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WORLD NEWS Monday 11 april 2022

Pension hike not enough for Venezuelans to afford basic food

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) people look at you with
— When lunchtime comes, contempt," Miriam Jimé-
Maybel Sequera and Juan nez, 68, told The Associ-
González share a plate ated Press after picking up
of noodles and beans at a plate of food at a soup
their home in a low-income kitchen for the elderly in
neighborhood west of Ven- western Caracas. "One has
ezuela's capital. Their mea- to beg in the streets. Some-
ger lunch was a gift from a times, a neighbor gives me
nonprofit organization as something."
the couple cannot afford In other South American
to feed themselves. countries, pensions range
Sequera, 72, and González, from $230 to $650, but the
74, worked for years as a amounts are also usually
seamstress and driver to below the cost of a bas-
build their two houses and ket of basic goods or the
raise their four children. But monthly minimum wage.
now, after 50 years of mar- In Chile, new President Ga-
riage, they rely on dona- briel Boric promised to raise
tions for food, medicines the amount to $310, al-
and clothing. though it will remain below
The government raised the $435 monthly minimum
their combined monthly Carlos Blanco, 84, a retired ambulance supervisor, holds a sign that announces his monthly pen- wage.
pensions from about $4 to sion payment of $1.50 dollars during a protest asking for an increase in payments amid world Luis Francisco Cabeza, di-
roughly $60 last month. But record-breaking inflation in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. rector of Convite, a non-
it would have to be multi- Associated Press governmental organization
plied by six for them to be focused on care for the
able to buy a basket of try what he considered Observatory, an organiza- lars make it impossible for elderly in Venezuela, said
goods. socialism — a pension is tion specializing in eco- much of the population to social security for the el-
"Now that they have in- equal to the monthly mini- nomic studies. afford goods. derly population should not
creased us to 130 (each), mum wage. Workers con- Venezuela has just over five This dynamic leaves many just be a pension. He said it
we are going to see how tribute between 2% and 4% million pensioners, accord- older adults dependent on should also include access
we manage with those 130 of their salary to Social Se- ing to official figures. An- remittances from the more to medicines, medical care
because it is not enough ei- curity while employers pay nual inflation, which slowed than six million Venezuelans and recreation.
ther," Sequera said referring an additional 9% to 11% on last year but still reached who have migrated due "The pension is a system
to the pension in bolívares, behalf of workers. 686.4%, has eaten up their to the economic, political that seeks to protect you
Venezuela's official curren- The pensions of Sequera, pensions for years. and social crises of recent against the contingency
cy and in which pensions González and millions of Although the country in years. of reaching old age," he
are paid. other similarly situated re- the second half of the last Nonprofit organizations added. In Venezuela, the
In Venezuela, the pension tirees went up last month decade experienced a se- and churches fill some hospital system is precari-
is the amount paid monthly because President Nico- vere shortage of food and gaps, but it is not uncom- ous, so patients must bring
to workers who retire after lás Maduro increased the hygiene items, prompting mon to see the elderly on all medical supplies to be
reaching 750 weeks of So- monthly minimum wage people to stand in long the sidewalks of Caracas, treated.
cial Security contributions from roughly $2 to about lines outside supermar- the capital, selling candy Sequera has been diag-
and turning 55, in the case $30, an amount insufficient kets to buy whatever they or begging for money. nosed with two types of
of women, and 60 for men. to pay basic goods, whose could, store shelves are "I have to manage to get cancer this year, including
Since 1995 — years before cost in February was esti- now well stocked and dis- food. It's not easy, because a type of skin cancer that
Hugo Chavez imposed in mated at $365, according play imported products. you're of an age, you go required an operation on
the South American coun- to the Venezuelan Finance But high prices set in dol- out on the street and many her face. q