Jueves, 19/5/2016: City building inspectors fired, Feds won’t pay city for tram changes, Road work waits for Chinese funding

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –
 
Upcoming events –

Cocina franesa (French cooking) – There will be a French cooking class taught by French chef Tomas Bacle this Sat. from 9-12:00 at La Alianza Francesa (Federico Malo 1-92 y Solano – which makes no sense at all since they’re parallel to each other. The Alianza Francesa is on Tadeo Torres y Solano.)  Cost: $15.00 and $10.00 for members.  (If you’re interested, the item implies that you should sign up beforehand – especially if you want to confirm where it’s going to be.)

Today’s (Thu.) events –

Speech contest – was this morning at 9:10 for students at the “San Luis Beltrán” school.  (9:10 sounds a little too exact for Ecuador unless it’s a class schedule and everyone’s already in the building.)
 
Teatro solidario – The theater group from the La Asunción School will present “A la deriva” (Adrift) tonight at 20:00 in the teatro Casa de la Cultura as a benefit for children in the earthquake zone.  Admission will be paints, toys, or coloring books.

Articles about –
 
A public information meeting – was held yesterday about the Ley de Cultura which has been pending approval by the National Assembly since 8 years ago.  (No rush – culture won’t be going away whereas laws come and go.)  One speaker complained that there are thousands of local families involved in culture, but that hardly 5% of the resources go to local talent with the rest going to artists from abroad.  He suggested an 80/20 split between local and foreign.  (Before you get on your high horse and defend gringo artists, remember that foreign is anything outside the borders of Ecuador and “extranjero” does not equal gringo.)

Cristian Carillo – This painter from Ambato opened a show Thurs. at the Galería Alcaldía called “Visiones Pictóricas” (Pictorial Visions).  The show will run for a month.
 
Gustavo Suconota – The founder of the “Hernán Cordero Crespo” School will be honored tonigh tat 20:00 by a group of ex-students in El Arriero (next to the parque El Ángel).

Serenade to mothers – the musical group of the Colegio de Abogados (a professional association of lawyers – not a high school) will perform a concert tonight at 20:00 in the Teatro Sucre to honor mothers.  The music will include national, Latin American, jazz, flamenco and more.

An ad for – Ladies Night – tonight at 20:00 in the Teatro Pumapungo – Cost: $15.00. Ticket presales at www.ecuatickets.com or call 1800 328842 (Seems like there’s a number missing) or 099 271 7670.  (So if anyone goes, let me know if they do the Full Monty.)
 
Otras cosas –

Titular – Dos sismos causan nerviosismo (2 earthquakes cause nervousness).  For more info, read Thursday’s article in CHL.  (The photo shows people out in the street, many looking off in one direction.  They look like they’re waiting to see if a building’s going to fall down.  Some of the ones not looking are checking their phones – to see if their pictures came out well?)

Tranvía – The federal government is not going to give any money for extra work.  The original Tranvía budget was $232 million with the federal government paying 80%. To now, $175 million has been disbursed – 76% of the project.  Changes made by the municipality will have to be paid by the city.  (Back to the bank of China for more money.)

Road work – 5 of 6 projects that have been suspended by MTOP for a few months are waiting for credit from China.  (It looks like China owns much of the US national debt and Ecuador’s jumping on the same train.  At least here you can point to projects and say that’s where the money went.)  The road projects include Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje, Sígsig-Chiguinda-Gualaquiza, Minas-Tablón Pucará and Gualaceo-Limón.

Separan a inspectores municipales (Municipal inspectors “separated”) – 8 inspectors have left or will leave their jobs after the results of a detailed study by the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at the U of Cuenca.  The study found irregularities including of a lack of control leading to construction without permits and in prohibited areas.  The study looked at 10,000 properties in different areas of the city and found discrepancies between what the inspectors reported and what was actually found.  2 inspectors were directly dismissed, 2 quit when the study results were known, and 4 are in the process of leaving.  (So how safe do you feel about where you’re living, now?)

Banks – Banks in Ecuador that have subsidiaries in Panama are divesting those subsidiaries.  Banks are allowed to have branches in other countries but not in tax havens.  (So does that mean if Delaware and Wyoming are tax havens, Ecuadorian banks will have to get rid of any US branches?  Ironic, if so.)

Ambassador to Brazil – The government has called Horacio Sevilla for meetings about the suspension of Rousseff and he will be talking to Sec’y of State Guillaume Long who hopes that Unasur (Union of Southamerican Nations) will issue a paper on the Brazilian crisis.

Salúd Holistica – The “Expo de Salud Holística 2016” (2016 Holistic Health Expo) will be this Sat. from 13-17:00 at CEDEI (Gran Colombia 11-02 y General Torres).

Internacional –
 
Venezuela – Opposition leaders delivered a petition to one of the 5 members of the National Electoral Council (CNE) with a request to establish the “points” for verifying recall signatures. Supporters of the recall were met with a police cordon and were unable to reach the CNE offices.  (That sounds neater than it was since bird shot and tear gas were involved.)

Brazil – An ex-minister in ex-president Lula da Silva’s administration was sentenced to 23 years and 3 months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering in the Petrobras scandal which has touched some 50 politicians of all stripes and 20 of the most important businesses in the country.  (So when are US banksters going to go to jail for the melt down in 2008-2009?)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne