Pensioners respond to the early Christmas in Venezuela

Urimare Capote asks himself every day “who can live on 3.5 dollars?”: the amount pensioners receive each monthunchanged for two years and insufficient in Venezuela, a country where the basic basket exceeds 500 dollars.

Dozens of pensioners gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Venezuela to ask that he mediate with the government of President Nicolás Maduro, who decreed the start of the Christmas season starting this Tuesday.

Federico PARRA / AFP

«Christmas ended a few years ago«answers Capote, a 62-year-old lawyer and representative of the Committee for the Defense of Retirees and Pensioners.

“It is a miserable mockery of the president towards us,” Eduardo Martínez, a 71-year-old teacher, tells AFP. «We don’t have real (money) even to buy milk and we are going to have to buy things for the Christmas celebrations«.

The pension in Venezuela is 130 bolivars from 2022. At that time it was equivalent to 30 dollars, today it is 3.50 dollars compared to the basic basket which stands at 539 dollars, according to private estimates.

Maduro insists that the precariousness of salaries is a consequence of the United States sanctions against the country, while analysts attribute it to years of misguided economic measures that annihilated the local currency in the midst of a deep recession.

The leftist leader was proclaimed re-elected in July for a third consecutive six-year term, amid complaints of fraud by the opposition and ignorance on the part of the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries.

Protests against his re-election ended with 27 dead, almost 200 injured and more than 2,400 detained, including minors. And in that context, Maduro decreed the beginning of Christmas for October 1. On Monday he said on his weekly show that the season will be extended until January 15.

“As there is a preview of Christmas, we are calling for peace, for fraternity,” celebrates Jesús López, a 52-year-old doctor while photographing his daughters in a Caracas square.

Federico PARRA / AFP

Shops in Caracas begin selling ornaments, trees, lights and nativity scenes

Stores in Caracas have already started selling decorations, trees, lights and nativity scenes… In some, the new merchandise is mixed with that of Halloween, a holiday that many Venezuelans adopted and has become popular.

Shopping centers have illuminated days and the squares are decorated, including the neuralgic Plaza Bolívar.

A artificial pine exceeds 100 dollars and can reach 900. Hallaca, the star dish at Christmas dinners, also requires a high budget, between beef, chicken, pork, olives, capers and other seasonings.

Juan BARRETO / AFP

Deilyn Peña takes photos of her 5-year-old son in a plaza in the Las Mercedes shopping neighborhood, adorned with two giant bears, one in a Christmas hat and the other in a red top hat. There is a little train next to it.

“I don’t totally agree,” but “you still have to have the Christmas spirit, especially for the children,” he says.

«I don’t feel anything, nothing connected«says Valeria Ponce, a 22-year-old gym instructor. “I feel like it’s a way to distract us a little from what’s happening and it’s simply giving us a reason to celebrate.”

He avoids, like the majority in Venezuela, referring directly to the country’s political situation, in the midst of a general panic of ending up in prison for saying something that could upset the government.

Pensioners in Venezuela are experiencing the worst moment

The pensioners in the protest speak of “extermination” and “genocide” with the income they receive. They demand the fate of the collection of a special tax to improve pensions approved in May by Parliament.

«Where are those resources? “Who has audited them?” asks Capote.

«Older adults are experiencing one of the worst times in history (…). “They are abandoned not only by the State, but by their families who had to leave Venezuela,” he continues, referring to the almost 8 million Venezuelans who, according to the UN, migrated in the midst of the brutal economic crisis.

And in that sense, talking about Christmas is difficult. “At Christmas the family is united, and the Venezuelan family is totally broken up, scattered around the world,” Capote laments.

“As long as there is no decent salary, there cannot be a decent Christmas,” insists Arturo Morgado, 68 years old and retired from the CANTV telephone company. “Last year I didn’t celebrate it, today everything is worse.”