Overflights monitor illegal mines in Camilo Ponce Enriquez; City plans to relocate informal vendors; ‘Witches’ Route’ connects culture and nature

Periodico – lunes, 8/7/2024

Hola, Todos –

To those of you who wrote in with the way to type the ü, many thanks. My Plan B was to enter penguin into the translator, then erase everything but the ü in pingüino, and move that where I needed it. My keyboard has a key with the umlaud in the upper-case position and the ´, tilde, or accent mark in the lower-case position, but I could never get the umlaud to work on a lower-case u. There’s also a dedicated ñ key — but no ll or ch key since I think they’ve been retired from the alphabet.

Actividades –

City officials are planning to build a new market to relocate informal vendors from the 9 de Octubre and Feria Libre markets. In some areas near those markets, vendors have taken over sidewalks, forcing pedestrians into the street. (El Mercurio)

De El Mercurio del domingo, 7/7 (1 article):
Ruta de las Brujas concecta la cultura y naturaleza (Witches’ Route connects culture and nature) – <This is for you nature lovers and hikers.> In the Sígsig canton, you can find the Chobshi Archeological Complex (Complejo Arqueológico de Chobshi, in case your driver doesn’t speak English), El Pailón, and the hill of the witches. Sígsig is 63 km. from Cuenca and the Archeological Complex is another 10 min. by vehicle from the center of Sígsig. The site is one of the oldest human occupied sites in Ecuador. You can visit the cueva negra (black cave) where over 10,000 years ago, it served the nomadic communities as a temporary shelter and a workshop for making rock, bone, and wood tools. There is also a museum and the Fortaleza del Cacique, the Casa Cañari, and Capac Ñan.

A few minutes further is the Ruta de las Brujas in the El Pailón sector. After a walk along the side of a mountain, visitors will arrive at a valley where the junction of 2 mountains closes off the path and creates a waterfall which currently does not have water flowing from the higher elevations. To get to the pailón, there is a narrow path that continues up the hill. A 15 minute walk will take you to the top where there is a natural lookout where it is possible to camp. At night you can see the Milky Way and, according to some campers, you can see witches flying. Warm clothing, adequate footwear <This is not such a no brainer recommendation. I saw tourists hiking up the Great Wall in high heeled sandals.> are recommended along with the importance of hydrating. On your descent, you can rest and get refreshments at the hostería El Pailón, owned by Enrique Rocano. A single room in the cabins costs $50 and you can rent a tent for $5/person.

Titular –

Las ventas informales deben ser reubicadas (Informal sales should be relocated) – While recognizing that people need to work, the chaos of the approximately 6,000 informal vendors around the 9 de Octubre and Feria Libre markets needs to be addressed. Diego Cedillo, general director of the Mercados and Comercio Autónomo, is looking for a solution. A census was done of the vendors at the 9 de Octubre with the peak hours occurring on Thursday mornings. Cedillo said that work will start soon on building infrastructure on calle Antonio Valdiviezo to house the vendors. The proposal for the Feria Libre is to build a 2-story underground parking lot where vendors can be located until the interventions in the rest of the Feria Libre are made. Within the 8 mercados in Cuenca, there are 8,000 vendors with some spaces still available for merchants. Currently the city has 259 guardias ciudadanos who are responsible for controlling the mercados and surrounding areas. Diego Tosi, the commander, said that at least 700 are needed.

Cuenca –

Citas en el IESS (Appointments at IESS) – The IESS announced that it has enabled the phone number 07-2-863882 to schedule appointments in the specialties of general and family medicine, and gynecology. The hours the number will be staffed are from lunes a viernes from 7:00 – 19:00. <And what do you want to bet that the person answering the call speaks fluent English for all of you who don’t speak Spanish? Better have your facilitator at hand to make that call for you.> IESS also said that the Centro Maternal Infantil y Emergencias de Cuenca has received high turnover medications for high blood pressure in adults. They are Losartán and Amlodipina.

De El Mercurio del domingo, 7/7 (1 article):
EMAC EP tendrá planta para tratar desechos electrónicos (EMAC EP will have a plant to treat electronic waste) – La Empresa de Aseo de Cuenca (EMAC EP – the municipal garbage company) and the Ministerio del Ambiente, Agua y Transición Ecológica (MAATE) is inviting the public to a public assembly prior to the construction of the plant for recycling Residuos de Aparatos Eléctricos y Electrónicos (RAEE). The 2,126 sq. m. plant will be built across from the ecoparque El Valle in the San Pedro barrio. The plant will cover comprehensive management of these wastes from their collection, transport, and storage; to their treatment which includes manual and machine separation of their components; and final disposition. There will be spaces in the facility for loading and unloading, storage of RAEE, disassembly, special processing, repairs, finished product, circulation area, switchyard, and more.

Sucesos –

De El Mercurio del domingo, 7/7 (1 article):
Operativos aéreos en Camilo Ponce Enríquez (Air operations in Camilo Ponce Enriquez) – To prevent terrorist attacks, violent deaths, assaults, kidnappings, and other crimes, the Policía Nacional is conducting overflights in the Camilo Ponce Enríquez canton in Azuay. Police snipers are in the helicopter to provide security for the ground teams. The operations are in the mining sectors of Bella Rica to identify activities at the margin of the law. By road, different investigative units and tactical teams are also searching for Grupos de Delincuencia Organizada (GDO) that have taken over some mining concessions with threats and extortion.

Pablo Guachamín, commander of the Azuay subzon, said that these air and land patrols allow police to prevent or act against criminal and terrorist acts. He added that during the last operations, agents for Dinased with dog teams located human remains at the La Toronja mine. The decomposed bodies of 2 women and 1 man were found and a leg was found at the entrance of the Puntuda mine. The cadavers were taken to the Forensic Center in Machala for autopsies and to identify the victims.

Last 27/6, police found 8 burned bodies, 4 of whom had been beheaded, at the “Estrella de Oro” concession. The authority’s current hypothesis is that these violent deaths were due to confrontations between criminal groups. On el 25/6, 2 bodies were found in the community of La Independencia. One of them had his throat slit. Residents of the zone reported hearing explosions. In June alone, 20 people were killed in Ponce Enríquez. <This war on drugs isn’t just a name. And pity those those poor communities caught in the middle.>

Nacional –

Universidad ecuatoriana inaugura su primer laboratorio de parto intercultural (Ecuadorian university inaugurates its first intercultural childbirth laboratory) – The Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) de Ecuador has opened it’s first laboratory for intercultural childbirth. The space is where ancestral practices and contemporary science meet. <Not that I really think there are a whole lot of you readers out there contemplating giving birth — I think most of you have already been there and done that.>

In a press release, the UTPL said that the ethnic and cultural diversity in Ecuador underlines recognizing the importance of the valuable contributions of the indigenous communities in areas of development and social harmony. This is particularly important in sectors related to health where there is a marked connection and respect with nature, and especially highlighting the birth process assisted by midwives. Midwives are recognized by the Ministerio de Salud Público (MSP) as key in the preservation of community health, emphasizing the relevance of their traditional practices in the national health structure.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne