AVN.- The more than 3 million Venezuelan pensioners began, starting this Friday, to get paid the new salary increase and the special "economic war" bonus decreed by President Nicolas Maduro, on April 30.
For this reason, since early in the morning, a large number of elderly people were seen in the outskirts of banking institutions, such as the Bicentenario and Fondo Comun banks, located in Plaza Venezuela, Caracas.
In an interview with the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN), Genova Peña, 69 years old, said that she came to the Bicentenario Bank because she does not know how to operate an electronic card.
"I do not know how to use it," admitted the pensioner of the Great Mission Love for the Elderly, created in 2011 on the initiative of President Hugo Chavez to universalize the right to pension, including people like Genova who did not pay contributions to the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security (IVSS).
Concerning the increase in salary amounting to 128,416 bolivars she will receive this Friday, Genova said: "Thank God the Government is going to give us an increase. It is very good, it is really good, because as all prices are rising, it is at least one more help. But there is another problem: when the government increases wages, merchandise prices go up immediately."
Genova refers to the economic war situation faced by both the people and the national government, due to the high prices of basic products by the private sector.
"They go too far ... people are suffering," she said. This was also mentioned by Nora Araujo, from Santa Teresa del Tuy, Miranda state, who also called for stopping the high prices.
Nora denounced that in her case she is a victim of speculation when she uses the electronic card and in Santa Teresa del Tuy many business premises charge 10% for each operation.
She pointed out that for that reason, she prefers to have the money in cash and this is why she came to Caracas to collect her pension.
Genova and Nora are part of the more than 3 million pensioners throughout the country, a figure that has covered 90% of the population of pensionable age.
This number contrasts with the 387,000 pensioners in 1999, when the pension was exclusively for those who had contributed to the IVSS.
Venezuela is currently facing an economic downturn as a result of falling oil prices, the main national income. Despite this situation, President Maduro has continued to pay pensions and maintains the entire social investment policy for which he allocates more than 70% of the national budget.
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