Death toll rises in prison riots; International artists exhibit; Campaign for ‘digital nomad’ visa; Orchestra celebrates 10 years; Gov’t pays debt to SOLCA

Miércoles, 5/10/2022

Hola, Todos –

I seem to be in taking time off mode. I will be off from Monday, 10/10 through Monday, 24/10 and back on Wednesday, 26/10.

Actividades –

Obras de 90 artistas se expondrán en Cuenca (Works by 90 artists to be exhibited in Cuenca) – The Bienal Nomade of contemporary art <I think contemporary means stuff I won’t understand or appreciate, but I’m a Phillistine in addition to being a Luddite.> will open el 1/11 in the plaza de El Vado. There will be 90 artists from 10 countries showing in 21 venues. The theme will revolve around the “quinto río” (5th river). The term started when padre Juan de Velasco who only knew Cuenca through other people, said that the city had 5 rivers. Years later, Fray Vicente Solano agreed, saying that Cuenca had 5 rivers – the Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Machángara, Tarqui, and a river made of jokes, lies and slander. This Bienal is replacing Solano’s river with a river of art and culture. There will be 45 international artists from Chile, Argentina, Kosovo, Poland, Perú, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brasil, and Spain; and 45 national artists from Ecuador. There will be emerging artists, those in mid-career, and established artists.

The government is pushing its new program to attract digital nomads to Ecuador.

The works will be mounted between el 20-31/10 and the opening will be el 1/11. The venues are the Casa del Artista, Centro Cultural del Alfarero, Casa de las Posadas, Museo de Arte Moderno, Casa Márquez, Casa de la Lira, El Domo, Museo Escuela Central, Catedral Vieja, Galería Procesos, Vitrina, Museo Universitario, Pumapungo, Chaguarchimbana, Saladentro, Museo Universitario, OFF Arte Contemporáneo, Sala de concierto de la Casa de la Cultura, y Aula Magna de Derecho.

Sinfónica de la Universidad de Cuenca cumple 10 años (Symphony of the University of Cuenca celebrates its 10th anniversary) – The U. of Cuenca symphony will celebrate its 10 years with a concert in which former members, students and invited musicians will perform the Symphony #5 by Gustav Mahler. The Orquesta Ciudad de Quito will also participate with a total of about 100 musicians on stage. The free performance will be el 6/10 a las 20:00 in the Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz. The university symphony currently has about 60 musicians, about 90% of them students.

From El Mercurio del martes, 4/10:

Regresa el festival de cine feminista (Feminist film festival returns) – The 4th Festival EQUIS will screen 4 films between 10-14/11 in Quito and Cuenca. The first film, Bonne mére, which won the Ensemble Prize at Cannes, will be on el 10/11 a las 19:00 in the Alianza Francesa. Mujer de Soldado from Perú tells the story of a group of women who had to flee the town of Manta for unspeakable reasons. It will be shown el 11/11 a las 19:00, also at the Alianza Francesa. The documentary Marea Verde from Colombia and Argentina is about the feminist fight in Argentina. It will be shown el 12/11 a las 19:00 in the patio of the Antigua Escuela Central. The last film is the story of Melati, a woman who fought plastics pollution in Indonesia. It will be shown el 13/11 a las 19:00 in the Antigua Escuela Central. The shows are free, and you can get more information at https://festivalequis.com/.

Titular –

Otra masacre en cárcel de Ecuador (Another prison massacre in Ecuador) – See Tuesday’s article in CHL for story.

450 presos asesinados en 2 años (450 inmates killed in 2 years) – The new massacre in the Latacunga prison this past lunes, raised the number of deaths to over 100 this year and to more than 450 since 2020. The massacre in the Centro de Rehabilitación Social Cotopaxi Número 1, one of the largest in the country, was the 4th this year. It follows one in Cuenca in which 20 people died and two in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas which saw 44 deaths on 9/5 and another 12 el 18/7.

The largest prison massacre in the history of Ecuador was at the Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayaquil on el 28/9/2021 in which over 120 inmates died. <The largest massacre in Ecuador, however, occured almost 100 years ago on 25/10/1922 when about 5,000 railway workers protested for better working conditions and pay and 1,500 were gunned down in Guayaquil by business and government interests.>

Cuenca –

Campaña Nómadas Digitales (Digital Nomads Campaign) – The Ministerio de Turismo presented the Campaña Nómadas Digitales to promote the Digital Visa which went into effect in abril of this year. Niels Olsen, Minister of Tourism, said that applicants for this visa need to show a current passport, a police report <need to keep all those sex trafficking gringo sleazeballs out of Ecuador>, an income of at least 3 SBUs (salario basico unificado) from outside the country, a medical insurance policy, and pay the fees of $460.

MSP cancelará $6.3 millones (MSP will pay $6.3 million) – The Ministerio de Salud Pública (MSP) will pay $6.3 million in the first week of this month <It’s got two more days and the check will be in the mail?> to the Sociedad de Lucha Contra el Cáncer (SOLCA). The MSP is meeting its promise to pay debts to outside contractors such as SOLCA which treats cancer patients referred from the public health network. The $6.3 million payment follows $40 million paid in agosto, 2022 with another planned payment of $12 million in the last quarter of this year.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne