City reduces red tape under plan; Vaccine purchases lack schedule; Delayed city projects move forward; Voter information website; Candidate profiles

Jan 26, 2021 | 14 comments

Lunes, 25/1/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Nada.

Otras cosas –

Titular – De AstraZeneca, 5 millones de vacunas ( 5 million vaccines from AstraZeneca) – The Agencia Nacional de RegulaciĆ³n, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria (Arcsa) authorized the use and importation of 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine. Mauro Falconi, the executive director of Arcsa gave no details as to when the vaccine would arrive, but the Government and drug company have spoken to make it happen as soon as possible. Besides this 5 million doses, Ecuador plans to get 2 million doses from Pfizer, 4 from Covaxx, and another 8 from Covax, the initiative coordinated by WHO. The country is hoping that it will have anough vaccines to immunize 9 million people by the 3d quarter of this year.

El CNE evalĆŗa el sistema electoral (The CNE evaluates the electoral system) – The 2nd election simulation was held Sunday and tested several systems to scrutinize and transmit the votes. It also observed the protocols to prevent the spread of Covid. The simulation was attended by various institutions and international election observers. <I wonder if international observers would have helped in the US elections – as long as they weren’t from China, the UN or those other communistic places.>

The city of Cuenca will add and repair recreational equipment in parks, work that was delayed by the pandemic.

SimplificaciĆ³n de trĆ”mites, aplican (Simplification of procedures applies) – The Reglamento de GestiĆ³n de TrĆ”mites (Procedures Management Regulations) was passed last year to simplify paperwork at the City. There are 142 procedures at the city of which 12 represent 80% of the transaction and another 19 are critical. The city publishes a ‘Carta de trĆ”mites’ (Letter of procedures) with the requirements, procedures and maximum time to accomplish each of the 142 procedures. This is available at https://enlinea.cuenca.gob.ec/. City officials can not ask for more paperwork than is on the ‘Carta’ or delay the procedure. One simplification has been the elimination of copies of your cedula and voting certificate. <Maybe now is the time to open up a new restaurant or business – before more requirements and changes get added to this carta.>

La EMAC tiene varios proyectos pendientes (EMAC has several pending projects) – The Empresa Municipal de Aseo de Cuenca (garbage company) has projects which were not done in 2020 due to the pandemic. These include the addition of park and sports field equipment; improvement and maintenance of the sterilization and treatment plant for infectious waste; work on the final phase of the Pichacay landfill; development of transfer stations; and enlarging the composting plant. These will be done this year.

57 obras estĆ”n en ejecuciĆ³n (57 works are in progress) – ETAPA had 57 sanitary projects in rural zones in 2020 which were part of a larger water and sewer project of 107 jobs. The other 50 jobs will be done this year and will benefit 8.000 residents of 15 rural parishes.

Voto 2021 –

Conoce a tu candidato (Know your candidate) – the CNE has set up a web page at www.cne.gob.ec with a link called Conoce a tu candidato which has a list of presidential, national assembly, and Andean Parliament candidates. There are also details about the polical organizations at this link.

Lugar de votaciĆ³n (Polling place) – CNE has a new 24 hour tool to find out your polling place. Call 150 and enter your cedula number.

Calificadas seis encuestadoras (Six pollsters qualified) – Those qualified to conduct exit polls are not allowed to publish or transmit the information during the electoral silence period.

From viernes, 22/1/2021 –
This is the last of the lists of candidates for the Asamblea Nacional for Azuay.
Alianza 82-62 maneja agenda local (Alliance 82-62 manages local agenda) – This list is a local alliance with Igualdad and Participa, led by Marcelo Cabrera, the ex-mayor of Cuenca, and it is not officially supporting any presidential candidate. Other candidates include Karla BeltrĆ”n who was the undersecretary of the Environment; William GarcĆ­a who headed the oversight for the tram construction and represented the frentistas (businesses and residents along the tram route); Karol RedrobĆ”n who is a women’s rights activist and the youth candidate; and Xavier RomĆ”n who is the youth director of the Igualdad movement.

The legislative agenda of the Alianza 82-62 is focused on resolving local problems. Cabrera wants to strengthen decentralization because Azuay’s problems can’t always be solved by officials in Quito. He wants to form a block of asambleĆ­stas from the Austro (South) so it can condition approval of the general budget on giving resources to improve roadways in the south. The Alianza proposes revising the entrance exam to the university and replacing it with a preparatory course. It is also asking for legislative reforms to give municipalities, provinces, and parish juntas skills in technology and innovation. In the area of health it proposes a permanent health fund to confront the pandemic and to be financially prepared for future problems, expand potable water service massively, regulate mining activities, and prohibit them in protected zones. Other parts of its plan de trabajo include moving the Turi prison, decriminalization of abortion, a gender agenda, reactivating tourism, land restitution to campesino sector, and improve the application of justice against insecurity.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
__________________

Editorā€™s note: Jeanneā€™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 donā€™t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< ā€¦ >), is Jeanneā€™s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.

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