Since 2021, the number of Cubans benefiting from the Family Care System (SAF) has fallen by at least 22%. In January 2021, the then Deputy Prime Minister Marino Murillo reported that 76,176 people regularly went to the SAF canteens in search of lunches and meals at subsidized prices; in October 2023, that group had been reduced to “more than 59,000,” as reported in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero.
The trend is not consistent with the economic crisis on the island and its demographic dynamics, marked by aging and in a context in which, according to the general director of the National Social Security Institute (INASS), Virginia García, in August 2023 More than 70% of pensioners in Cuba received a minimum pension.
Between 2020 and 2023, the elderly not only represented more than 22% of Cuba’s total population, but also a growing proportion fell into vulnerable conditions due to low income and the absence of younger relatives in their family nuclei. due to migration, among other reasons.
Under such circumstances, SAF capabilities should have been increased.
In 2021, retirees made up 47.5% of those enrolled in the service. The other groups with the greatest presence in the SAF canteens were people defined as “social cases” 1 (21.9%) and those assisted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (15.9%).
In October 2023, when analyzing the work of the SAF in the meeting mentioned at the beginning, the reasons why the service’s capabilities had decreased were not explained despite the fact that the same 1,445 establishments operate throughout the country as two years and half ago. At the meeting, convened at the Palace of the Revolution to address the “improvement of this System,” it was determined that the fundamental responsibility regarding the canteens falls on local governments, to which the Prime Minister “called to look for alternatives that guarantee a balanced diet and stability in supplies.”
“Self-managed” and with losses
Every month, the La Colmena SAF, in Camagüey, has between 100,000 and 150,000 pesos in losses to the Rancho Luna gastronomic complex, to which it belongs. “It is a program that has a price of 13 pesos for lunch and 13 pesos for supper, insufficient to cover the acquisition of what is offered. The assigned supplies are also not enough. We have to use gastronomic products at high prices for this program, which is prioritized and cannot fail,” the administrator of La Colmena explained at the beginning of February. Before the Reorganization began, the price of rations ranged between 3 and 5 CUP.
Since its creation in 1998, the SAF operated under a model that linked its units with other “traditional” gastronomy units, such as restaurants, cafes and production centers. However, the System worked independently, based on its own allocations.
The first changes occurred during the process of “eliminating undue gratuities” in the 2010s, when deliveries of inputs became less generous and offers such as desserts and bread became irregular. At that time, the canteens began to be subordinated to the UEB (Basic Business Units), sort of small gastronomy enterprises that group together several establishments to reduce costs.
The SAF “sponsors” were expected to help them deal with supply interruptions or even contribute to improving the menus. With the Reorganization Task that link became one of complete dependence.
“The Reorganization was a disaster for us. From one day to the next they said that we had to ‘self-manage,’ since deliveries would decrease, and to compensate for this we would have to contract directly with producers and buy in agricultural markets at the same price as the population. In theory, we had to cover most of the expenses by charging for the menus, and the rest, with other offers that would be sold to the elderly and the population in general. But it seems that no one counted on the fact that the prices of raw materials would continue to rise and it would no longer be possible to raise the menus for those assisted again. I sell lunches and suppers for between 12 and 15 pesos, depending on what there is. The 60 portions per month cost around 800 pesos per person. Imagine the effort that a retiree who collects 1,500 pesos in pension has to make to buy them! And almost all of those we serve are from the lowest pension groups. Now the rumor has spread that they are going to ‘review’ SAF prices and the elderly are worried. One told me that with 5 pesos added to each meal there would be no way to make due,” a SAF administrator residing in the city of Camagüey told OnCuba, on condition of anonymity.
“The issue of food is complex,” acknowledged a few days ago the mayor of the municipality of Old Havana, Alexis Acosta Silva. During his appearance on the program Cuadrando la Caja, created by Cuban Television to address social issues. That official stated that “the same policies that we know to acquire products, which are often imported, have put an end to each unit being able, through a resolution, which is 99 of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, to be looking for that main course that today does not reach it in a centralized way.” Leaving aside the good intentions with which it could have been enacted, in practice this “autonomy” placed the SAF in a condition of vulnerability that was difficult to confront.
