Bus fare conflict remains unresolved; New rockslide on Cajas highway; Heads and bodies still missing from prison riot; City offers crafts workshop for kids

Miércoles, 5/10/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Talleres gratis para niños y adultos (Free workshops for children and adults) – The Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca will start a new cycle of recreational workshops this month. They will be held in city owned historic houses and include mask making, cooking, pottery, copper and aluminum embossing, and carpentry with recycled materials. The number of spaces is limited. Those interested should go to the following web page – ttps://bit.ly/3ijYNT5. <Is there supposed to be an h in front of the address?>. You can select a workshop and register by filling out a form. <Or have your facilitator fill out the form.>

Titular –

The city of Cuenca is resuming face-to-face workshops for kids, like this one about making masks.

Presionan los transportistas (Pressure from transporters) – The shareholders of the 7 companies which make up the Cámara de Transporte de Cuenca (CTC) met Wednesday to take a definite resolution about the lack of economic resources needed to finance bus service. They will discuss paralyzing bus service to pressure the city to raise fares. Manolo Solís, president of the CTC said that they have a debt of $60 million to private banks which loaned the money to completely renew the fleet of buses.

An ordinance was approved in julio, 2018 which established 30 conditions that had to be met to increase bus fares to $.30 from the $.25 it had been for 14 years. Solís said that once the CTC finished replacing all the buses, the fare was supposed to increase to $.34. He said that current income has decreased considerable due to the pandemic and they can’t finance the operation of the buses nor repay the banks. In addition, the price of diesel has gone up to $1.65.

City councilman Diego Morales, explained that the Comisión de Movidad, Tránsito y Transporte of the city council has been analyzing technical, economic, and financial information for the last 4 months. To date only the analysis of the legal information is left, and with that information the council can decide what to do about fares. One of the options is to pay a subsidy for 6 months until the council can make a new analysis. Morales said that the subsidy would be $600,000 if fares were set at $.32, $1,200,000 if fares were at $.34, and $1,500,000 if fares were at $.35. Another alternative is to have EMOV give the subsidy for which for which a change to the ordinance has to be made in order to allow the subsidy.

Cuenca –

Ministerio de Salud entrega nombramientos definitivos (Ministry of Health delivers final appointments) – Ximena Garzón, ministra de Salud, delivered appointments to the first 3,320 appointees of the 4,000 planned for this month. This will allow the doctors, residents, nurses and other health personnel who have been working and sacrificng during the pandemic to have the long-term benefits inherent to the appointments they have received. This will bring their employment status into conformity with the declaration on 19/6/2020 by the Asamblea Nacional when it approved the Comprehensive Law of Humanitarian Support to combat the health emergency.

790 beneficiarios en Tratamiento Ambulatorio (790 beneficiaries in Outpatient Treatment) – The Servicio de Tratamiento Ambulatorio Intensivo (SAI) has been in existence for 6 years to treat people over 18 years old who have severe mental disorder problems and problematic consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Since it started in octubre of 2015, 790 patients have received free treatments. The foster care therapeutic process is based on individual, group, and family psychological therapy; and therapeutic and occupational workshops including plastic arts, corporal expression, crafts, sports, cooking, socio-community integration activities, gardening, art therapy, theater, relationship techniques, anxiety management, and other services to improve quality of life. To enter the program, make a medical appointment by calling 171 where you will be evaluated by a doctor or psychiatrist. If necessary some patients might be referred to the Specialized Treatment Center for people who Consume Alcohol and Drugs in Gualaceo. <The center is in Gualaceo, not necessarily the alcohol and drug consumers.>

Sucesos –

Falta por identificar 12 cuerpos tras la masacre (12 bodies remain to be identified after the massacre) – <This is for all of you who want the gory details> There are 12 bodies that are still not identified after the killings in the Penitenciaría del Litoral de Guayaquil on 28/9. According to information from the Prosecutor’s office, of the 12, 10 were mutilated or burned. 2 were foreign citizens, 3 were found without their heads but identified from their fingerprints, and 1 head was found without its extremities. 95 of the bodies have been given to their families. <Does that imply that there are still 2 missing heads?>

Nacional –

Deslizamiento tapona km 49 de la Cuenca-Molleturo (Landslide plugs km 49 of the Cuenca-Molleturo) – Both lanes of the Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme road were blocked by a new rock slide that occurred around 15:30 yesterday. Traffic was suspended but was later allowed with one lane following clean-up. Until the material can be cleared, suggested alternate routes to Guayaquil are the Cuenca-Azogues-Biblián-Zhud-Cochancay-El Triunfo road or the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje-Machala road. After 24 hour passage through km. 49 was opened last 10/9, there was a small slide last sábado, and the larger slide ayer. <Will some airline please start flying between Cuenca and Guayaquil soon?>.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne