Cuenca still low on gas; Some photo radars are still ticketing; Electric mini-cars are regulated; IESS to upgrade scheduling; Animal food bank needs food

Viernes, 1/9/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Actividades culturales para septiembre (Cultural activities for September) – There will be activities in the Sala Alfonso Carrasco in the Casa de la Cultura Núcleo del Azuay. El 5/9 a las 19:00 there will be the musical, Super Mario Bros performed by the students of the Academia Wasi Dance. On el 6/9 a las 20:00 the E-Learning conservatory will play a tribute to Daft Punk <Another band I never heard of. I’m just out of it. I’m assuming Daft Punk is a band since it’s a conservatory performing.> with more than 20 interpretations.

Agenda cultural –
Exposición – Del caso a la Resiliencia – 1/9 a las 8:00 – Casa de las Posadas.
Feria itinerante – 2/9 a las 10:00 – feria cultural – María Auxiliadora (see below).
Ruta guiada (guided tour) – 5/9 a las 20:00 – Comandante de Profundis – Prohibido Centro Cultural.
Exposición – 6/9 a las 8:00 – Romanticismo, Naturaleza y Paisaje (Romanticism, Nature & Landscape) – Casa del Alfarero.
Danza – 7/9 a las 20:00 – ECOS – Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz.

The municipality is developing rules for a variety of small electric transporters, including trimotos, scooters, twikes, skateboards, electric bicycles, mopeds, segways, hoverboards, electric skates, longboards, unicycles, monowheels, among others. Without regulations, officials say they pose a danger for pedestrians as well as riders. (El Mercurio)

De El Mercurio del jueves, 31/8/2023 (1 article):
Feria cultural en María Auxiliadora – There will be a traveling fair el 2/9 from 10:00 a 17:00 in the parque de María Auxiliadora. Organized by the Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca, it will have art, fashion, crafts, jewelry and other objects. The Circo, Pan y Guineo group will perform acrobatics.

Titular –

Activan alertas ante una serie de explosiones (Alerts activated due to series of explosions) – See today’s article in CHL for the story.

Cuenca –

10 radares siguen multando (10 radars continue to fine) – Mayor Zamora clarified the status of the fotoradars after confusion on the part of many drivers. The 42 devices installed under the contract with the Movil Technology consortium are not issuing fines. 10 are located on the vía Cuenca-Azogues and on Medio Ejido-Sayausí, and were issuing fines from marzo to el 27/8 of this year. The other 32 are along av. De las Américas, Doce de Octubre, and 24 de Mayo, but after Zamora took office, he did not allow these to be activated.

There are another 10 that were installed outside of the contract with the Movil Technology consortium that are active and issuing tickets. These are located at Ordoñez Lasso and De los Cerezos, Los Cedros, and De la Hierba Luisa; De las Américas in the Hospital Del Río sector; Av. Ricardo Duán y calle Luis Godin; Av. González Suárez y calle Tránsito Amaguaña; and the Panamericana Norte in the Ucubamba “mal paso” sector. >There’s no excuse for you getting a speeding ticket from one of these since now you know exactly where they are.>

Persiste bajo suministro de combustible en Cuenca (Fuel supplies remain low in Cuenca) – Since the beginning of the week, the delivery of fuel returned to limited supplies even though Petroecaudor said it would increase the quota of gas to regulate supply. The president of the Asociación de Distribuidores de Azuay, Carlos Salazar, said that the increase never happened with only one delivery on martes so gas stations have very little stock, or are dry. Demand has increased <I bet people are filling up at half full so they won’t wind up on E with gas stations out of stock.> and Salazar is worried that the weekend will be chaotic with long lines again. <The next articles have your solution.>

Requisitos son los mismos de un auto común (Requirements are the same as for a regular car) – In order for the $1,131 ChangLi S1-Pro electric car to get street legal, it must be certified and comply with all the requirements for any vehicle. Owners need to register it and get a license plate, and drivers must have a type B license. The car can reach 40 km/h. These cars are considered the smallest in the world and are designed to be used for daily transportation for short distances and in flat areas. <Define flat. Would it take me and a load of groceries over the hill between the SuperMaxi and my house? Or would I have to push it to the top of the hill so I could coast home?>

