Drivers with fake driver’s license face prison time; Country transitions out of Covid care; Hospital occupancy stats; Azogues reduces health restrictions

Sep 16, 2021

Jueves, 16/9/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

See article on electric charging station inaugural for other Semana de Movilidad activities.

Cita tratará modelos de desarrollo (Appointment will discuss development models) – There will be a series of conferences, workshops, and activities focused on sustainable cities el 23 & 24/9. There will be guests from the UN Program for Development, the Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo, and the Fundación Panamericana para el Desarrollo, and more.

Titular – Ética y austeridad (Ethics and austerity) – Pres. Lasso swore in 6 new cabinet members ayer. He posed new challenges for the new officials, to act ethically, and to use public resources austerely. <Maybe if everyone acted ethically, there’d be less need for austerity, since there’d be more money staying in the public coffers instead of headed into tax havens. How about just repatriating all that money from past unethical behavior?> Included in the designated activities are a comprehensive reform of IESS, completion of campaign promises to the agricultural sector, and guaranteeing the safety of citizens of Azuay and Guayas. Esteban Bernal, minister of MIES, should re-engineer the list of MIES beneficiaries who should be those who most need it and not those affiliated with a political party.

Cuenca –

Hospital beds around the country are being converted from Covid to general patient care as the pandemic declines.

Ecuador en proceso de una reconversión (Ecuador in the process of a conversion) – MInister de Salud, Ximena Garzón, confirmed that the country is in a process of closing covitorios (covid facilities) in public hospitals and treating other pathologies that were neglected during the pandemic. She did point out that citizens need to maintain biosecurity measures. <We’re not out of the woods yet, and may never be.> The last report from the Situación Epidemiológica Nacional COVID-19 has data from 29/2/2020 to 13/9/2021 and shows that to date. there have been 505,628 Covid cases confirmed by RT-PCR tests. It also showed 94,671 probable cases and 1,201,520 cases that were ruled out. The report also showed 7,488 confirmed deaths in 2021 to date and 1,210 probables. In 2020, there were 23,793 deaths.

The report also showed the availability of hospital beds as administered by different health networks as of 14/9/2021.

<This is sure a lot better than Idaho which is sending patients to neighboring states, and some of the southern states where ICU beds are full and non-Covid patients are dying from lack of treatment. Is that what you expect from a 1st world country?>

Statistics from the Vacunómetro show that 10,699,102 people have received their first doses and 9.620,899 are completely vaccinated. The vaccines administered have been CanSino with 299,565 vaccinations, 2,097,547 from Astra Zeneca, 5,731,344 from Pfizer, and 12,191,55? from Sinovac.

Nueva electrolinera para Cuenca (New electric station for Cuenca) – As part of the Semana de la Movilidad (Mobility Week) from 15-22/9, the 2nd electric charging station was inaugurated in the parking garage under the empresa Pública Minicipal de Desarrollo (EDEC). The 1st station is in the parking lot under Parque de la Madre, and both offer free 220 volt charges to all electric vehicles.

During the Semana de Movilidad, there are other activities such as a Foto exhibit, “Por tu salud muévete de forma sostenible” (For your health, move in a sustainable way) at the Galería de la Alcaldía. The Federación Deportiva del Azuay has sports activities, there will be talks on mobility, inclusive bike rides, ferias, and a Noche Cuencana.

ANT volverá a revisar licencias (ANT will review licenses again.) – If your drivers license seems to have been inactivated because it was considered to have been issued illegally, and if you got it legally, you can ask for a review from the Agencia Nacional de Tránsito (ANT). You need to present the license to an official at an ANT offfice along with an endorsement from a driving course. If you got your license legally, but paid to have points increased or fines eliminated, that would show up at ANT as an unsupported modification which is a crime, and ANT will definitely not reenstate your license. Adrian Castro, director of ANT announced that ANT has found some 35,000 false licenses of which 24,000 not professional and 11,000 professional licenses. Some of the provinces with the highest number are Guayas with 6,613, Azuay with 5,320, Santo Domingo with 2,122, Pichincha with 1,498, Loja with 1,131, and Esmeraldas with 1,084. <‘I wonder if Azuay is high because there are a lot of gringos driving illegally because they couldn’t pass the written test to save their lives.>

If you got a license fraudulently, you need to take it to ANT voluntarily and turn it in to avoid bigger problems. You will then be told the steps you need to take. Your license will be cancelled. A lawyer and specialist in transportation, Juan Segovia, said that since 5 years ago, there has been an increase in offers of driving licenses on social networks. He has cases where people paid up to $5,000 for a professional license and from $200-$1000 for a non-professional license. He said that these people have committed a crime, but they have also been scammed and cheated and shouldn’t be treated in a disproportionate manner. He also said that if a member of the Policia Nacional or ComisióndeTránsito del Ecuador encounters a driver with an inactivated license, the police can detain that driver.

Delitos (Crimes) – Juan Almeida, a lawyer and researcher in transparency in public management, explained that anyone who got a license in an irregular manner has committed a crime. According to the penal code the sanction for falsification, destruction, or adulteration of a public and/or private document can be prison for 5-7 years. This can also fall into the crime of illegally invading an information system which is punishable by at least 5 years. He recommended that if your license is illegal, to stop using it in case you get stopped by authorities anywhere in the country. <So if you answered an ad, never went to driving school, and never took any tests, but got a license anyway, you’d better put the car up on blocks until you regularize your situation.>

Habilitan espacio para ayudar en las tareas de estudiantes (Space set up to help students with homework) – The Todos Somos Uno organization of Luca Pallanca and the Union Nacional de Educadores (UNE) del Azuay have set up a space in the UNE building on Pres. Córdova y Antonio Borrero with computers, tablets, and stationery for students without access to these tools. The space will have teachers to help students in the afternoons, and it is free.

Region –

El COE de Azogus reduce restricciónes (Azogues COE reduces restrictions) – The COE of Azogues is allowing restaurants, gyms, cross-fits, and shopping centers to be open until 22:00 with a capacity limit (aforo) of 50% and up to 75% in outdoor locations. Hotels, convention centers, theaters and event salons can be open until 24:00 with similar aforos. Multiple use sports courts and recreation spaces can be open until 22:00 with an aforo of 50%.

Vacunación anula peste porcina (Vaccination eliminates swine fever) – There have not been any cases of swine fever since 2016 in the 3 southern provinces of Zone 6. Agrocalidad vaccinates pigs 365 days a year starting in May to get each pig 2 doses against a highly contagious and lethal intestinal virus. People who raise pigs need have to have them vaccinated in order to sell them, with an ear tag as proof of vaccination. The first vaccine is when the pig is about 45 days old since up to that age they are protected through their mother’s milk. People who eat infected pigs do not run a risk of contracting the disease, but they can carry it on their clothing. <This is not the same disease as swine flu.>

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne

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