El Niño is predicted to arrive late in the year; Presidential candidates hit the campaign trail; They turn cocaine into concrete; Patente tax deadline

Lunes, 26/6/2023

Hola, Todos –

Titular –

Últimos días para pago de patente (Last days to pay patente fees) – El 30/6 is the last day to pay the patente tax to the city for natural persons who are not required to keep accounting records and who have a RUC. Before making the payment, the taxpayer needs to declare their income and ask for the amount of the tax due. For the issuance of the amount of the patente, you can go to the windows at the Tesorería on Sucre y Benigno Malo or on line at enlinea.cuenca.gob.ec.

Sucesos –

Guayaquil suffered extensive flood damage in the 1997-1998 El Nino.

De El Mercurio del domingo, 25/6/2023 (1 article):
Mejora la movilidad en la Panamericana Sur (Improved mobility on the Panamericana Sur) – Traffic jams on the Panamericana Sur in the Narancay sector during weekends and holidays prompted the Dirección de Gestión de Movilidad (DGM) to make changes starting at km. 0 of the vía Cuenca-Azogues to the Narancay gas station. There will be permanent operations by transit agents in Narancay. 3 lanes have been set up with signage and the timing of the stoplights has been changed to make leaving the city more orderly. <Of course orderly traffic is an alien concept for Cuencano drivers so we’ll have to wait and see if this works or if there will be people driving over traffic cones to change lanes.> On los domingos starting at noon, two of the 3 lanes will be for entering the city and one for leaving.

Nacional –

Los binomios presidenciales hicieron varios recorridos (The presidential pairs made several tours) – Even though the CNE hasn’t authorized the start of the election campaigns, the presidential candidates are already touring the country with their vice presidential nominees. Otto Sonnenholzner from the Actuemos alliance, lists 8-23, toured markets, visited with students and businesses in Tungurahua. Correista candidates Luisa González y Andrés Arauz who are running with Revolución Ciudadana, were in Guayaquil. Jan Topic running with the Por un País sin Miedo, lists 1-3-6, was walking in Quito before heading to Carchi. Yaku Pérez, with the Claro Que se Puede alliance, lists 2-17-20, was in Otavalo and participated in a ritual to honor water.

Fenómeno El Niño incidiría en siete áreas (El Niño will impact seven areas) – A study by the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (Espol) about the expected effects of El Niño, has been given to the authorities. The study identified the consequences of the expected rains, landslides and flooding with infrastructure as one of the most vulnerable sectors. There could be severe impacts on roads, water sources and supply, electrical distribution, and sanitary systems. <Might be a good idea to keep a lot of water on hand and charcoal in case the only thing you can cook on is the grill.> María del Pilar Cornejo, an expert in risk reduction from disasters, oceanography, and climate change, said the the analysis established 7 areas that need to be attended: health, infrastructure, production, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing and tourism. She said each sector should look at what happened in the El Niño of 1997 & 1998 to make plans for preventive actions.

For the cities in the south of Ecuador, Cornejo said it is premature to anticipate a regrowth of illnesses and problems in specific cities. One of the parameters that experts are managing is that El Niño will hit areas below 1,500 m. above sea level. The prediction for lower elevations in provinces such as Cañar, Azuay, Loja and El Oro is that roads will be impacted. Strong rains will cause flooding, overflowing rivers, and landslides. This warning was activated for 20 of the 24 provinces. <Is it time to take a long vacation to somewhere on the Atlantic coast?>

Information from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in dictates that El Niño has already started in the Pacific. Technicians at Espol estimate that it <he?> will arrive in Ecuador between noviembre y diciembre with peak rains between febrero y marzo de 2024. <Sounds like time to buy some good rain gear and rubber boots, before they run out of your size.>

De El Mercurio del sábado, 24/6 (1 article):
Droga decomisada se convierte en hormigón (Seized drugs are turned into concrete) – Drugs seized by the police are required to be destroyed. Traditionally they were incinerated, a process that could take weeks. But this year an innovative new method started where the drug is made into concrete which only takes a few hours. <I wonder what the compressive strength of cocaine is? I suppose you could break up the concrete and sift out the sand and aggregate, but would anyone really want to snort coke cut with cement and probably carcinogenic chemicals?>

El viernes, a group of journalists and Pres. Lasso witnessed the encapsulation of the drug. There was an audit followed by mixing the drug wth solvents, sand, gravel, lime, glass and cement which makes the cocaine inert and changed into a new substance. 16.6 tons of cocaine, seized in 32 operations mostly in Guayas and destined for Belgium and the Low Countries was converted. 1.8 tons can be destroyed in an hour which is 16 times more than by incineration. The factory where the cocaine is destroyed will use the material to pave their own premises with the possibility of using it to pave internal roads at police and military headquarters.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne