Comptroller says city violated purchase procedures; Number of missing persons is overstated; Airports inspected; Bulán apple festival displays 25 varieties

May 11, 2022 | 2 comments

Martes, 10/5/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Titular –

En el país se reeditan masacres carcelarias (Prison massacres are reprised in the country) – See Tuesday’s article in CHL for story.

Cuenca –

Contraloría dio informe sobre municipio (Comptroller’s Office report on municipality) – A new report by the Contraloría General del Estado (CGE) showed that the city of Cuenca bought airline tickets and used pickup truck services without proper contracting procedures. The CGE found these in a special review that covered acquisition of goods and services from 1/1/2017 to 31/12/2021. The total amount the CGE reviewed was $2,907,825. It found that between 25/2 & 18/3/2018, plane tickets were purchased directly from a travel agency without using the contracting procedures. The city official got the tickets even though he knew that the contract with the provider had expired el 15/1/2018 and he didn’t start a new contracting process.

Ecuador’s 22 public airports underwent a series of security and safety inspections last week.

On 4/2/2021, the city started a reverse auction process <low bid wins?> to contract for pickup trucks with drivers. The auction was closed el 8/3/2021 because there were no bids. In 22/7/2021, the Director General Administrativo and 40 providers signed 40 agreements for an amount of $52,616.81 to rent vehicles with a driver. <Could have been worse. Could have been the city buying thousands of $10 switches for the Tranvía for $100 each a la body bags in Guayaquil, or paying friends of a nephew of some high mucketymuck $250/hr. to dig ditches.>

Hasta abril 29,209 vehículos matriculados (Up to April, 29,209 vehicles registered) – Between enero & abril, 2021, 29,209 vehicles were registered and complied with the Revisión Técnica Vehicular (RTV). Registrations are according to a calendar based on the last digit of your license plate starting with 1 in febrero, 2 in marzo up to 9 in octubre and 0 in noviembre. Enero is for vehicles that were not registered in previous years, and diciembre is for all vehicles. The fine for not complying with the registration calendar is $50, and the fine for not getting the vehicle inspection is $20. The 4 registration centers are in Mayancela and Capulispamba which are also RTV centers, in the Cuenca Terminal Terrestre, and in the parking lot under the Paraque de la Madre. Hours are from 8-17:00, lunes a viernes. There are hours from 8-12:00 los sábados at Mayancela and Capulispamba.

DGAC hizo inspecciones en aeropuerto (DGAC performed airport inspections) – The Gestión de Inspección en Vuelo (In-flight Inspection Management) of the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC – Directorate General of Civil Aviation) successfully completed its inspection flights to the 22 airports in Eucador. <Never knew Ecuador had that many airports. Do those include the ones with dirt runways, no control tower, and a terminal that looks like a garden shed where the airport employee’s main job is shooing livestock off the runway?> At the Cuenca airport, the Instrument Landing System, the Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range, and the Presicion (sic) Approach Path Indicator were analyzed. The measurements were taken with a laboratory plane, a King Air 350i which has an Aerodata AD-AFIS-113 system. <This might mean something to those of you with aeronautical backgrounds. For the rest of us it’s just technical word salad.>

11 desapariciones en investigación (11 disappearances under investigation) – On social networks and on posts and walls in Cuenca, you can see flyers about missing teenagers. Citizens are moved and help by sharing these images, but many times, the teens have already returned to their homes. So far in 2022, there have been 78 reports of missing minors. Of these, 67 have been solved and 11 are still under investigation. These 11 were reported in the last 7 days according to police captain Juan Carlos Ruiz who is part of the Dirección Nacional de Investigación de Delitos contra la Vida, Muertes Violentas, Desaparaciones, Secuestro y Extorsión (Dinased – National Directorate for the Investigation of Crimes against Life, Violent Deaths, Disappearances, Kidnapping and Extortion). Ruiz said that these cases have a high rate of resolutions since many times the people reported missing have left voluntarily for different reasons including school, intrafamily, and social problems or due to economic or relationship problems. <Didn’t you ever run away from home as a kid? Even if it was only as far as your best friend’s house two doors down?>

Dinased has a protocol which includes making a formal report to the Prosecutor’s Office immediately when the person isn’t in their usual location or doesn’t answer the phone. Or speed up the process by calling 911. He said not to wait 24 or 48 hours before making the report. <Don’t go by what you read in mystery or police procedurals where cops tell people they can’t investigate until the person’s been gone 24 or 48 hours.> Mental health professionals recommended good communication between parents and children, and not top down or authoritarian styles. In the province as a whole, there have been 143 people reported missing to date. 121 have been found with 22 disappearances currently under investigation.

Empresarial –

Exportación de flores por el Día de La Madre (Mother’s Day Flower Exports) – ]The level of exportation of tons of flowers grew 6% during the Mothers’ Day season, indicating a recuperation in this sector after 2 years of the pandemic. The Asociación de Flores del Ecuador (Expoflores) indicated there is worry about shortages and overpricing of some fertilizers due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This has also affected exports since Ecuador sends 15% of its production to Russia. <Support your local economy – go out and buy yourself a few dozen roses – enough for an arrangement in each room.>|

Region –

25 tipos de manzanas tiene Bulán (Bulán has 25 types of apples) – Tourists and locals went to the 5th Festival de la Manzana in Bulán parish in Paute last sábado. 25 types of apples were exhibited along with apple products such as jams, jellies and liquors. <I bet there are still a lot left to enjoy even if you’ll be late.>

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.

 

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