Businesses get into the Christmas spirit; Judge frees Los Lobos boss; New basic salary doesn’t cover basic expenses; Symphony celebrates Christmas tonight

Jueves, 19/12/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Sinfónica y coros en dos conciertos, hoy y mañana (Symphony and choirs in two concerts, today and tomorrow) – The Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca, conducted by Augosto Carrion, will perform 2 Christmas concerts el jueves 19 and el viernes 20/12 a las 20:00 in the Teatro Casa de la Cultura. Also participating will be the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil and the children and adult choirs from the Conservatorio Nacional “José María Rodríguez.” The program will include works such as Holy Night and La nanita nana along with traditional carols usch as Vamos a Belen. In addition, iconic pieces such as the Oratorio del Mesías (Messiah Oratory) by Handel and contemporary pieces such as That’s Christmas to Me and What child is this will be performed. Free.

Cuenca firefighters rescued a dog that was stranded on a rock in the Río Tomebamba on Tuesday. (El Mercurio)

Titular –

Se activa comercio navideño (Christmas trade gets active) – Every diciembre, Cuenca dives into the feeling of Christmas, a season marked by religious traditions. family celebrations and commerce that is activated around the needs and customs of the city. These businesses include those making and renting costumes for the different parades for the Niño. Patricio Durán González whose workshop is on the road going up to El Vado, is still in the business his grandfather started. Patricio also decorates carros alegóricos (floats) that are in the Paseo del Niño Viajero, and can do 40-50 each year. <And I thought that people just stripped all the covers off the beds and drapes off the windows and threw them on the car along with some strings of fruit, beer cans, and candies.>

His 93-year-old mother embroiders shepherd, angel, and other costumes. Other traditions are the sales of candies and sweets and assembling Christmas baskets given as gifts. Sales of Christmas baskets are also an important tradition. At the Comercial Don Bolo in the mercado 27 de Febrero sector, Tania Rivera has baskets costing from $10 to $60 with basic products such as rice, sugar, cookies and embutidos (sausages, cold cuts, charcuterie <if you want to give that baloney a fancy name>). The most popular baskets are the $25 & $40 ones for the variety of products and accessible price.

During the holiday season, the Agencia Nacional de Regulación, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria (ARCSA) is intensifying controls. In an inspection ayer, it seized 964 expired products that were for sale at El Arenal and closed the store. Eufrasia Fajardo, Zone 6 Coordinator said that about 50 locations were inspected and over a thousand products with irregularities were found. <I hope they weren’t as irregular as stuff I’ve discovered in the back of my frig that were as green and hairy as a chia pet.> The irregularities were expired products, erased dates, and lack of sanitary registrations. Sanctions include closures of the business and fines up to 10 times the basic salary. There are also controls on businesses that roast turkey and ham to guarantee hygienic conditions.

Actualidad –

De El Mercurio del miércoles, 18/12/2024) (1 article) –

Guinness para ‘megabarra’ de chocolate (Guinness for mega chocolate bar) –
A group of students led by chef Ampuero, made their dream of creating the biggest chocolate bar in the world come true yesterday (martes). With an area of 416 sq. m. <a little shy of 4478 sq. ft> and containing 11 tons of Durán Cocoa chocolate bars, this bar entered the Guinness Book of Records. The team had the idea that the bar wouldn’t be just in Ecuador, but that it would be made with local ingredients including cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar. The bar was made in Guayaquil and took 10 hours to make. Once it was finished the jury determined that with the area it covered, it was the largest chocolate bar in the world. <You’d think this is something Hershey would do – or maybe they did and this team broke their record.>

Sucesos –

De El Mercurio del miércoles, 18/12/2024) (2 articles) –

Liberan a líder delictivo que operaba en la Ponce (Criminal leader operating in Ponce area freed) – A Criminal Guarantees Judge in Guayaquil ordered the release of Vicente Simón A. S., considered the leader of the criminal organization “Los Lobos” in Camilo Ponce Enríquez Canton in Azuay. Vicente Simón A. S. was arrested el 30/3/2024 in Camilo Ponce Enríquez and had been in prison until el 16/12 when he was released. He was investigated as the alleged perpetrator of the offense of organized crime. José Vargas, Zone 6 commander of the Policía Nacional explained that upon Vicente A.’s release, security was reinforced to prevent possible violent acts in the Canton where elite units of the National Police are stationed.

