Construction industry gets tax breaks; Inca Trail upgrades planned; El Paraíso food court reopens; Cuenca ice cream start-up; Big coke lab is busted

Lunes, 15/4/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

De El Mercurio del domingo, 14/4 (1 article):
‘Ice Goumet´ refleja el empeño de un emprendedor (Ice Gourmet’ reflects the commitment of an entrepreneur) – <This article is for those of you for whom a day without ice cream is not a good day.> Rafael Bernal founded ‘Ice Gourmet’ in abril de 2020 in the middle of a pandemic with $20 and an ancient refrigerator. He started with only 4 flavors of ice cream and produced 900 scoops a month. He launched his business on social networks and gained a following. Currently he has 2 lines of products: classic scoops in 30 flavors, and cocktail scoops in 5 flavors. <What better combination – ice cream and booze in one mouthful?> He is now producing 6.000 scoops a month. After 2 months in business, he bought his first freezer to expand his business.

The food court at reopened over the weekend at Parque Paraíso. (El Mercurio)

He developed his recipes by trial and error until he got the taste and texture he wanted. Some of his current flavors are cream cuencana, arroz con leche, choco maní, choco fresa, gomi naranjilla, capricho de maracuyá, piñachu, coco mango, and cream and coffee. The cream cuencana is his own recipe in honor of Cuenca and has a base of walnuts, with chocolate chips and crispy rice. The cocktail scoops have flavors such as piña colada, pink vodka, moka ron, ron pasas, and zhumir coco. <And now I’m finally getting to what you want to know.> He has 3 locations in Cuenca: Los Andes y Río Paute, Gran Colombia y Miguel Vél.ez, and av. Don Bosco y Fernando de Aragón. The classic flavors sell for $1.50 a scoop (which is packaged in a little plastic bag) and the cocktails for $2.00. His plans are to expand to Santa Isabel in the short term, and distribute his products in other cities in Ecuador in the long term.

Titular –

Sector de la construcción no despunta en Cuenca (Construction sector does not stand out in Cuenca) – The government issued 2 new regulations in incentivize the construction industry. The first is the refunding of the IVA and the 2nd is the reduction of IVA to 5% on 18 construction materials such as rebar, aggregates, and concrete. The incentives are a response to a depression in the construction industry which represented 12 % of the GNP in 2015 and is only about 6.2% currently. This is because 70% of construction depends on public works which has decreased.

Cuenca –

Se reabre el Patio de Comidas remodelado del Parque El Paraíso (Remodeled food court at El Paraíso Park reopens) – The food court at the Parque El Paraíso reopened over the weekend. The Empesa Municipal de Aseo (EMAC EP – garbage company) invested $114 million in the project. The Kiosks were rehabilitated and the administrative infrastructure enlarged. A new rental plan was implemented to select businesses appropriate for the prk and to attract the citizenry to use these areas and improve their experience in the park.

Convenio para fortalecer la gestión turística del Qhapaq Ñan (Agreement to strengthen the management of tourism on the Qhapaq Ñan) – The Prefectura of Azuay and the Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural signed an agreement to establish mechanisms allowing the strengthening of tourism management in the sites associated with the Qhapaq Ñn (Camino del Inca – The Inca Trail) in Azuay. Prefecto Juan Cristóbal Lloret said they are looking at the possibility of recuperating 106 km. of the route in Ecuador, a large part of which is in the south. <A tiny part of the whole 40,000 km system.> It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the agreement will be an instrument to involve other organizations inclined to help in the reconstruction of the Qhapaq Ñan and other sites that are on the trail. He added that they want to restore the Cruz del Sur as well as the trails and complexes of the Cañaris and Inca such as Ingapirca in Cañar, Dumapara in Nabón, Chobshi in Sígsig, and Paredones in Molleturo.

Nacional –

Localizan y desmantelan un laboratorio de procesamiento de cocaína (Cocaine processing laboratory located and dismantled) – The police and military found and dismantled a cocaine processing laboratory el sábado on the border with Colombia. The 3 month investigation had the help of foreign agencies. The lab had the capacity to produce between 5 & 10 tons of cocaine each week which represents a loss to the criminal organizations of $150 million each month.

Seized in the operation were 9 microwave ovens, an industrial stove, 31 tanks of polyethylene, a generator and 10 containers of liquid chemicals. The police are assuming the lab was operated by foreign nationals and the drugs transported in small boats to caletas (coves – your word for the day) in Ecuador and Colombia. <Time for Europe and the North America to step up to the plate and do something about the demand.>

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). If information is incorrect, it is the responsibility of El Mercurio. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.