4 de agosto de 2020

Alma Ríos

Romualdo García Zárate is 73 years old, he has been a musician all his life, but unemployment and lack of income as a result of the COVID-19 health emergency forced him to get rid of the things he loved:

"Unfortunately I had to pawn many of my gear, I had to sell two saxophones to be able to survive," he said.

“Rommy and his wonderful Sax”, as he calls himself artistically, had his beginnings in music at the age of eight and has recorded twelve albums; He also knows how to play the drums, guitar, trumpet, marimba, accordion and bass, and although he has collaborated with various groups, he prefers to work independently.

For four years, this saxophonist exhibits his music in Los Portales de Toluca, but since April he had no income, due to the closure of public spaces and the suspension of social events, which affected the more than 125,000 musicians in the country, according to the INEGI's National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE).

Although the Orange Traffic Light has already been activated and many non-essential activities were resumed in the place where he worked, the man faces other problems with the new normality, because some tenants do not allow him to settle, under the argument that he obstructs the passage.

"Right now they are just opening us, they do not realize that we have to thank God that we are getting out of this," he said.

Romualdo was one of the musicians who attended the free egg delivery called by a civil association in the Mexican capital.

Until the May cut, 9.5 million people stopped working due to the temporary suspension of their work without receiving payment, according to the 2020 Telephone Survey of Occupation and Employment (ETOE).

The health and economic crisis has affected musicians, but also older adults who, like this saxophonist, have to go out to work, despite being the population most at risk of getting COVID-19.

According to INEGI, almost half of Mexicans over 60 who work do so on their own, of which 15.2 percent are merchants, employees, or sales agents. Three out of ten do not have social security and 21.4 percent lack access to food.

Staff

Translator: Martín Caballero