Already in January 2021, when these canteens tried to become profitable by raising the rates of their menus, Deputy Prime Minister Marino Murillo had assured that, if there was “a deterioration in the quality and standard of living of these people [the SAF diners], because the increase in income collides with the rise in prices, they will be taken care of by social assistance.”
A few days ago, the National Institute of Social Assistance and Security (INASS) detailed that 350,472 people receive their monetary benefits. The figure was publicized as a sign of government efforts to protect the most vulnerable sectors. However, it is 5% lower than what INASS itself reported in July 2022 (at that time, 369,187).
The process to request help from Social Assistance is cumbersome and often ends up being denied. “At least in Camagüey, if you have children it is practically impossible for them to approve you. The process of getting a place has also become more complicated. Before, it was enough to talk to the social worker and after a month or so, you could start coming to the canteen; now, I know of people who have been waiting for months for a spot. We have had practically the same number of diners for years,” said the SAF administrator consulted.
The departments of the Social Workers and Commerce in Camagüey were consulted in this regard, but both institutions refused to provide information. A social worker who prefers to remain anonymous acknowledged privately that “there is an increase in the number of applications and not all of them have yet been processed.” According to her, several ministries are developing a “conciliation” to determine the “people and groups in vulnerable conditions.” These lists will then serve as a guide for the implementation of the new prices of the regulated food basket that have already been announced, liquefied gas and the delivery of social aid such as the SAF, she anticipated.
Rice, beans and main course
Although most of the time the menu is limited to rice, beans and main course (usually croquettes or sausages), for Miguel the SAF constitutes a “tremendous help.” Widowed and with his only daughter living in Matanzas, at 80 he finds it difficult to prepare a meal “from scratch.” Thanks to the soup kitchen, his work is limited to “improving” what he receives, adding condiments, salad and root vegetables. “With the money my daughter and grandson send me, I even have enough money for something. If I didn’t have lunch and supper at the SAF there was no way I could do it. Starting because when I don’t have enough money I can sell part of the rice from the basket. It is true that the rations are not what they were, but there is no way I would give it up.”
Among the “indulges” that Miguel allows himself is occasionally shopping at a “gravity point,” near his house, in the historic center of the city of Camagüey. Four or five days a week, workers from La Perla de Cuba, a nearby state restaurant, set up shop in front of the Lugareño building to sell food at affordable prices; usually, rice, beans, root vegetables and some meat. In total, the value of a complete menu ranges between 40 and 60 pesos: half of what a small pizza costs.
The gravity points were an alternative that emerged in Camagüey during the pandemic, when dozens came into operation. Their scheme is similar to that of the SAF: gastronomy establishments are tasked with locating points of sale in areas with a large attendance of people within the communities. The “complete menu” offered there must have prices as cheap as possible.
But that objective is becoming more difficult to meet every day due to inflation. After the initial boom, many gravity points closed; others, like the one managed by La Perla, reduced their frequency and number of portions. “In reality, on the best of days this is barely enough to recover what was invested. We only continue doing it because it is a government measure to protect the population,” confessed a local worker.
In the municipalities of Camagüey where purchasing power is lower, the difficulties in covering the costs of gravity points multiply. At the beginning of March, the director of the Vertientes Commerce and Gastronomy Company, Ernesto de Armas, recognized this in an interview with local radio. “We are making about 600 portions a day, but we are still looking for how to balance prices, because now we sell at prices much lower than those of raw materials.” At its best, Vertientes had 7 points; Now there are 5 that work “in tension” due to the shortage of products such as rice.
The SAF canteens in Vertientes, meanwhile, face the same difficulties as those in the provincial capital. Repeating the formula of “self-management” and gastronomic offers to the population, in August 2023 the local authorities called for “covering the expenses generated by the benefits to vulnerable people who receive help in these institutions.” As happened in 2021, they were not very successful.
“This is a service like health or education, which has to operate at a loss. We serve people who cannot be ‘pressed’ anymore,” lamented the interviewed administrator.
Private or social initiatives, such as the community kitchen managed by the Quisicuaba Cabildo in the capital of Camagüey, cannot replace the role that the State should play in favor of the most vulnerable population in the country. Especially in times when inflation is growing at an unstoppable rate at the expense of a range of goods as essential as food.
Note:
1 The category “social cases” includes mothers with large families or caregivers, single elderly people, and people with mental and physical disabilities.
