Ecuadorians warned about Mexican travel, Christmas concerts, Kapac Raymi ceremonial dances, ETAPA cuts salaries, Reporting lost pets

Jueves, 19/12/2019

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Christmas concerts – The Cuenca Symphony Orchestra along with the Childrens’ and Youth Choruses of the Conservatorio José María Rodríguez and the Polifónico of the U. de Azuay will perform Friday a las 20:00 in the Catedral Vieja. Free. Also en el viernes, there will be the grand final of the 3d “Festival Estudiantil de Villancicos” organized by the Juan Eljuri stores. On the afternoons of the days until Christmas, children and youth will sing villancicos in el portal of Parque Calderón. <I have no idea what is considered the grand entrance to the park.>

Del cuerpo del periodico –

Kapac Raymi dancers during 2018 ceremonies.

An ad for Kapac Raymi, the mystique of the new life – 20, 21, & 22/12 – Plaza Cívica 9 de Octubre (Mariano Cueva enre Sangurima y Mariscal Lamar) – over 20 music and dance groups, ancestral medicine, and Electro-Andino concierto, photo and crafts exposición.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Reducirán los sueldos en ETAPA (Salaries at ETAPA to be reduced) – The Board of Directors of ETAPA resolved to not raise water rates which are currently at $.50 per cubic meter in spite of the cost to produce at $1.35. Instead, costs will be reduced by reducing salaries of the highest paid employees which will save $100,000 per year; reducing the 68 jefaturas (head honchos?) to 44; eliminating overtime; reducing the labor force by 10%; and doing away with satellite TV service which has lost $7 million since it was created in 2013. There are 1,360 people working for this municipal business between employees and <contract?>workers.

Water rates were last increased in 2015, and almost doubled for urban users. This allowed the business to balance its books. Rural rates need to be reviewed to avoid the use of potable water for irrigation and piscinas (pools). <I don’t think they’re talking about swimming pools here, but fish ponds.> The amount of use needs to be defined so as to not hurt the poorest consumers. The objective is for those who irrigate their fields and fill fish pools to pay the real costs. <I don’t think ETAPA wants to be the cause of another paro.>

Mistreatment of Ecuadorians – Singer Ricardo Pita was invited to México to be part of a music festival this month. He had an experience which he posted on social media and which was found to be shared by hundreds of Ecuadorians. Travelers are being pulled aside and interviewed. If the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Migración agent feels the traveler is inadmissible, the traveler is brought to a windowless room in the Mexico City international airport. His shoelaces are taken, as are his belt and cellphone leaving him with no way to communicate with his family or the outside world. The traveler stays in this room, sometimes for days, until he can be returned to Ecuador on the airline he arrived on. One young woman who was traveling with her nephew had the experience of being “jailed.” She said that there was a bottle of water in the room, but no glasses and that no one ever explained anything of the situation to her. <I wonder what the risks are for a gringo with dual citizenship traveling on their Ecuadorian passport. I imagine not so much if you’re a blue eyed blond who barely passed the Spanish test for citizenship.>
Since diciembre, 2018, Ecuadorians have not needed a visa to enter Mexico, but they do need to meet certain requirements to leave the airport and enter the country which is considered a path to the US. Between enero y noviembre 2019, the Ecuadorian Subsecretaría de Migración said 108,294 Ecuadorians left for Mexico, but only 93,348 returned. The Viajala travel search engine reported that from enero to septiembre of this year, the number of searches for flights to and hotels in the Ciudad de México increased by 145% compared to previous years. Much of this was due to not needing a visa and an increase in tour packages to México.

The Ministerio de Turismo recommended that travelers carry those documents that migration agents ask for which include, reservations for internal and return flights, a hotel reservation, details of the places the traveler wants to visit, and letters of invitation if that applies.

Reporting lost pets – Animal welfare collectives and the Comisión de Gestión Ambiental of the city have created a platform called Zootrac, where people can report both lost and found animals. To report the finding or disappearance of a pet, go to https://www.zootrac.com/masperform.php where you can fill out an online form describing the animal. If you want to see the animals that have been reported as lost, go to https://www.zootrac.com/masper.php. <This sounds like it could be a big help to all of you who are out there rescuing animals.>

Control of illegal sales of animals – The Department of Mercados is trying to eliminate the sales of animals in the mercados, especially at El Arenal (Feria Libre). It is publicizing that animals will be seized by the police, examined by a vet, and then put up for adoption. Part of the problem is that of cross contamination when different species of animals are sold in proximity, and when animals are sold near food. The penalty for illegally selling animals is a fine of either 25 or 50% of the basic salary.

Descuentos y compras –

ETAFASHION – late night sale with 50% discounts in the whole store excluding beauty, technology and electronics – jueves, 19/12 de 18-23:00. <This is for you night owls who haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet.}>

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, times and location do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.