Suggested lead:
It's no exaggeration to say many pensioners in Venezuela are fighting to stay alive. Extreme shortages of medicine and food facing all Venezuelans are particularly difficult for people who have retired.
Juan Carlos Lamas reports from Caracas.
IN: Maria Uzcategui
OUT: SOC
DUR:2:25
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NARRATION:
Maria Uzcategui has lived most of her 80 years in Caracas, a city, she says she no longer recognises.
After more than three months of protests and violence in her neighborhood, Maria only goes out when absolutely necessary. The tear gas often fired by the police would only complicate her breathing problems.
NAT SOUND Maria coughing /NARRATION:
But staying at home is also dangerous. Maria says mold caused by humidity has started to grow all over the house.
SOT Maria Uzcátegui, Pensioner (in Spanish with English overdub)
"I'm surviving while so many are dying. I've been suffering from a bronchial problem that has killed a lot of people...The treatment I use is too difficult to find.
NARRATION:
Maria spent her working life as a cashier at a bank… she's been collecting a pension from the government since she retired 23 years ago.
SOT2 Maria Uzcátegui, Pensioner (In Spanish with English overdub)
"Even with the money from my pension, I need to beg to have enough to buy food.
NARRATION:
Maria says her pension used to be enough, but not anymore.
SOT3 Maria Uzcátegui, Pensioner (In Spanish with English overdub)
"We need to ask for miracles to find food, and we've learned to control our hunger, because if we eat what we have today, then tomorrow we will have nothing to eat"
UPSOT RALLY/NARRATION:
Like millions of other Venezuelans, pensioners have staged rallies to publicize their problems and vent their anger. In a recent rally in central Caracas, hundreds of pensioners were joined by thousands of younger protesters, shouting slogans like "Have respect for the elderly" and "We're dying of hunger"
All Venezuelans are feeling the effects of the country's economic downturn….but Maria says for her, and other older people on a fixed income, the triple digit inflation and severe shortages are particularly hard to bear.
SOT4 Maria Uzcátegui, Pensioner (In Spanish with English overdub)
"My life is sad because I cannot do or have what I used to, like for example getting my medicines and food. Before I earned less and lived better."
NARRATION:
Maria and her daughter Marisela help each other to take care of their dogs and their big house… and they collect clothing to donate to others.
NARRATION:
Maria is a person of faith…
She used to go to church several times a week, but now, she prays for better times from home.
SOC