Cuenca rated top ‘intelligent, sustainable’ city in Ecuador; Orphans of femicide left behind; Alianza Francesa preps for music fest; Free art workshops

Viernes, 20/1/2023
 
Hola, Todos – Actividades – 

De El Mercurio del jueves, 19/1/2023 (4 articles):

Convocatoria abierta para financir obras (Open call for financing works) – Starting el 23/1, the Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio will take proposals for a competition for a new round of public financing for the arts. There will be about $1 million for 70 projects for plastic and visual arts, literature and publishing work, production of scenic and musical works, and production of cinematic and audiovisual arts. Go to the web page: convocatoriascreatividad.gob.ec to apply.

Alianza Francesa busca músicos y diseñadores (Alianza Francesa is looking for musicians and designers) – The Alianza Francesa is getting ready for the the Fiesta de la Música which will be from 22-24/6. It is looking for designers to create the image for the festival with applications accepted until 30/1. Applications from musical groups and soloists will be taken until 19/2. Got to https.//afcuenca.org.ec/.

The tranvia and bike paths were two of the factors making Cuenca Ecuador’s most “intelligent and sustainable” city. (El Mercurio)

Talleres gratuitos en espacios culturales (Free workshops in cultural centers) – The Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca is having 3 free workshops starting el 23/1. There will be an art workshop teaching puntillismo (pointilism) technique. <For the same surprise I got by typing badly, enter putillismo in your translation program. That’s not what the workshop will be about.> It will be in the Casa de Chaguarchimbana from 15-16:30. There will also be a workshop on embossing aluminium until 27/1. There will be a 5 day art workshop on pyrography in wood, at the Casa Patrimonial Quinta Bolívar from 14:30-16:30. <My guess is it would start el 23/1.> To register for the courses, go to the venue at which it is being taught.

“Nubla”, obra teatral por las fuentes de agua (“Nubla,” theatrical work for water sources) – The work which has a cast of 4 and 2 musicians, will premier el 25/1 a las 19:00 in the Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz. A 2nd performance will be a las 20:30. There will be 3d & 4th performances at the same times el 26/1. The work is in the form of interviews of people involved in the more than 2 decade resistance to mining in Río Blanco and Quimsacocha. The set will make the audience feel as it it is in the paramo.

Titular –

Orfandad, la otra cara de femicidios (Orphanhood, the other face of femicides) – The harsh aftermaths after a femicide are the children and teens left orphans, and families that are broken in the face of a government unable to coalesce to attend to the needs of these collateral victims. From 2014 to last year, there were 1,526 orphaned children and teens who were left to face an endless process to receive reparations. One of the steps is to register the children as to names, ages, school status, and who they will live with to allow direct reparations. However, the government lost the list. <Some poor bureaucrat who pushed the “delete all” button?> In 2019, during Lenin Moreno’s term an economic bonus was created for children under 18 of femicide victims, but a judgement was needed to receive the bonus. The process could take years. Pres. Lasso modified the process so that once an investigation was started, a bonus could be given, the amount depending on if there were 1, 2 or 3 children. But it still involved a lot of paperwork and didn’t address children in larger families. <Why is it not surprising that those with the smallest voices receive the least consideration? Is that the way of the world?>

Elecciones 2023 –

Extradición, pros y contras (Extradictions, pros and cons) – This article is the first in a series on the questions in the referendum. If you are interested, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec. <Sorry, but it’s too long to translate for the few of you who have been residents long enough to vote, who have registered to vote, and intend to vote. And, I should add, are fluent enough in Spanish to understand what you’d be voting on.>

Cuenca – 

Cuenca, una ciudad inteligente y sostenible (Cuenca, an intelligent and sustainable city) – Cuenca was recognized as the Best Intelligent and Sustainable City in Ecuador based on an international model for Ciudades Inteligentes y Sustenibles (CIS) of the Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT) of the United Nations. Cuenca got 4.3 out of 5 points in an evaluation in 5 axes: strategy, infrastructure, data, services and applications, and evaluation. It analyzed performance in 3 key areas: economy; environment and sociocultural; and education, health, safety, lodging and inclusion. This recognition applied to information and communication technologies that translate into an improvement in the quality of life for its residents, effecient services, and competitivity.

The measurement as an intelligent city covers 4 axes. The first is “Cuenca Efectiva y Productiva” which allows citizens to access information and services through TIC (technology? the article never said what TIC stands for). Examples are fiber optic coverage of 85% of the city, 600 locations for public Internet, massive deployment of services, emerging technologies such as Bot, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data.

The second axis is “Cuenca Amigable con el Medio Ambiente” (Environmentally Friendly Cuenca) which included protection of water sources; maintaining the highest quality of water in the country with service to 96% of the city; more than 100 km. of bike lanes and the Tranvía which reduces the carbon footprint by 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year; recycling and green areas of 70,000 sq. meters.

The 3d axis is “Cuenca Solidaria” which highlights Cuenca as a world crafts city; inclusive; animal friendly; and with health services including 50 pharmacies in solidarity; and security with 300 surveillance cameras and 250 community alarms.

The 4th axis is “Cuenca con Viplasión de Futuro” which includes planning to 2070 with its PDOT and PUGS planning ordinances. 60 cities were evaluated with Riobamba coming in 2nd with 4.2 points, Ambato 3d with 4.18, Portoviejo with 3.93, Quito at #5 with 3.82 and Guayaquil in 10th place with 2.95 points. <I bet Quayaquil lost a lot of points in the area of security. At least in Cuenca, even if you might get robbed chances are you won’t be murdered, unless it’s at home by a spouse.>

And that’s all for today so hasta ?

Jeanne