are now covered by social security.
They arrive confident that they’ll be able to withdraw all their money in cash, and a bit more cheerful because their pension checks have now increased by 1,528 Cuban pesos (CUP), reaching in some cases up to 4,000 CUP. Of course, we know well that this amount is not a definitive solution to current market prices, but it will help ease the strain on their tough family economies.
The most significant aspect of this news is that more than one and a half million retirees have benefited. It responds not only to a long-standing demand from that population sector and their descendants, but also from an entire society that sees these men and women as pillars of honest and loyal labor.
We must consider how many more benefits we can continue to offer them while inflation keeps rising. Could price reductions on medications, subsidies for food products, and even priority access to cultural or sporting events—just to name a few examples—be added to make this monetary increase more effective?
As a nation, we should never abandon the idea that forgetting the past is mortgaging the future. That’s why in these days, when they arrive or will arrive at the banks, there should be no shortage of greetings, smiles, and the satisfaction of knowing we are caring for part of our family. Cuba is that too. And we must not falter. These are our retirees—the ones who brought us to where we are today.
