Maduro says senior citizens are the most affected by sanctions

Nicolás Maduro said on Saturday that the elderly have been the most affected by the sanctions imposed by the United States on the Venezuelan regime.

«It is the founding generation of the new homeland (…) and it has been the generation hardest hit by criminal sanctions and imperialist aggressions.“the president said in a telephone call during a meeting of senior citizens within the framework of the so-called ‘Great Mission of Grandfathers and Grandmothers of the Homeland’, broadcast by the VTV channel.

Maduro said he was aware of the criticisms, proposals and demands made by the elderly people who will meet today and Sunday, to “assume them, incorporate them and put them into motion with strength«.

On May 7, the National Assembly approved a law, proposed by Maduro, to “protect” pensions from the negative effects of “unilateral coercive measures” imposed by the United States.

«This was a curative bill, it is a bill to care for those who were hit hardest and attacked by the predatory, brutal, scoundrel, criminal action of American imperialism, by imposing illegal sanctions once morest the entire people of Venezuela.“said the president of the AN, Jorge Rodríguez, quoted in a press release.

Rodriguez said that immediate attention was given to this bill, proposed by Maduro, so that the private sector, “which has also been taken care of in this recovery process, assumed responsibilities for the improvement of the amount of pensions for grandmothers and grandfathers«.

According to the government, Venezuela closed the first four months of the year with partial losses of more than 2 billion dollars in its income as a result of the US sanctions.

Since March 2022, the pension, as well as the minimum wage, remains at 130 bolivars per month, which at that time, at the official exchange rate, was regarding 30 dollars, and today 3.5 dollars, which means that it has been reduced by 88% in its equivalent in the US currency, used as a reference to set prices in Venezuela.

In the country, older adults have been forced to return to work and take the option of reintegration into the workforce as a necessity to be able to remedy their “inability to feed themselves” or buy medicines, in the midst of the crisis that the nation is still experiencing, according to the NGO Convite.