Riveras del San Juan Social Protection Center in the city of Matanzas.
The quickest way for them to obtain food, by any means necessary, is by begging for money, food, or other assistance—one of the factors contributing to the increase in people living on the streets in neighborhood.
A sensitive issue is affecting society amidst extreme economic complexities: the increase in homeless individuals due to various causes.
It’s not that the government is standing idly by in the face of this situation, but current conditions require intersectoral collaboration. Two centers are available for these individuals, one in Cárdenas and the other in Matanzas, but these are still insufficient to eliminate this behavior.
We prefer to approach the issue of food with sensitivity, because when a person has nothing to eat, no financial means, and, due to their vulnerable situation, no place to eat, they go out into the streets to find food on their own.
The quickest way they find to get food, by any means necessary, is by begging for money, food, or other assistance—one of the factors contributing to the increase in people begging in neighborhoods.
When analyzing vulnerable communities, this segment stands out due to its multiple causes: people with mental health issues, others abandoned by their families or struggling with alcoholism, those with psychiatric disorders, and those truly in need.
All of them require treatment, and for this, the State allocates a budget and designs mechanisms such as the Family Food System (SAF), and also provides food in state-run facilities with adequate resources.
In places where the SAF and these resource-rich facilities do not exist, community food centers need to be created. Matanzas is working to open its first one soon. It was recently revealed that the organization has the necessary resources, as well as the promotion of social workers, to achieve an organization similar to that of the children’s homes.
Society is not immaculate; it has diverse faces, but it extends a helping hand. Everything done to benefit this segment of the population embodies one of Martí’s precepts of the Revolution.
Written by Enrique Tirse.