The recent regulations aimed at improving and expanding the Family Care System (SAF), which this year marks three decades since its creation on the initiative of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, point towards a responsibility that is not only social but also administrative, managerial and subject to greater control.

Agreement number 10418 of the Council of Ministers, and Resolution 14/2026 of the head of the Ministry of Domestic Trade (Mincin), adapted to today’s harsh realities, allow this service to be managed by economic actors, whether state or non-state.

Following their publication on 4 August in an extraordinary edition of the Official Gazette of the Republic, they came into effect a week later, with the aim of perfecting the policy established for the operation of the more than 4,400 establishments or catering units that currently serve more than 66,000 beneficiaries.

Undoubtedly, amidst the difficult economic and social situation facing the country, the State is seeking all possible ways to supplement the diet of older adults, people with disabilities, high-risk pregnant women and critical social cases with insufficient income and lacking close relatives in a position to provide assistance.

This population segment would benefit from the care provided through three alternatives that did not previously exist, as Betsy Díaz Velázquez, head of Mincin, explained at the beginning of August in a press conference.

Thus, state entities with workers’ canteens will be able to allocate part of their capacity to SAF beneficiaries; non-state management forms — MSMEs and self-employed workers with catering establishments — may join as providers; and non-profit institutions or associative forms are also entitled to do so.

In rural or hard-to-reach areas, the Domestic Trade resolution provides for the service to be provided in community feeding homes, or by natural persons in their own homes.

That economic actors assume the commitment to maintain a balanced diet, and even to attend to more people who need to take advantage of the service, are purposes of the aforementioned regulation, according to the minister.

But the Council of Ministers Agreement goes beyond merely guaranteeing the necessary nutritional contributions, also including the development of cultural, sporting and health activities in the places where these services are provided.

In line with the comprehensive nature of the SAF, and although this programme is governed by Mincin, that provision emphasises the responsibility that falls to a group of ministries.

It involves those of Labour and Social Security, Public Health, Finance and Prices, Education, Culture, Agriculture and Economy and Planning, as well as the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, and the organisational structures of the provincial and municipal administrations of People’s Power.