- The team of The newspaper collected several testimonies from people who receive subsidies through the Patria System. They were asked to know what they spend it on depending on their situation
“What is it for me? I think it’s easier to answer why the bonuses aren’t enough for me. I saw that the last time they deposited 88 bolivars. That gave me enough coffee and juice,” said Ana María Campos, 64, referring to the last homeland bonus that she received on February 27, 2023.
Ana María lives alone in Charallave, in Miranda state. One of her sons is the one who helps her collect the bonds from the country that she receives. She doesn’t have a computer, nor does she have a smartphone. Her neighbors constantly notify her every time they announce a new subsidy, but Ana María is aware of how little she can acquire with the amounts that are deposited.
During the morning of this Tuesday, he visited three pharmacies and did not get the medicines he needed, and where they are available, they are very expensive. What they pay him from the pension (130 bolivars or 5.3 dollars) he already spent on a toilet paper and another coffee slip. She says that she is looking for Artrovit, a medicine to relieve joint pain. But the price of it currently on the market is above 140 bolivars (5.8 dollars).
Not getting a cheaper price, he gets discouraged and returns home. “What can I do? Either I buy the medicine or I stop eating. My son helps me and with that I support myself, but it is really difficult not being able to do anything with bolivars, ”she confessed.
The “luck” of bonds
Ana María’s sister, Lisbeth, lives in El Valle (Caracas). She also receives the bonds from the country, but she affirms that there is little that can be bought with them. She comments that most do not exceed 100 bolivars (4.14 dollars), which is insufficient, for example, to make a market.
Lisbeth is married and usually waits for her partner to receive the same bonus to be able to buy food for the home, but there are times when they only receive a single subsidy. “She has touched us that neither of us receive the bonuses. I think it’s a matter of luck. But it is not something that we can have for sure every month. When it doesn’t fall we have to search for ourselves, ”she explains.
The homeland bonds were created as social aid granted by the Nicolás Maduro regime starting in 2017. Chavismo affirms that at least 18 million Venezuelans are registered in the Patria System, however, the real number of those is currently unknown. citizens who can claim these subsidies on a monthly basis.
Elena Rojas, a former employee of the Venezuelan Social Security Institute (IVSS), despite being affiliated with a State institution, has never been able to dispose of the country’s bonds. She says that she meets all the requirements to be a beneficiary of social subsidies, but the system does not recognize it. “While I was in the IVSS they never knew how to give me an answer as to why I couldn’t receive the bonuses. She also says that in many cases of older adults they went to the office to ask the same thing. Not everyone gets that help, ”she mentioned.
“Only enough to buy trinkets”
Loisbert Sanchéz receives social assistance every month. She explains that the grants are normally deposited once a week, but due to their low amounts, she always chooses to spend them the same day they are deposited.
Sánchez considers that the bonds are economic aid to complete one or another expense at home. In his case, he uses it to buy some sweets for his two children, since there is little that can be done with them. On other occasions, she has also used it to pay for a photocopy or condiments for food. But for more than there, he says she, it is not enough.
“I use it to buy sweets or a soft drink for my children. The amounts are always low and are always between 2 and 4 dollars, so there is not much that can be bought with that on the street,” the woman said.
Carolina Arráez owns a winery in El Valle, Caracas. She carried out the procedures to have a fingerprint scanner from Banco de Venezuela in her business, so that people can pay through Biopago. She points out that most people who pay “via patria”, as the payment method through the Patria System is known, buy between one and two products.
“The days that there is always movement in the business is when they deposit a bonus. People come looking for soap, individual diapers or powdered seasoning, which is the most economical. A lot of trinkets and cigars are also sold. It is what I sell the most in those weeks ”, explained Arráez.
Almost all public sector workers in Venezuela are also registered on the Sistema Patria platform, who randomly receive weekly or monthly bonuses. But none of these benefits allow them to cover their basic needs.
For the nurse Romelia Sánchez, what is deposited in her national account is only enough to buy a kilo of pre-cooked cornmeal and a kilo of rice. “The bonds are not enough for anything and now less since she began to raise the dollar. All prices are through the roof. Although I help myself with the subsidies, they only serve me to supplement the money that I lack. And it is not fair because with my salary I should have economic independence, but being a public sector worker this does not happen to anyone, ”she said.
Romelia only lives with the memory of everything she was able to buy with her work, but that she was unable to keep anymore due to the economic crisis and insufficient salaries in Venezuela. Like Romelia, many Venezuelans find themselves in the same situation. Many depend on bonuses because there is no minimum wage that guarantees their purchasing power to be able to subsist in a dignified manner in the country.