Domingo, 15/5/2016: Plan to fight epidemics, Housing for quake victims, Bus cameras

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming events –

Exhibit – A new collective exhibit of sculpture and paintings will open tomorrow (Mon) at the “Miguel Illescas” Galería del Arte (Calle Larga y Jesús Arriaga).

Taller de dibujo – A drawing workshop for children from 4-12 will start Mon. at 15:00 in Estudio 14 (Luis Cordero 11-83 y Gaspar Sangurima). The workshop will run for 5 days. Call 096 750 6499 for for more information. (Or have your facilitator call if you can’t function on a phone here. Or have your kid call – they usually learn the language faster than their parents.) Cost: $15.00

Finished events –

“La Ratita Presumida” – was performed Sun. at the Teatro Sucre.

Articles about –

The Red de Museos y Espacios Culturales del Azuay (The Azuayan Network of Museums and Cultural Spaces) – This 35 member group has formed to attract the public, get more support from local and national governments, and work in a united and coordinated manner in order to improve their spaces. It held a parade Sat. in anticipation of International Museum Day on 18/7. The contingent from the Centro Cultural El Prohibido marched as catrinas, an alien, and black angels (black robes and wings rather than Afro-Ecuatorianos). (The catrina costume has the fancy skull make up with elegant clothing.)

The Unidad Educativa Particular Dominicana “San Luis Beltrán” – The school started its 59th anniversary celebrations yesterday and will have other activities this coming week. (I’m assuming none of you has ties to this school so the details won’t be of interest.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Cruz, entre fe y simbolismo (Cross, between faith and symbolism) (We’re not referring to the Cruz of Ted variety which is a symbol of things unholy.) The cross is a symbol seen daily in Cuenca and is associated with the Catholic faith. It appears on the churches, on rooftops, and were originally planted at sites conquered for Catholicism and called “cruzes de misiones.” For the indigenous peoples, the cross is also part of the Andean cosmovision with the Cruz del Sur (Southern Cross) or La Chakana appearing squarely in the sky in the beginning of May.

Elizabeth Bravo – The treiathlete is the 11th Azuayan to qualify for the Río Olymlpics on the 5-21/7. This will be her 2nd time competing as a triathlete.

Riña en el CRS (Fight in the jail) – The fight in the maximum security pavilion left one inmate dead and 7 injured from sharp objects. (I bet these guys weren’t the ones building furniture, making art or getting their masters degrees.)

Bus cameras – A pilot plan will connect the video cameras on 75 buses with the central monitoring center at the Consejo de Seguridad Ciudadana (Council for Citizen Security). On certain lines and during the “horas picas” (peak hours – rush hour), there are more complaints about theft and harrassment.

Housing plan – Pres. Correa announced a housing plan for earthquake victims. In the short term, for people living in shelters, there is a program for rental assistance or payments to family members hosting victims in their homes. The medium term plan gives victims grants to build permanent housing in secure zones with all basic services. (Hard to figure out where to put fishermen. A 2 hour commute to your boat? How about tourists and hotels – a safe zone 2 hours from the beach?) This will be financed with contingency funds from multilateral organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank. Beneficiaries should record themselves on a census for earthquake victims.

Correa also emphasized the people living in high risk zones should relocate to safer sites. He said the country needs to address this grave problem “ahora or nunca” (now or never – more good words for the day.). The government will grant a “bono” of $10,000 to victims to build “viviendas sociales” (social housing – sort of like public housing or affordable housing?) with a co-pay of $1,000 with a term of 36 mo. and a year’s grace period. To fix houses with minor damage, the bono and co-pay will be $4,000 and $400. Middle and upper class families will be offered a bono of $9,000 to buy housing up to $70,000.

Epidemics – The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health is applying all protocols to prevent epidemics including continual fumigation of shelters to avoid mosquito transmitted diseases, a public information campaign so people know what symptoms are, and free vaccinations. (So all you health purists, would you rather breath a little insecticide or get dengue, zika, or chikungunya?)

Want ad – for a Post Sales Analyst for CNT. Apply with your qualifications (specified it the ad – and if you want this job you dang sure should be able to read it in your own newspaper since the first unspoken and assumed qualification would be Spanish fluency.) to Talento Humano at CNT (Benigno Malo 7-26 y Pres. Córdova, 4th floor) by 16:30 on Wed, 18/5.

Child pornography – A suspect is being investigated in El Oro on charges of trafficking in child pornography after information was received from the Office of Investigations of the National Security Department of the US Embassy.

Actualidades –

Articles about –

Phrases painted on vehicles – The phrases listed range from scathing, “Si la envidia fuera oro, ya fueras millonario” (If envy were gold, you’d be a millionaire), to picaresque, “Si te gusta el polvo sigueme” (If you like dust, follow me – this may be a double entrendre), to religious, “Señor cuidame y regálame sabiduria” (Lord, care for me and grant me wisdom), to amorous, “Con amor y trabajo todo florece” (With love and work, everything blooms).

El Vergel – A group of young people in the Santa María del Vergel Parish organized an aid drive for the villages of Campamento and Bigua. The villages were left without electricity and water. Although 90% of Campamento was destroyed, the people organized mingas to build 80 rough shelters. The parish created a Comisión de Solidaridad to do permanent aid work for the victims.

Technological words and Spanish – The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), the last word on Spanish, accepts wasapear, chatear, cederron (CD-ROM), facebookear, instagramear, tui, tuitear, YouTuber and bloguero; but not resetear, vloguero, cyborg, hacker, hashtag or selfi.

Internacional –

Venezuela – Pres. Maduro announced his decision to prepare military forces for “qualquier escenario” (whatever scene). Meanwhile, his opponent, Henrique Capriles said the country will be a “bomba” (bomb) if recall vote is impeded. (Those are good words for the day – just don’t practice “bomba” at the airport or on a plane – especially if you look Middle Eastern or aren’t white.)

San Salvador – Pres. Sánchez Cerén (I think that “Who’s president of San Salvador?” would be an unfair trivia pursuit question while “Who’s president of Venezuela or Ecuador wouldn’t be.) will not recognize the provisional government of Brazil. He called the process that suspended Rousseff contrary to the public will.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne