Assange is now an Ecuadorian citizen, Colombia ends talks with ELN, Indian film festival, Bienal director fired then rehired, Funkafest 2018, Photo workshop

Jueves, 11/1/2018

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Book Club – The first meeting of the “Club de Lectura Feminista: en Perspectiva Lila” (Feminist Reading Club: in Lilac Perspective) will be el sábado in the Pálier Café-Libro. One book will be read each month.

Taller fotografía – Cindy Muñoz will hold a workshop el sábado in Zoociedad (bajada del Centenario – where Benigno Malo goes down to the river) on experimental photography. The classroom and hands-on workshop lasts 5 hours.

“Prueba_Error” Club-laboratorio (Test_Error Club-laboratory) – This art event will be from 23-25/1 a las 17:00 in the Casa de la Cultura del Azuay. The event will explore artistic processes tied to technology. <And more artspeak.> Cost: $15.00 for materials.

Articles about –

Bienal – Cristóbal Zapata was ratified by the mayor as the Executive Director of the Bienal. Just the day before, he was fired but the mayor had a change of heart. <The rest of the article seems to be about a lot of politicking.> The pedagogical curator whose selection was announced yesterday, went back to Venezuela before the press conference to officially introduce him. <What is happening over there? The last guy quit after 3 weeks and his replacement left after a day. Permanent museum staff making it difficult for biannual interlopers?>

Sinfónica – The Orquesta Sinfónica de la U. of Cuenca will play its first concert el próximo miércoles a las 20:00 in the Catedral Vieja. The program will include “Polonesa de la Ópera,” “Eugene Onegin” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky; the New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak; and Bach’s Concierto for oboe and violin.

Journalism – Students at the U. de Católica paid tribute to two well-known people in journalism.

“Muestra de Cine Indio” (Indian Film Festival) – The Indian Ambassador to Colombia and Ecuador came to Cuenca to announce the “Muestra de Cine Indio” which will run from 23-26/1 with double features at 10:00 and 19:00. The films are in hindi with Spanish subtitles and include Dilwale, Dulhanina La Jayenge, Dhoom 2, Devdas, Black, Dil to Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Bunty aur Babli, and Gandhi.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Presionan por derogatoria (Press for derogatory) – The Provincial Chamber has the ability to abolish or change the Ordinance that established the Modelo de Régimen de Soberanía Alimentaria (Model of Food Sovereignty Regime). The mayor of Nabón said her analysis of the documents shows the province was made responsible for things not in their “scope of work.”

Referendum security – Over 48,000 police will be providing security for the 4 de febrero referendum voting.

$300,000,000 – $300 million was taken from the fund to reconstruct Manabí and Esmeraldas to provide liquidity in the country. It was returned to the fund in full yesterday. Assemblists from CREO are talking about impeaching Finance Minister, Carlos De La Torres.

Assange – Julian Assange is now a citizen of Ecuador with cedula number 1729926483 which was registered on 21/12/2017. This is part of one plan to get him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London. As a citizen, he could be given a diplomatic post and diplomatic immunity. The Sec’y of State, María Fernanda Espinoza, said they have been looking for ways to resolve this unsustainable situation. <I’d say that wandering through diplomatic meetings wearing nothing but holey tighty whiteys would be unsustainable.> The Sub sec’y of State disagreed saying that Assange never completed the requirement of 3 years of residency on national territory. Assange’s legal team is petitioning the British government to let him leave. The British answer was “el Gobierno ecuatoriano sabe que la única manera de resolver este asunto es que Julian Assange deje la embajada y se enfrente a la Justicia”. (The Ecuadorian government knows that the only way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy and confront the Justice.) <When that guy finally leaves, the embassy will probably have to do a thorough cleaning, repaint, replace flooring, and remodel the kitchen and bath.>

Ecuador-Japón – The two countries celebrated 100 years of diplomatic relations which started on 26/8/1918.

Water service interruptions – There was irregular water service in El Centro hoy from 8-17:00 and some suspension of service.

Phone line – Women who are victims of gender violence or who are afraid they might be, can call 182 for assistance and referrals.

Amenidades –

Funkafest – The 2018 event is looking for visual and scenic artists, musicians, and applied and culinary artists. Enter on the webpage www.funkafest.com from 15/1 to 16/3. <A band of tercera edad gringos would be funky no matter what. Consider the Stones. Even if they played bubblegum pop, they’d still look funky.>

Internacional –

Colombia – Pres. Santos suspended talks with ELN because of the resumption of terrorist actions by ELN only hours after the conclusion a bilateral ceasefire. ELN’s chief negotiator asked the Colombian gov’t to reconsider its withdrawal from the talks.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne