Ecuador prisons are under-crowded, National Assembly to enact referendum changes, 334 busted for violating ‘dry’ law, Santa Ana carnaval

Lunes, 5/2/2018

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Ciclo de cine (Film series) – To mark the reopening of the exhibit “Difícil de leer. Entre mi luto y mi fantasma” (Difficult to read. Between my mourning and my ghost) by artist Marco Alvarado, the CE will present the Film Cycle “Arte, poder y censura” (Art, power and censorship) Tuesday y el miércoles a las 19:00. Free.

Articles about –

Publications – The UPS published books by 3 professors. The books were summarized in the article.

Taller – The CCE held a “Construcción de Máscaras y de Percusión Ritmo y Movimiento” (Construction of Masks and Percussion Rhythm and Movement) Workshop this afternoon. <Someone getting ready for a samba party?>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Los Aguilas ganaron! (The Eag – oops wrong headline)

Título real – Lenín ofrece cambios sin demora (Lenin offers/will make changes without delay) – See Monday’s CHL for the election results.

Asamblea – The National Assembly will form a Comisión Ocasional Especial (ACAY – All Cognates, All Yours) to work on implementing the questions in the referendum over a period of 30 days. Not only will there be changes in the constitution, but various laws such as the Penal Code, Mining Law, etc. will need to be changed.

Premarked ballots – 150 pre-marked ballots were found on the streets in Cuenca. They were not at any of the polling places. About 100 were found on av. 12 de Abril and another 50 in the El Vado sector. This will be investigated. Voting went smoothly except for some poll workers who arrived late at a new polling place which delayed early voters.

Voting miscellany – Each polling place had a preferential attention table for the disabled and elderly voters who could be accompanied by a family member to help. Vendors set up outside polling places selling food. <Vote and eat breakfast or lunch at the same time. Or almost the same time.> Other vendors were there to plasticize your voting card.

Azuay results – Azuay Province also voted Sí, as did the inmates at the jail in Turi where 111 men and 35 women voted. The results for the 27 voters at the Centro Geriatrico Hogar Cristo Rey (Cristo Rey Geriatric Center Home) and the 81 home voters were no known.

Ley Seca – The Ministry of the Interior reported that 334 violators of the Dry Law and others were caught. Two violated the law prohibiting campaigning during the “periodo de silencio electoral” (period of electoral silence – your words for the day) and 8 showed up drunk at the polls. <Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to pay the fine for not voting? It’s 15% of the SBU (basic salary). I guess you don’t always act in your own best interest when you’re drunk.> 200 parents were also caught for not paying alimony (or child support?).

Carnaval in Santa Ana – The festivities will start a las 10:00 del domingo and include music, election of the Taita and Mama Carnaval and the Ñusta 2018, a parade in which 18 communities will participate, chicha de jora and food. The featured dish will be mote pata and sweets such as dulces (fruit slow cooked in a panela (brown sugar in blocks) syrup with spices) with fig, apple and other fruits. Please bring your own reusable plates, bowls, glasses, etc. to help the environment.

Tourist circuit – “Los Guayacanes” is a new tourist circuit in Yantzaza, 8 km. from the middle of the Chicaña Parish in Yantazaza canton in Zamora Chinchipe. The circuit is a well developed nature walk for seeing birds, waterfalls, caves, natural pools, orchids and vista points. The path is 1,000 meters and the photo shows nice railings, but there are stairs and inclines.

Jails – The Minister of Justice, Rosana Alvarado, said there is an average of 37,400 inmates in the 38 Centros de Rehabilitación Social (CRS) in Ecuador. The CRS Turi has about 2,400. Prison overcrowding has been reduced from 120% ten years ago to 38% now. In Colombia, overcrowding is at 180% and in Bolivia at 280%. The rehabilitation program includes work, education, sports and other activities to keep everyone busy. In the last few months, 498 people have gotten their bachilleres (high school diplomas).

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne