Cuban minister faces backlash for saying there are no beggars in Cuba
'We have seen people apparently beggars (but) when you look at their hands, look at the clothes these people are wearing, they are disguised as beggars; they are not beggars,' Feitó said before the National Assembly committee. 'In Cuba, there are no beggars.' She added that people cleaning windshields use the money to drink alcohol. Feitó also lashed out against those who search through the garbage dumps. She said they are recovering materials to resell and not pay tax.
Without mentioning her name, but referring to the meeting at the National Assembly committee where Feitó participated, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on his X account: 'The lack of sensitivity in addressing vulnerability is highly questionable. The revolution cannot leave anyone behind; that is our motto, our militant responsibility.' Until a few years ago, despite the poverty, there were no signs of begging or homelessness on the island thanks to benefits that have now been greatly reduced. The pension of a retiree is about 2000 Cuban pesos per month, roughly $5 on the informal market and just under the cost of a carton of eggs. For those who don't receive remittances from family abroad, it means going hungry. Self-employed Enrique Guillén believes the minister is wrong and that some people do not see the situation clearly and hopes the government will take action.
'They are elderly people who count on a pension that does not exist. They cannot even buy a carton of eggs. It is the reality we are living in Cuba,' Guillén said. On Monday, island authorities reported that Cuba's gross domestic product fell by 1.1 percent in 2024, accumulating a decline of 11 percent over the past five years.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
14 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Ousted South Korean president Yoon indicted on new charges over martial law decree
SEOUL — South Korea's ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted Saturday on new criminal charges tied to his controversial declaration of martial law, further intensifying the legal challenges facing the conservative former leader three months after his removal from office. The Seoul Central District Court confirmed that Yoon will remain in detention for up to six months as he awaits trial for his December 3 martial law order, which triggered mass protests and political upheaval across the country. The indictment follows the court's recent approval of an arrest warrant requested by independent counsel Cho Eun-suk, who is leading the probe into Yoon's presidency. According to senior investigator Park Ji-young, Yoon is now charged with abuse of power for deliberately bypassing several Cabinet members in order to secure approval for the martial law decree — a direct violation of South Korean law, which mandates full Cabinet consent for such actions. Investigators also accused Yoon of fabricating an official document to falsely meet the legal conditions required for declaring martial law. That document, they say, was later destroyed in an attempt to erase evidence of misconduct. These charges are in addition to previous indictments against Yoon, which include orchestrating a rebellion — a severe crime under South Korean law that carries a sentence of either life imprisonment or capital punishment. Yoon's martial law decree in December 2024, framed by him as a desperate attempt to overcome legislative gridlock, backfired after lawmakers — including dissenters from his own party — convened in defiance and formally rejected the decree. His government was forced to lift martial law within days, and the National Assembly swiftly moved to impeach him. Describing the National Assembly as 'a den of criminals' and accusing the opposition Democratic Party of sabotaging his policies, Yoon had previously defended the decree as a necessary step to save the nation from 'anti-state forces.' However, critics and legal experts have condemned it as an unconstitutional power grab. After initially being detained in January, Yoon was briefly released in March but returned to custody last week following the new arrest warrant. In April, the Constitutional Court formally dismissed him from the presidency, prompting a snap election that brought former opposition leader Lee Jae Myung to power. President Lee has since endorsed legislation to uncover the full scope of Yoon's martial law actions and appointed Cho Eun-suk as independent counsel to lead the probe. Investigators are also reportedly looking into separate allegations involving Yoon's wife and former officials from his administration. In May, prosecutors charged Yoon with ordering security forces to block access to government buildings, including the National Assembly and election commission offices — actions deemed outside the lawful scope of military and police responsibilities. The unfolding legal case against Yoon marks one of the most serious constitutional crises in South Korea's modern political history and could result in life imprisonment. — Agencies
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Cuba ends maximum age limit of 60 for presidential candidates
HAVANA: Cuba scrapped the maximum age limit of 60 for its presidential candidates as part of a constitutional reform approved Friday by parliament. The communist-ruled island's restriction of two five-year presidential terms and minimum age of 35 for candidates were left unchanged. The measure, approved by the Council of State, imposes no age limits on people 'in the full exercise of their physical and mental faculties, with... loyalty and revolutionary trajectory,' national assembly president Esteban Lazo said. Former president Raul Castro, who at age 94 still holds a seat in the assembly, was the first to vote for the reform that will be on the books for the 2028 presidential elections. Cuba's current president, 65-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, was elected in 2018 and then re-elected in 2023. No favored successor has been publicly designated. The inclusion of term and age limits in the 2019 constitution marked a radical shift after the six decades in which Fidel Castro and his brother Raul were in power. In 2016, Fidel had to hand over the reins to his brother due to health problems. He died later that year, after nearly half a century leading Cuba. Raul Castro officially became president in 2008, at the age of 76. In 2021, he retired as Communist Party first secretary, handing over power to Diaz-Canel. The nation of nearly 10 million people is suffering its worst economic crisis in three decades, with shortages of all kinds of supplies, power outages, and unprecedented emigration.
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump to Put Tariffs of Over 10% on Smaller Nations, Including Those in Africa and the Caribbean
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he plans to place tariffs of over 10 percent on smaller countries including nations in Africa and the Caribbean. 'Well probably set one tariff for all of them,' Trump said, adding that it could be a little over 10 percent tariff on goods from at least 100 nations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interjected that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean, places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the US and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump's goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world. The president had this month been posting letters to roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that simply levied a tariff rate to be charged starting August 1. Those countries generally faced tax rates on the goods close to the April 2 rates announced by the US president, whose rollout of historically high import taxes for the US caused financial markets to panic and led to Trump setting a 90-day negotiating period that expired July 9. Trump also said he would probably announce tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at the end of the month. The president said he would start out at a lower tariff rate and give companies a year to build domestic factories before they faced higher import tax rates. Trump said computer chips would face a similar style of tariffs.
