Cuenca ‘reactivates’ with full agenda of events; Covid cases continue to decline despite Carnaval activities; Landslides displace families, affect traffic in Girón

Jueves,10/3/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Rosy Revelo llega con 50 obras donde sobresale la mujer (Rosy Revelo arrives with 50 works in which women stand out) – The artist Rosy Revelo has opened “Eva pro novis,” an exhibit at the Galería de la Alcaldía (Bolívar y Borrero) which shows different facets of women.

Llaman a registrar eventos para abril (Call to submit events for April) – The Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca has opened the call for collectives, individuals, managers, institutions and the general public to present activities that will be held from 1-30/4 for the 465th anniversary of the founding of Cuenca. The events will be in the festival agenda to be published in late marzo. Submit your entries at https://bit.ly/3sWzpc3 and fill out the form.

A series of landslides is displacing families in Giron. (El Mercurio)

Amplia agenda cultural tiene CIDAP (CIDAP has a broad cultural agenda) – CIDAP has a schedule of events for marzo including a virtual workshop of the processes of production from 14-18/3. For those interested, register at https://forms.gle/gYwCwQTxL3YkrpXMA. On el 12/3 a las 10:00 the “Uywacuna” exhibit will open in the gardens of CIDAP. There will also be various educational activities which you can register for at http://tiny.cc/Actividades_UYWACUNA.

Reactivación de Cuenca con eventos culturales (Reactivation of Cuenca with cultural events) – The “Sight Productions” company has signed an agreement with the city to produce the Todos Juntos por la Reactivación festival with fashion, sports and arts events. There will be 3 days of massive activities in the plazas and emblematic locations in Cuenca during the Fundación de Cuenca festivities. The main event will be a concert with Charly Alberti and Zeta Bosio of Soda Stereo el 30/4 in the Alejandro Serrano Aguilar stadium. There will also be large concerts, urban sports, extreme sports, a freestyle motoshow, fashion parades, gastroshows, free theater, fairs, and a festival of humor.

Titular –

Las obras causan nudos vehiculares (Construction work causes traffic congestion) – the city has scheduled 2 large construction projects for this year. The first is a new interchange on av. de Las Américas in front of the Sindicato de Choferes gas station. Currently, 78,000 cars pass through the redondel daily including 3,000 buses which will be rerouted. The work will start el 19/3 and take 8 months to complete. Alternate routes are avenidas España, Gil Ramírez Dávalos, Turuhuayco y 25 de Marzo as well as Otavio Chacón, de los Migrantes, los Chasquis, Barrial Blanco 7 Arzobispo León. The 2nd project is the Isauro Rodríguez bridge over the río Yanuncay. The project is expected to take 6 months. Work will start in the river bed to construct bases and abutments so traffic will not be immediately affected.

Cuenca –

Disminuye incidencia de contagios COVID-19 – (Incidence of COVID-19 infection decrease) – There was anticipation of what might happen after Carnaval since the restrictions against COVID-19 were lifted over the holidays. It’s been more than a week, and the situation is still encouraging. Ximena Garzón, ministra de Salud, said infections have been decreasing and for example, in week 3 there were 51,614 cases, and by week 9, only 6,743 were reported. She stressed that the best weapon against the virus are vaccinations. 88.45% of the population has had 1 dose, 84.47% the second dose, and 28% have had a dosis de refuerzo (booster – your word for the day). José Ruales reminded people that the requirement of using a mask in public is still in effect and a 4th dose for those who are immunosuppressed is being analyzed.

Garzón indicated that training has started for medical staff and management in hospitals to learn about the new method of supplying medicines and pharmacy outsourcing. <Maybe for you IESS members, going to a Farmacy or SanaSana or Fybeca is in your future instead of standing in lines at the IESS.> Garzón also detailed medical attention given to Ecuadorians on the humanitarian flights from Ukraine. 127 vaccinations were given and 94 rapid tests. An urgent hypertension patient was treated along with one with a trauma to the knee, and 33 patients got emotional support/containment/closure(?).

Aeropuerto retoma servicio de combustibles (Airport resumes fuel service) – The Cuenca airport has restarted providing aircraft wing fuel. It has the vehicles and equipment to refuel aircraft on the runway. The contract was signed with FAYTA S.A., and Ecuadorian firm with 10 years of experience. The firm specializes in the sales of fuel for airplanes: turbo Fuel JP1 and AVGas 100/130. It also does crop dusting and air transport.

Horarios extendidos para pasaportes (Extended passport hours) – The Registro Civil has extended its hours for issuing passports. Passports will be issued on the sábados 12, 19 y 26 from 8-17:00 in the office in San Blas. Citizens need to pay and schedule and appointment on line at www.registrocivil.gob.ec. The cost for a first or renewal passport is $90 with seniors receiving a 50% discount and at no cost for people with 30% or more disability. Vulnerable groups can go straight to the window without an appointment and pay at the cashier window. Expired cédulas are valid for doing paperwork until 31/3/2022 because of the pandemic.

Region –

En riesgo acceso a Girón (Access to Girón at risk) – Land communication between the cantons of Cuenca and Girón is at risk from macro-landslides at the foot of the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje. There was a large slide at km. 31 in the Loma de Masta sector of the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje involving at least 2 hectares of land. 3 families had to be evacuated. In the Portete-Santa Marianita stretch of the old Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje highway, there were 2 macro-slides. The gravel road of 8 km. has been closed since el pasado martes. Authorities and officials are inspecting the areas and are worried that continued rains will aggravate the sliding and put the highway at risk.

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne
___________________

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.