Flight expenses investigated, Bus passenger killed, 28 drunk drivers jailed and one jumps off embankment, Growers use organic insecticides

Lunes, 10/2/2020

Hola, Todos –

I will be taking a week off at the end of the month from 24/2 through 2/3 and be back on 3/3. I need a break.

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Used books – Luis Gustavo Fabara Ruíz has a used bookstore in the Plazoleta del Otorongo where he sells grade school to university textbooks at prices starting at $.50 and $1.00, 2 for $1.50 and 3 for $2.00. He sells in Cuenca on lunes, martes y miércoles from 9-18:30 and spends the rest of the week selling in Loja. He follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who were also booksellers.

Activities for kids – There will be art and reading events for kids on sábados at MMAM. The museum also has two exhibits going: “Trouble Diaries Series” which is a joint show of 21 international women artists, and “Los Escenarios Secretos” by Chilean artist Jorge Olavarría.

Bandas de Pueblo will perform at various locations in Cuenca.

Bandas de Pueblo – The Primer Festival y Concurso de Bandas de Pueblo (First Festival and Contest of Village Bands), sponsored by the Juan Eljuri stores, will be el 15, 16, & 20/2 in various venues. On sábado el 15 a las 15:00, it will be at their main store on av. Gil Ramírez, on domingo el 16 a las 10:00 it will be in the Parque Calderón, and on jueves el 20 a las 10:30 the grand finale will be back in the Parque Calderón.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Alquilar de avionetas y pago de propinas (Aircraft rental and tip payment) – The Comptroller’s office conducted an examination of the last administration of the provincial GAD (gobiernos autónomos descentralizados – decentralized autonomous governments) of Azuay. The Comptroller found falencias (shortcomings – your word for the day just because I like the way it sounds) in the justifications for about $160,000 in payments. These included rentals of airplanes to transport officials and private individuals not working for the province, rentals outside of the province, food for union events, tips and snacks. These were paid between 2014 and 2018 during Paúl Granda’s administration which said that on the dates of the airplane rentals, there weren’t flights available and that they needed press coverage for those trips and outside advisors. The Comptroller’s office said not true. Reasons were also given for the other expenditures.

Bus passenger killed – Luís Ángel Loja Loja, 78, was killed yesterday when he exited a bus and fue arrollado (was thrown over/ overwhelmed/ swept away). Witnesses reported that the victim got off the bus, and the driver took off, unbalancing Sr. Loja and rolling him. The driver then asked the other passengers to get off the bus and drove away, apparently asking his wife who was accompanying him to stay at the scene. But she left after a few minutes. <Sounds like this driver wasn’t paying attention during those mandatory training sessions last year.>

Avoiding arrest – A driver was stopped at a control for drunk driving at Tarqui y calle Larga la noche del viernes. As he was being put into the patrol car, the drunk driver ran and launched himself off La Condomine into the void, and landed on Paseo 3 de Noviembre with a possible fractured finger and lacerations on his shoulders. <Don’t need a breathalyzer test on this guy – only a drunk would think it was a good idea to jump off a cliff.> During weekend controls at this and 5 other locations, 28 drunk drivers were rounded up and jailed. <You can tell when it’s a slow news day when I wind up translating the articles from the police page.>

Repelentes naturales en tomateras (Natural repellents in tomato plants) – 19 small agricultural producers in San Joaquín are trying to get legalized as the Asociación de Pequeños Productores Agropecuarios Multisectorial San Joaquín so that they can get space in the Sunday fairs. One grower of medium tomatoes in San Joaquín who does not use chemicals, went to Colombia and Perú for training. She uses insecticides made from rue, molasses, chile peppers and garlic; she places yellow fly traps; and she plants chilchil between plots. Chilchil attracts insects and keeps them off her tomatoes and peppers. Other growers as far as Soldados produce agricultural, diary and meat products.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
_________________

Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.