The Maduro regime has announced in large numbers the 300% increase in the minimum wage, but in reality that is not enough for even a kilo of meat.

The Venezuelan regime announced this Saturday, Labor Day, an increase in the minimum wage of almost 300%, which is not enough for a kilo of meat, in the midst of rampant hyperinflation. “An increase in the minimum wage to 7 million bolivars comes into force”, equivalent to 2.5 dollars, informed the Minister of Labor, Eduardo Piñate, before a concentration of followers of Chavism in action on the occasion of May 1st.

The salary, which has increased by 288.8% compared to the current 1.8 million, is supplemented by a food bonus of “3 million bolivars, to reach a” minimum income of 10 million bolivars (3.55 USD)“.

When Eduardo Piñate, Minister of Labor of Maduro, made this announcement, there were no shouts of joy, applause, or Chavist slogans … There was no reaction, those present seemed absent and the official of the official show realized the situation and quickly changed the angle of the pictures.

This is because the amount is insufficient to recover with it the purchasing power of Venezuelans, who are suffering the worst crisis in the modern history of their country. It is because the 10 million do not manage to buy a kilo of meat, of 3.75 dollars, in a dollarized economy, which is going through its fourth year of hyperinflation and its eighth of recession. A carton of 30 eggs, for example, is worth 11 million bolivars, or the equivalent of a kilo of cheese, above the minimum income.

These prices may rise in supermarkets in affluent neighborhoods of Caracas, where prices are now expressed in dollars, the de facto currency, managed not only by formal merchants, but also street vendors.

“This is not the best news for a May 1st”, economist César Aristimuño told AFP. “While it is true that this generates a small incentive for many Venezuelans, in the end what we are going to see is an increase in prices, unfortunately.” “As long as we do not generate a policy of industrial, social and economic growth, it will be very difficult for us to give Venezuelans purchasing power via wages,” he added. “There is no way to drive inflation out in a hyperinflationary economy by increasing wages and salaries.”

The regime of Nicolás Maduro, hit by international sanctions, led by the United States, which ignores him and favors his departure, had stopped announcing salary increases with media hype as in the time of his predecessor Hugo Chávez . In fact, the latest increase was not even published in the Official Journal.

Protests against the regime

Workers from different unions In Venezuela, they demanded this Saturday, on the occasion of International Labor Day, “decent” wages and mass vaccination against COVID-19 amid the “humanitarian crisis” and pandemic which, according to official figures, has claimed 197,683 infections and 2,136 deaths in the country.

In several states such as the Capital District, Miranda (center), Lara (west), Táchira (west) and Zulia (north-west), dozens of workers, accompanied by civil organizations and opposition politicians, gathered to express their rejection of the working conditions they currently enjoy and this, they argue, does not guarantee a quality of life.

The workers demonstrated with banners demanding “decent wages“,”labor claims“Y”vaccines for all“, But they also expressed their”rejection of repression»From the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

In Caracas, health workers and teachers gathered in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and they insisted on the demand for vaccination against COVID-19, after complaints that there are still “a lot” of health workers without vaccination, despite the fact that 880,000 such drugs have arrived in the country .

They stressed the need for vaccination to be administered by priority sectors and without discrimination, criticizing the fact that politicians have already been vaccinated.

More, several unions issued a proclamation in which they also requested the “recovery of the national productive apparatus“Y”the immediate suspension of legal proceedings against the freedom of association of workers and trade union leaders unduly detained“.

In the same proclamation, they demanded “an immediate end to the climate of harassment, violence, threats, stigma and intimidation against trade unions, their leaders, leaders and affiliated workers ”.

In the same way, they criticized the measures taken by the executive in economic matters arguing that they only turned into more unemployment, inflation and precarious public services.

With information from AFP and EFE

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