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Added on the 20/03/2021 13:00:00 - Copyright : EFE Inglés
Lisbon, Sep 18 (EFE), (Camera: Paula Fernández).- The pandemic has not only caused infections and deaths in Portugal but it has also lead to poverty. Thousands of workers with stable jobs who overnight they stopped earning money and now have to turn to charity to survive.According to data from the Portuguese Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, in July there were 407,000 people registered in the unemployment centres, 37% more than a year ago, although the figure is highly questioned by economists, unions and politicians who point out that the real unemployment rate is even higher.FOOTAGE OF FOOD BANK IN LISBON AND FAMOES PARISH IN ODIVELAS. SOUNDBITES OF:-ISABEL JONET, PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE FEDERATION OF FOOD BANKS: "In two months we received more than 60,000 people asking for help. It is a huge increase, incredibly huge. It happened overnight. We started to receive requests and more requests. There were days when we received 2,000 help requests. It was very distressing because we did not see that entities were able to respond to all these people.""They are people who had never experienced poverty and suddenly, from one moment to another, they were left with nothing. They had no money, not even a euro because they had nowhere to work. Their workplaces were closed. For example, we are talking about hairdressers, personal trainers, physical therapists, dentists, beauticians, domestic workers, street vendors, taxi drivers, Uber drivers ... "."A fifth of the population lives in a situation of poverty. This kind of poverty was traditionally more linked to age, people with low retirement pensions. A set of measures was implemented, such as the solidarity supplement for the elderly or the increase in lower pensions, but we still have people with pensions below 180 euros a month."-SOFIA MARTINS, COORDINATOR OF THE FOOD BANK AT THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Before the pandemic, until March, the food bank helped 48 families from Pontinha and Famões. Nowadays, in August, they are about 140 families. There was a fairly significant increase due to the pandemic."-PAULO PINHEIRO, DIRECTOR OF THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Poverty is not only visible, but it is always a kind of iceberg. There is a type of poverty outside, visible, and people take the initiative and turn to help. But there is also a group of families to whom it is very difficult to help because it is ashamed poverty, they are not used to it or they do not want to say publicly that they are overcoming (financial) difficulties."-ANA PAULA, NEIGHBOUR WHO HAS TURNED TO THE FOOD BANK:"My husband and my baby tested positive and I had to stay at home to take care of them. I was laid-off at work and during the pandemic, I could not leave home since I had to self-isolate after tested positive. I sought help by calling the City Council and the community centre."
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega welcomes his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Managua. Raisi began a rare diplomatic tour of Latin America on Monday with a first stop in Caracas, and his schedule is also set to include a visit to Cuba. IMAGES
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro welcomes Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas as he begins a Latin American tour that will also take him to Cuba and Nicaragua, some of Iran's political allies in the region. IMAGES
Bangkok (Thailand), Sep 14 (EFE / EPA) .- (Ca,era: Rungroj Yongrit) .- The Ratchaphruek Taxi Cooperative in Bangkok allowed its employees to use their abandoned taxis to plant vegetables as a source of supply in the face of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.FOOTAGE OF THE USE OF TAXIS TO PLANT VEGETABLES IN THE FACE OF THE CRISIS CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN BANGKOK, THAILAND.
Buenos Aires, Sep 11 (EFE).- Argentina will return to the polls Sunday to elect the candidates who will compete in the legislative elections next November, an electoral process marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Camera: ALBERTO CARATOZZOLO).B-ROLL OF THE ELECTIONS POSTERS IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA.
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