After Vicente A.’s arrest there was a power struggle between Los Lobos and los Lobos Box, 2 factions of the same gang. This fight resulted in massacres in Ponce Enriquéz with 18 violent deaths in junio, 15 in julio and two each in septiembre y noviembre. Ayer, the police detained 2 members of “Los Lobos” for possession of unauthorized explosives. During interventions in different sectors of Azuay, police seized 10 boxes of percussion caps, 2 rolls of slow fuse, and 1,950 explogel blocks.

The Policía Nacional said the mining zone in Camilo Ponce Enríquez contains at least 2,680 hectares with 268 mines of which only 88 are legal with each mine about 10 hectares in area. There are about 1,000 trails or roads to and from the mines. The police used helicopter overflights and drones to obtain this information. Police explained the situation is complicated and treats it as a social problem since 90% of the canton’s economy is related directly to mining.

Rescate de can en el río Tomebamba (Rescue of dog in the Tomebamba river) – Firefighters rescued a dog that was stuck on a rock in the río Tomebamba near Pumapungo and Rayloma Streets in the Monay sector. Neighbors saw that the dog needed help and called ECU 911. The rescuers used safety equipment to enter the river which was flowing strongly. The dog was put in a safe place. <The accompanying foto shows what looks like a Golden with his paws wrapped around his rescuer’s neck.>

Nacional –

Salarios versus canasta (Wages vs. market basket) – The Canasta Básica (Basic Basket) is a set of goods and services essential to the wellbeing of a family and it reached $804/mo. in noviembre. However, the Salario Básico Unificado (SBU – Unified Basic Salary) only covers 58% of the Canasta Básica. During the negotiations to establish the SBU for 2025, workers, once again, insisted that the SBU should increase to at least cover the Canasta Básica Vital (Vital Basic Basket) which was $562 in noviembre. José Villavicencio, president of the Frente Unitario de Trabajadores (FUT – United Workers’ Front), said each year employers give a reason that they are losing money, and this year it’s the energy crisis. While this is real, but in spite of earning less, they are still earning and it is not fair for the cost of the crisis to be paid by workers who are the ones who move the economy. Increases in the cost of living should also be considered. Employers were not in agreement with a large increase and proposed $4 based on macroeconomic data such as inflation. Employers, represented by Rodrigo Gómez de la Torre, agreed that that the increase in cost of living should be considered, but not just this year, but for at least 20 years because Ecuador is a country with high production costs which impedes increasing the SBU to the level of the Canasta Básica. Finally, as in the previous 8 years, the Ministerio de Trabajo determined what the increase should be. This year it’s $10 bringing the SBU from $460 to $470 per month.

Economist Oswaldo Landázuri thought it would be ideal if the SBU would cover the Canasta Básica, but said this could not be established by issuing a decree which would be another element for disinvestment and increasing unemployment. It could only be a result of economic growth. If bringing the SBU equal to the Canasta Básica by decree happened, businesses would stop hiring or move towards informal work with a preference for hiring foreigners who do not demand their rights. Everyone agreed that the real problem is not the amount of the SBU, but the lack of sources of employment. In 2019, full employment, or jobs with all workers’ rights such as a full-time hours, payment into the IESS system, vacation, sick leave, etc. reached 38% but was at 34.4% in marzo, 2024. In Ecuador, 3 million people are fully employed with 8.5 million not having jobs. From official calculations, the Canasta Básica should not be covered by only one person in the household, but at least 2. The problem is there aren’t enough jobs in the country and it’s difficult for more than 2 family members to have stable work. <Doesn’t sound too different from the US where in many households, all the adults need to work or where people need to have 2 or 3 jobs to meet basic expenses.>

Multan a Progen (Progen fined) – The MInisterio de Energía y Minas announced it notified Progen about concompliance by the company. The Government paid Progen $69 million as a down payment for the delivery of 29 power generation motors. As an initial step, it fined the company $900,000 for not delivering all the equipment purchased and not installing them by el 30 de noviembre as called for in the contract. The Ministerio also said that the officials at CELEC Termopichincha who were in charge of the contract were removed from their positions for entorpecer (hindering or obstructing – your word for the day) the project. <Given the difficulty of firing government workers, I wonder if removing them from their positions means assigning them new desks with no associated responsibilities.>

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne