City and street vendors present opposing plans; High levels of lead found in milk; Easter holiday agenda; Expat robbed in Centro; Evaluate IESS health service

Miércoles, 20/3/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

50 años del Festival de Cuy (50 years of the Cuy Festival) – The 50th Cuy Festival will be el domingo, 24/3 starting a las 9:00 in the central plaza in Ricaurte. In addition to cuy, there will be other dishes typical of Ricaurte. The celebration marks the 114th anniversary of the parochialization of Ricaurte. At 14:00 there will be music with Tierra Canela, Miguel Ángel y Orquesta Santa. Free.

Agenda unificada para feriado (Unified <comprehensive?> agenda for holidays) – The Ministerio del Turismo, with the public and private sectors, has planned an agenda for the activities during the Semana Santa holidays. The national holiday will be el 29/3, it is hoped that there will be lots of visitors to Azuay. Activities include the route of 7 churches on Jueves Santo, and the restaurants selling fanesca in Cuenca. If you are interested in knowing what there is to do during the holiday go to https://www.turismo.gob.ec. <So if cuy is not your cup of tea, there’s fanesca.>

Cuenca will become part of the World Biological Corridor, an international program to connect natural spaces and promote their care. Parque Nacional Cajas and the Bosque Protector de Mazán, within Cuenca cantonal limits, are being added to the program.

Titular –

Comerciantes y Municipio tienen planes opuestos (Vendors and municipality have opposing plans) – Autonomous vendors marched yesterday in the Centro Histórico to publicize proposals for leaving the streets and speeding up their relocation. Venders from 3 associations participated. Those who work around the mercado “9 de Octubre” <Don’t know if any of you who can read Spanish have noticed that the names of months now start with capital letters where before the whole name was in lower case.> said Mariano Cueva between Sangurima and Vega Muñoz should be made pedestrian only, and vendors could use the space around the Plaza Cívica. A legal advisor to one of the associations said these meaures are necessary since not all of the vendors will fit in the City’s project for calle Antonio Valdivieso. She also mentioned the possibility of using the widest sidewalks in the zone with light weight furniture that wouldn’t impede pedestrian circulation. The ambulant vendors at the Feria Libre want to use the bus transfer station.

The city met with the vendors’ organizations, but its position was clear – to curb street sales. <There’s the beginning of a pun in there for you worksmiths.> According to Diego Cedillo, director of the municipal markets, a census of the vendors around the 9 de Octubre showed about 600 which rises to 800 on los jueves which are considered feria days. The platforms on Antonio Valdivieso will serve about 220 vendors, mostly producers, when they are ready in about 5 months. An alternative is the pasaje “Hermano Miguel” into which the rest of the venders who sell clothing and accessories will be moved. Also, there are about 200 stalls for those selling meat and dairy products. <Hats off to you bold shoppers with cast iron stomachs who buy your meat and dairy off the street.>

Cuenca –

Los riesgos de ingerir plomo (The risks of ingesting lead) – Studies by the Escuela Pollitécnica National (EPN) showed that for ingesting 0.31 kg. of milk per person each day in Cuenca, the value of lead is 0.76. <That’s a literal translation. I don’t know what that means in any language.> EPN analyzed samples of milk in bags and cartons sold in Cuenca, Guayaquil and Quito. Results in Cuenca disturbed the researchers since an increase in milk consumption would raise the risk to 1.0. In addition to lead over the recommended limits, there was also aluminum. There were also cases in Guayaquil where concentrations exceeded the recommended maximums. Authorities are intensifying controls to remove milk with lead and aluminum from the market. <Soy milk for your coffee from now on?>

Evaluación en IESS (IESS evaluation) – The Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS) announced that its users can evaluate the treatment they receive in the 3 IESS hospitals in the province which include the José Carrasco Arteaga hospital, the Centro de Especialidades Central Cuenca, and the Centro Materno Infantil. You can do this by putting your cell phone up to the QR codes posted in visible locations in the hospitals. That will open a form which you can use to rate your treatment and to make suggestions. <An avenue besides complaining on English language websites about how crappy IESS is — which is about as useful as pissing off a boat into the wind.>

Más protección para el Cajas (More protection for the Boxes (Cajas) <And there you have a shining example of the weakness of translation programs.> – Cuenca will become part of the Corredor Biológico Mundial (World Biological Corridor), an international program to unite natural spaces in the world and promote their care. The canton’s membership will be via the Parque Nacional Cajas and the Bosque Protector de Mazán as well as through public policies and the creation of protected areas in Cuenca.

Sucesos –

Sacapintas robaron en pleno Centro Histórico (Robbery in the heart of the Historic Center) – A US citizen was robbed el 19/3 around 15:20 at Luis Cordero and Juan Jaramillo when he was going to a law office to do paperwork. The delinquents were armed, overcame the victim, and took $5,000 in cash. Security cameras captured the moment when the thieves ran. Police believe that the victim withdrew money from a banking institution and was followed by the robbers on his way to the law office. The thieves were dressed in black and used a pickup and a red car. Police have the license plate numbers. <They’re probably in Peru by now.>

Nacional –

Pagaban sueldos 10 veces superiores al del presidente (Payments of salaries 10 times higher than the president’s) – Ivonne Núñez, the ministra del Trabajo (Labor Secretary) warned that there were salaries in the public sector, specifically in Federal businesses, where employees were paid more than the President. The Ley Orgánica del Servicio Público says that no public servant can be paid as much or more than the President. Noboa’s monthly salary is $5,072. <What if he had said that he would take a symbolic salary of $1 per year?> She reported that 1,000 workers had salaries exceeding the maximum and that the Treasurer of the Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (CELEC) has a salary of $64,845, a maintenance technician earned $35,231, and a dentist $16,547. The average salary for public employees is $800. A representative of the employees said that the problem is not in the net salary, but in a series of benefits beyond the base salary which were added by collective contracts. Added together, the salaries and benefits could exceed the President’s salary by more than 3 times. <Them’s some hefty benefits.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne