Nélida Rodríguez was, for many years, the family's breadwinner. There, on the outskirts of the town of Cascajal, where the large brood lived, she managed to make sure that her four children always had something to eat, went to school and were clean.
Many remember that when her husband became ill with cancer, she also took on the farming tasks, which she combined with her work in the home. Eventually, three of her children married and moved to other places, while the youngest remained in the care of his parents, until one day he lost his life in a fatal accident.
Today the old lady, 87 years old, lives alone and almost abandoned. Two of her children left for other countries in search of new horizons and hardly communicate with her; while the other one barely takes care of his mother, because, according to him, the economy is not enough to support her. The economy is not enough to support his family.
Nelida's harsh reality is replicated today in several places of the geography of Villaclare, where 48,064 elderly people live alone, 1,278 more than in the same period of the previous year. Some of them live without their life partner, and in the best of cases, accompanied by other people, also elderly or disabled.
PROTECTION: A DUTY OF ALL SOCIETY
Perhaps many might think that manifestations of violence and abuse of older persons refer only to those cases in which overt force or mistreatment is exercised.
However, as stipulated in Resolution 66/127, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, mistreatment is defined as "a single or repeated action or lack of appropriate response that occurs within any relationship in which there is an expectation of trust, and which results in harm or distress to an older person".
The document further clarifies that all citizens have an ethical and legal obligation to report suspected cases of abuse, and that anyone who is in a relationship with an older adult should pay attention to the signs and symptoms of abuse.
Elder abuse is a global social problem that affects the health and human rights of millions of older people and is a phenomenon that deserves the attention of the international community. According to un statistics, by 2050 more than 20% of the world's population will be 60 years of age or older; the majority of them will be women, who often face multiple forms of discrimination stemming from their gender-based social roles.
Abuse and humiliation of the elderly can take the form of physical, psychological, sexual, financial, or neglect and abandonment. Against this scourge, it is necessary to create healthy family dynamics that allow building intergenerational bridges that lead to eliminate and prevent mistreatment in old age.
According to the medical literature consulted, there are different types and forms of mistreatment, including physical, which is expressed by hitting, pushing or physically immobilizing, among others; psychological, which consists of insulting, frightening, humiliating or intimidating these people; sexual, which occurs when sexual aggression or abuse or rape occurs; as well as material, which has to do with embezzlement of property or money, theft, forced entry of the elderly person into a house or home or exploitation for ignoble purposes, among other types of mistreatment.
A VIEW FROM CUBA
Returning to the case of Nélida Rodríguez, which is precisely among those classified as violence due to negligence and abandonment, it is sadly not unique in our country.
Such situations occur in spite of the laws and regulations established by the Cuban State to protect this segment of society, explains Yisel Muñoz Alfonso, PhD in Sciences, full professor of the Law Department of the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas.
The academic recognizes that, according to research, one out of every six people aged 60 or older suffers some form of mistreatment in the community every year, figures that are even higher in institutions such as nursing homes and other long-term care centers.
In this regard, he mentions how the Constitution of the Republic, approved in 2019, in several of its articles recognizes the rights of these people. Similarly, Law 156 of 2022 or Family Code, establishes the obligations of the family, society and the State towards the elderly, as well as their rights to lead a dignified life free of mistreatment and violence.
It also mentions the stipulations of the Penal Code, Law 151 of 2022, which typifies very well the crime of abandonment of persons in vulnerable situations due to disability, minority, old age or helplessness.
IN THE MOST AGED PROVINCE OF CUBA...
As it is known, Villa Clara is the most aged province in Cuba, with 29.1% of the population over 60 years old, and three municipalities stand out: Cifuentes, Remedios and Quemado de Güines, which exceed that figure and are located above 30 %. In total, eight territories are above the provincial average.
To this we must add that, according to the latest reports of the National Statistics Office, 11,624 nonagenarians live in this province, 442 more than the same date of the previous year, and 169 people are over 100 years old.
In view of this reality, the Government of the territory, in coordination with the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas, and the Health Directorate in the province, have designed a group of actions aimed at caring for this sector of the population, many of whom are in a situation of vulnerability.
In this regard, Dr. Marta Monzón Quintero, head of the Elderly, Social Assistance, Disability and Mental Health section of the Provincial Health Directorate, recognizes that the remoteness of basic services and architectural barriers are obstacles faced by the elderly in Villa Clara, which is aggravated by the large number of older adults who live alone, without family members to support them directly in household chores or other tasks.
Likewise, in the territory, both government authorities and other institutions in charge of caring for the elderly have taken several measures aimed at the welfare and protection of these people. To this end, the Elderly Care Program in Villa Clara is stratified into three levels of attention, according to Dr. Monzón. "First, there is a community level, which is the base of the pyramid because most of these people live there, and they are attended from the family medical office, each of which has a working group headed by a social worker.
"They look for vulnerabilities and risks affecting this age group and identify those who wish to join the grandparents' circles. Each clinic has one, where they teach the elderly activities that enhance their autonomy. The polyclinics are also part of the community level and, in most of them, a geriatrician works to ensure specialized care," the specialist says.
Another link is the institutional level, which includes grandparents' homes and homes for the elderly, which are run on a voluntary basis. In the former, grandparents have breakfast, snacks and dinner, and then return to their homes. In the case of the homes, they live there permanently, although there are some that are semi-boarding homes. In these institutions, organizations such as Culture, Inder and Education, among others, are inserted to carry out different activities, says the Head of the Senior Citizen Program in Villa Clara.
When asked about the situation of these institutions, Dr. Marta Monzon points out that they do not escape the complex socioeconomic situation the country is going through, which causes lack of personnel, infrastructure problems, and a number of vacancies far from the real demands of the most aged territory of the nation.
"Today, investment and maintenance processes are taking place in many of these centers, but the pace of execution is dictated by the availability or not of resources", clarifies the expert, who also mentions the role played by the hospital level, made up by the wards and Geriatrics services in the care of the elderly.
Yesterday, June 15, was celebrated the World Day for the Awareness of Abuse and Mistreatment of the Elderly. Cuba can say that it has a care program, which is not perfect and is marked by the economic crisis the country is going through; however, there is a decision to never leave to their fate those who have done so much for this nation.
