Correa knew all about corruption, ex-minister says; Emergency curfew relaxed; Cajas highway bypass to open; Court gives Jorge Glas a break; Cultural agenda

Viernes, 11/11/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Agenda cultural –
12/11 a las 19:00 – Concierto – Music in the barrios at the Parque Iberia.
14/11 a las 10:00 – Exposición – Photo exhibit in the Catedral Vieja.
15/11 a las 17:30 – Film series – Cámara Lúcida in the Sala Alfonso Carrasco.
17/11 a las 18:30 – Concierto – Pacos Blues at Club 184.

Conciertos en espacios públicos de Cuenca (Concerts in public spaces in Cuenca) – There will be free music in different public spaces hoy y mañana. Tonight from 17-20:00 there will be Vado Electrónico at calles Juan Montalvo y Calle de la Condamine with ETZEL y CT/Subtle. At 18:00 in the Casa de las Posadas there will be “Canción de autor” with composers Isaías Ruiz & Karen Espinoza. Last, there will be music, theater and poetry in the Antigua Escuela Central mañana a las 11:00 with Alli Yuyaywan, Los Longos & Gatocicletas.

Titular –

The city is launching a new app that will allow tranvía passengers to purchase tickets online.

Glas, a un paso de salir libre (Glas, one step away from freedom) – The Corte Nacional de Justicia nullified the Singue case which was the third case against ex-VP Jorge Glas. This case was stopping the process to let him serve his 6 and 8 year sentences for two other cases concurrently. This can now proceed and allow Glas the benefits of monitored early release. <I think that’s what I’m reading, but I could very well be wrong. The reasons for nullifying the Singue case are way too complicated for me to understand, much less translate. I doubt I’d understand it in English either.> This nullification also benefits 2 ex-Oil and Gas Ministers and a businessman who also received 8 years in the Soborno case as well as 3 minor officials who were accomplices and received 4 year sentences.

Cuenca –

Por 4 meses se usará variante (For 4 months a bypass will be used) – A bypass to km. 49 of the vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme will open at the end of the month and will be used for 4 months so the stabilization work on the main highway can be finished. The bypass will also let residents of the Molleturo parish to get to Cuenca more conveniently instead of having to take the Biblíán-Zhud-La Troncal route through Cañar <the long way around is a gross understatement.>.

The 2.5 km. long bypass which has a width of 10 meters, is being built on the lower part of the hill and follows the bank of the río Miguir. Currently the road can be used by light and heavy vehicles even though there are some improvements left to be made. There will be a double course of asphalt, guardrails, and signage and striping. The bypass will not be lit since there is no electricity at the bottom of the hill. However the Comisión de Tránsito de Ecuador (CTE) will station agents at different points along the route. <I wonder if those workers will get hazard pay and special super-reflective clothing – maybe special helmets with revolving red and blue lights you can see as you come out of a curve before the next curve.>

There will be an informational meeting with members from the Parish junta and representatives of transportation to to tell them how the bypass will work so as to avoid traffic problems. With respect to the slope stabilization, work will resume on building 7 terraces in the middle and lower parts now that the 4 terraces in the high part are finished. The stretch of paving damaged by landslides will also be fixed. Work is currently at 40% completion.

Otros tramos intervenidos (Other sections involved) – There are other sections of the 119 km. vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme that have problems that are being worked on. Work is advancing at km. 7 & 10 in the Los Ramales y Marianza sectors in Sayausí Parish. Work should be finished at km. 10 el 15/12. At km. 88, there is cleanup of material that fell in a landslide, and at km. 90, material to improve road conditions will be placed el próximo martes.

“Apps”, nueva opción para pagar pasaje del tranvía (“Apps, new option to pay tram fares) – As of this week, Tranvía riders will have the option of paying fares with an App from savings and loan cooperatives and banks. The Tranvía has signed an agreement with the CREA cooperative, and agreements with Jardín Azuayo & JEP are coming soon. In the next few days, there will be agreements with national banks. Tranvía director, Jorge Moscoso, said that each financial institution has its own application, but a Q code will also be generated for users to access their bank. With the app, Moscoso projects an 20% increase in ridership. Currently there are 19,400 daily passengers not counting weekends. He said there are people who haven’t gotten cards because of the trouble to get one or don’t want to pay $1 for a single ticket. The problem of getting cards due to the lack of chips is also solved. The fare for virtual payments is also $.35 and $.17 for the discounted fare. <Sounds way too complicated for me. I can’t even use a Q code to look at a menu. Give me paper and print, punto.>

Nacional –

De El Mercurio del jueves, 10/11:
Carlos Pareja dice que: “Correa lo sabía todo” (Carlos Pareja says: “Correa knew it all”) – Carlos Pareja Yannuzzelli asked to be heard by the National Assembly Audit Commission since for six years, he has been trying to get the justice system and control agencies to accept his complaints against several of his former colleagues. This includes ex-president Rafael Correa who he said was the leader of the criminal gang that operated in the oil and gas sector. Pareja Yannuzzelli held various positions in Correa’s Government including minister and vice-minister of oil and gas, and manager and director of Petroecuador. He said he knew from the inside how the corruption in the petroleum sector worked. He said Correa knew what was happening but did nothing, and that crime of ommision cost the country $5 billion. Pareja said not only did the president know what was going on, but after he turned himself in and wanted to cooperate, no Attorney General from Galo Chiriboga to Ruth Palacios wanted to accept the information he was offering.

Cambios en el toque de queda (Changes in the curfew) – The hours for the curfew in the provinces under an emergency declaration have been changed from between 21:00 to 5:00 to 23:00 to 5:00. Pres. Lasso accepted this change after requests from the business and tourist sectors who were worried about the economic recovery after the pandemic. <My guess is tourists would be more worried about drug gang members running around doing their antisocial things than a curfew.>

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.