Candidates for mayor focus on crime and public safety; Civil Registry expands, opens new office in Bellavista; Car theft and kidnapping investigated

Miércoles, 25/1/2023
 
Hola, Todos –

Titular – 

Seguridad, el eje del conversatorio (Security, the focus of the discussion) – l4 mayoral candidates were called by the Cámara de Industrias, Producción y Empleo (CIPEM) for a conversation. They were Cristian Zamora, Paúl Carrasco, Adrián Castro and Pedro Palacios who did not attend. The conversation was on 5 themes: safety, legal security and protection of citizens, new productive zones, roads and airport services, and the referendum.

Cristian Zamora talked about creating a comprehensive command center which would group all emergency services to reduce the time for emergency care. He added that he would provide the latest technology for georeferencing real time monitoring of the care provided; and proposed a plan to improve lighting. He also planned for construction of controls in the zone around the prison in Turi to keep out prisoners from other provinces since the penitentiary was built to be regional.

The new Civil Registry office in Bellavista opened earlier this month to provide cedula and other services. (El Mercurio)

Adrián Castro referred to the application of a Plan de Paz (Peace Plan) to build filters in 3 accesses to the prison zone and use 36 of the 76 community centers to install Centros de Seguridad Inmediata (Immediate Security Centers). He also offered to promote a national legal form to give non-lethal arms to the Guardia Ciudadana Cuenca (GCC). He promised to intensify controls to avoid 2 people on a moto and vehicles circulating without license plates. He would give the Policía Nacional equipment including bulletproof vests, GPS <That would avoid the situation of a cop who stopped his car to to ask me where the Colegio Bilingue was. It was a half block away. Maybe even when I arrived here I looked less like a gringo than I thought. Or it could be I was the only one on the street at the time.>, cellphones, patrol cars and more.

Paúl Carrasco talked about forming a corporation that would lead citizen safety and signing 15 agreements with the National Government for working on safety. He said he would implement a municipal police with 2,000 hombres (men) <I’m sure you can guess what my reaction to such a sexist proposal is.> This would replace the GCC and incorporate 36 mini-barracks in Cuenca’s 36 rural and urban parishes where municipal police, EMOV, National Police, and other institutions responsible for safey would be concentrated. He also posed the formation of chapters of citizen safety which would be led by women who would also be in charge of coordinating this citizens’ organization. <I can imagine the guys sitting in their barracks playing cards, watching TV and drinking beer while the women respond to the calls.>

Cuenca – 

Registro Civil tiene 4 puntos de atención (The Civil Registry has 4 service locations) – The Registro Civil opened the new “Bellavista” office in Cuenca on calle Luis Cordero y Héroes de Verdeloma. Adding this 4th office would allow deconcentration of services. All offices have hours from 8-17:00, M-F. The Agencia San Blas on Alfonso Jerves y Manuel Vega is for issuing and renewing passports. The Agencia Bellavista provides cedula services, birth certificates, corrections, and marriage certificates. The Agencia Libertad at Nicanor Merchán y Pedro León (Parque de Libertad) and has actas registrales (registry records). The Agencia El Batán on av. México y av. de Las Américas provides cedula services, birth certificates, and corrections. For services you should get an appointment on-line at https://registrocivil.gob.ec. You will not be served without an appointment, although there are exceptions such as getting or renewing a passport for health, education or work reasons. For those, go to the San Blas office and show your justification for the emergency.

For voting on 5/2, one of the requirements is to have a cédula or passport. You can use an expired cédula to vote, but if you don’t have a cedula all offices are open this and next weekend. Hours are as follows: 28/1 – 8:00 to 17:00, 29/1 – 8:00 to 15:00, 4/2 – 7:00 to 20:00, and 5/2 – 7:00 to 14:00. You still need to get an appointment on-line.

Sucesos –

Robo de vehículos y secuestro, método que ataca a Cuenca (Vehicle theft and kidnapping, methods of attack in Cuenca) – The National Police captured 2 presumed criminals, an Ecuadorian and a Venezuelan, who were implicated in the theft of a pick-up truck and the kidnapping of the owner. They were captured last Mon. night in the río Tarqui. <Maybe they figured the police wouldn’t be able to track them in the water. Do Cuenca police have the ability to track scents? Maybe they’ve been watching too many escape movies.> Police said that the delinquentes intercepted and subdued the victim while the car was parked. <So, keep the car locked and in gear if you stop, the engine on, and your foot on the clutch and accelerator so you can leave rubber on the road as you escape.>

Hours after the crime, the owner was finally found in Turi parish where he had been abandoned. Police said they were treating this new crime as a robbery with violence and and an express kidnapping. There was a similar case in the Bosque Uno de Monay de Cuenca el 15/12 when a Vitara was stolen and the owners kidnapped while they were putting their car in the carage. That car was found in Zhucay but the criminals escaped. Police data showed 65 reports of car theft in Azuay in 2022. The motives and methods of the thefts were different. Some vehicles are stolen to be sold for parts, others are taken to be used in other crimes such as robberies and assaults, and some are cloned with identity numbers changed to be resold illegally. There are also gangs who take vehicles for ransom.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.