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The Budget of the State in Cuba has been converted into a kind of entity that is perpetually embezzled by the inhabitants of the Island.

Every time we talk about the balance of income and expenditure in the country, corruption comes to mind, one of the most deeply rooted evils in this archipelago, one that would be difficult to eliminate, even if we had the help of an exorcist.

According to civil engineer Orlando, 45, "it is overwhelming the number of public employees in Cuba who 'struggle' to survive. There are not one or two who steal; They are thousands and throughout the country. It is a lifestyle that has generated egalitarianism and inefficiency. Guilt, more than people, has the way of doing things. Nothing justifies the theft, but to finish it you have to solve its deepest causes ".

"As in Cuba, everything is state-owned and we are so economically in need, our only solution to make ends meet is corruption. Although the worker has the same needs as the boss, corruption is usually not in the hands of those who have a low salary, but of those who receive large salaries and are in positions that allow them to decide the fate of resources. "

"At the end of each day indolence reigns because 'everything belongs to everyone' and nobody cares about anything. We only worry that our family has something to eat. I, for example, can not support a wife and two small children with 500 Cuban pesos per month. I do not have a family abroad and since I am an official they do not allow me to work at the same time on my own. What do I do to make my people survive 30 days? Steal, confesses this worker of a state construction company.

While 74% of Cuban income comes from the application of taxes, fees and contributions, and 85% of them are guaranteed by the business sector, the government itself has recognized the "bad practice" of seeking financing in the Budget or defer payments, when those resources should be given by the efficiency of state entities.

Although the authorities have also said that the 2019 Budget has been rationally planned, but without subtracting support for aspects such as basic services to the population, social policies and internal order, "the greatest concern of any Cuban is have a higher salary to be able to acquire at least what is necessary to live.

"We can not hide that the salary does not reach us even to feed our children and that if it were increased surely there would be so much illegality, lack of control and mismanagement of resources. However, the salary and prices must correspond and the country must finish paying off its debts. It is useless to increase the payment without productive support because we would have money in our pockets, but not products to buy. Every day everything becomes more expensive or lost from the market and nobody stops it, "says the economist Alicia, 51 years old.

A netizen has written in the comments on the Cubadebate website that "the salary of a day's work in any country in Europe, Canada or the United States is enough to buy food for the week. The salary of a day's work in Cuba is enough to buy a pound of tomato. Something must be done because that big difference is the one that is causing the theft of the State and corruption. Pay salary what they really should pay so that a worker can live better and have some comforts like any person in this world. "

Teté has added on the same website that "since Cuba is a socialist country, the state budget is everything that is produced in its companies, less what is used for the production of the same, plus what is obtained from the private property, that is, that the State is in advantage to solve social policies because it is the owner of everything ". In this regard, he adds: "I hope the owners of the yachts pay high taxes, and I do not mention names because everyone knows who they are."

In papers, more than 70% of the state budget in Cuba is used in social activities. However, we would have to see how much of the 22,000 million pesos of expenditures (half of which is concentrated in the Health and Education sectors, according to the Government) that are currently invested in the different municipalities and Cuban territories in practice reaches hands correct.

From the point of view of the programmer Abdel, 36 years old, the influence of the Budget on the quality of life of Cubans will not be perceived this year "that we are in need of a change of a thousand degrees, of money that is not embezzled, that is clean . We do not want transformations for 2050. We aspire to see results today and no more justifications that blame everything on the United States blockade. "

"It would be interesting to know how much the country has destined to substitute imports and generate exportable products and also solve the dissimilar internal problems for which there are national solutions not used or underused. Knowing how much capital is dedicated to the development of the national economy, not to subsidies, but to investments. "

"I have been working with the State since I was 18 years old, but I live a day. Today I collect what they pay me and today I spend it. The reality is that I have to spend the month in debt. How a pound of tomatoes will cost a worker's day wage or pants, 3 months? If with 1,400 pesos I see them tight, with 242 of retirement I can not even finish living. "

"What is needed is that there is a diversity of products and prices and, if we can not achieve them, allow foreign investment to reach our streets so that there is competition and prices decrease; not to make more hotels, but for a Chinese to put a store in one corner and in the other a Spanish and in the other an Australian, "he says.


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