Beware of street food, Citizen group complains about crime, 28 ex-officials called in campaign bribery case, Support for rural road tax

Viernes, 19/7/2019

Hola, Todos –
Actividades –

De la pagina cultural –

Teatro – To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the Teatro Brujo will stage “ARS Erótika” in the El Prohibido Centro Cultural este 18, 19, y 20/7.

Exposición – Painter Silvia Pantuso’s show “Buscando” is at the Salón del Pueblo (Sucre y Benigno Malo) until 31/7.

Taller – There will be a photo-journalism workshop on the 23, 24, y 25/7 and the 20, 21, 22 y 23/8 in Sala 6 in the Antigua Escuela Central (Gran Colombia y Benigno Malo). Limited to 20 attendees.

A food cart in El Centro.

Casa abierta de cine – These film workshops will be held from 26-28/7 in the Casa de la Cultura and are aimed at youth interested in film and audiovisual. Maximum 30 attendees. Cost: $15.00.

Book launch – “El teatro es un peoma cuerpo adentro” by Cristian Avecilla will be launched el próximo miércoles 24/7 a las 19:00 in the Sala Alfonso Carrasco (Luis Cordero entre Simón Bolívar y Mariscal Sucre.<

Otras cosas –

Titular – Alimentos no se manipulan bien (Foods are not handled well) – <Those of you who are queasy about food in the mercado might want to apply the “ignorance is bliss” principle and stop reading now.> Research by a group of professors at the U. of Cuenca found that a large proportion of chicken sold on the streets and in the mercados contained salmonella. They believed it was due to bad food handling with respect to hygiene and poor use of cleaning implements. They pointed out that chicken is not a food eaten raw, and proper cooking will eliminate the salmonella.

In other street food such as empanadas, chuzos, ceviche, encebollado, granizado, and aloe water, they found coliformes fecales (fecal coliforms – how about those for your words for the day? <Haul them out the next time you go out to eat with your friends. But don’t be surprised if they don’t ask you out again.>)

The researchers took samples from Quito and Guayaquil as well, and found that Cuenca had the least contamination in its food, and attributed that to the high quality of the water. WHO recommendations included washing your hands, keeping cooked and raw foods separate, completely cooking food, and refrigerating perishables and cooked foods at less than 5 C.

Seguridad – The Asamblea Ciudadana por la Seguridad de Cuenca (Citizen Assembly for Basin Security <And there you have a perfect example of the pitfalls of translation programs.>) met today. Several citizens were interviewed. Problems and solutions presented included more lighting in Guangarcucho where there have been murders, robberies and rapes because the area is dark and heavily vegetated. Another citizen complained about how dark the linear park next to the Río Yanuncay is. A taxista thought one of the problems is the lack of the Policía Nacional in the streets and that there should be more controls. A bookseller said another problem is micro-trafficking in drugs. A car body shop owner said alcoholism is a problem leading to violence and crime. The talk of increased crime may be mostly anecdotal — the Governor of Azuay Province said last week that statistics show little change in 2019 over 2017 and 2018.

Edificio del Registro – The new building which will house the Registro de Propiedad for Cuenca is ready. The 6 story building with 2 underground levels including parking, is at the redondel with Isabel La Católica y calle Zorrillos (skunks). <It smells like the skunks are long gone.>

Mine – The Cóndor-Mirador open pit copper mine in Zamora Chinchipe started operacions. Ecuacorriente S.A., an Ecuadorian-Chinese company wants to increase the amount processed by 60,000 tons a day by the end of the year.

Witnesses – The A.G. called 28 ex-officials close to ex-Pres. Correa to testify in the “Sobornos 2012-2016” (ex Arroz Verde) case which is investigating presumed siphoning of illegal money from national and international businesses for the AP campaign.

ETAPA data – Johanna Orellana Alvear, a Cuencana Ph. D. student in Germany published “Optimization of X-Band Radar Rainfall Retrieval in the Southern Andes of Ecuador Using a Random Forest Model in the magazine Remote Sensing. She used data from ETAPA’s Radar Meteorológico de Medición de Lluvias (Meteorological Rainfall Meter Radar) in the Cajas.

Tasa Solidaria – Directors of Conagopare-Azuay, a group of 61 parish GADs (Autonomous Decentralized Governments), and a Consortium of Parish Governments in Cuenca defended the current road management system which includes generating money via the Tasa Solidaria. This is the only tax that is earmarked for rural road improvements with people in the rural parishes being the direct beneficiaries.

One of Yaku Pérez’ campaign promises was to eliminate this tax. <It’s paid by vehicle owners when they register their vehicles for the year.> Opposition to the tax comes from various transportation unions.

First same sex wedding – The first same sex wedding in Ecuador was held at the Registro Civil in Guayaquil between Alexandra Chávez and Michelle Avilés.

Descuentos y compras –

CV Confecciones – 2 for 1 on everything including pants, coats, shirts, T-shirts, skirts, overalls, shores (shoes?) – 18, 19, & 20/7 – av. 10 de Agosto y Paucarbamba across the street from ETAPA.

ETAFASHION – up to 50% off plus 10% on selected merchandise with direct credit from Etafashion.

And that’s all for today so la Hasta la próxima semana –

Jeanne