La eléctromovilidad ‘rueda’ por las calles (Electro-mobility ‘rolls’ through the streets) – The Concejo Cantonal is planning to create a register of electric mini-vehicles in the city. This would include electric motos, scooters, twikes, monopatines, electric bikes, ciclomotores, segways, hoverboards, electric skates, longboards, monociclos, monowheels, and more. Currently these are not regulated and do not need to be registered or have license plates, and drivers do not need to be licensed. The city has written an ordinance which was approved in the 1st debate. Costs for these gizmos can range from $100 to over $900. Some are able to exceed 50 km/h <faster than that tiny electric car> and capable of causing severe damage in an accident. They need to be placed on the mobility pyramid where the pedestrian is in the primary position. One of the promoters of the Movámonos en Bici Collective thought there should be a manual to demand use of helmets, a reflective vest, lights, horns and security measures to reduce the risk of accidents and damage. <Anyone riding a bike at night should have all that stuff for their own safety. And not dress all in black.>

De El Mercurio del jueves, 31/8/2023 (3 articles):
IESS entregará turnos digitales (IESS will issue digital appointments) – IESS members have been complaining about the lack of appointments with specialists, and that once they get an appointment, it will probably not be in Cuenca. Therefore, in addition to calling 140 or going in person, IESS intends to add a new way to schedule appointments. The plan is to set up a national, digital appointment service by the middle of septiembre to increase the number of daily services from 3,000 to 6,000. The new appointment managing software will let patients pick times according to the availability. Patients can pick specialists by their geographic location. <Wouldn’t it be nice if a patient didn’t have to travel from Cuenca to Guayaquil or Riobamba to see a specialist?>

At the same time, the provincial office of IESS is planning on setting up a call center to schedule appointments for IESS members in Azuay, but this has not been finalized. IESS provincial director, Franklin Rojas, is expecting/hoping that it will be done this month. So far 6 people have been hired to do the first tests (beta testing?). The goal for this year is to reduce the delays in appointments from 14% to 10%. Rojas added that the hours for consultations with specialists has been increased to 19:00. To enable these services, more medical staff needs to be added. As of el 1/9, there will be 400 more health professionals distributed nationally. <Now how are these 2 different scheduling systems going to work? Does a patient pick one and hope it will be the system in effect when his appointment date comes up? Or will patients use both systems and get two appointments and go to the one more convenient for them, thereby creating more shortages of appointments?>

Piden contribución por los animales (Call for contribution for animals) – The Comisión de Gestión Ambiental (CGA) is asking citizens to contribute to the Banco de Alimentos (Food Bank) for pets in the new Hospital de la Mascota de Cuenca. The donations can be made at the hospital on av. Doce de Abril y Unidad Nacional on the premises of the Coliseo Jefferson Pérez or at a donation point in the Jardín Botánico de Cuenca. These donations will be used to feed rescued animals. <To fatten them up before feeding them to the lions at the zoo. As a side note, I am an animal lover and have been volunteering at ARCA’s sterilization clinics for 10 years.>

Azuay es golpeado por los incendios forestales (Azuay hit by forest fires) – So far this year, 688 hectares have been burned in Azuay mostly in Nabón, Sígsig & Cuenca. The Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos (SGR – Risk Management Secretariat) believes that 99% of the forest fires are caused by people. There is a new educational campaign, ‘Mochila de Prevención de Incendios Forestales’ which will do training at schools and for people living close to protected areas. The training materials have been used in Perú and Bolivia and will be tested in Ecuador as a fire prevention tool.

Especial – mascotas –

De El Mercurio del jueves, 31/8/2023 (1 article):
Población canina en parroquias rurales de Cuenca (Canine population in rural parishes of Cuenca) – <This is for you animalistas who are also statistics junkies.> In the rural parishes, the dog population is 42% hembras (females) and 58% machos (males). Stray dogs compose 5.60% of the population, and 88.67% of households own dogs. <And they all bark all night.>

Nacional –

Cierre de aeropuerto (Airport closure) – The Aeropuerto Mariscal Sucre in Quito will be closed for runway maintenance starting el sábado 2/9 and continuing into octubre. Flights will be rescheduled. On los sábados 2/9 & 9/9, the closure will be from 2:00 a 14:00. On los sábados 16, 23, y 30/9 and 14, 21, y 28/10 the closure will be from 2:00 a 12:00. <If you’ve got travel plans you might want to check to see if they’re not hopelessly messed up.>

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