Explosion at Teleamazonas; Unclaimed bodies, including that of an expat, are buried in Cuenca; Preparations made for interprovincial bus travel

Lunes, 1/6/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Teatro – The Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (CCE) announced that it is reactivating the “Telon 2020” project with transmission of theater works on line. The winning works will be presented in on-line theater format on Zoom starting el 12 de Junio a las 19:30, local time. You can purchase tickets at www.buenplan.com.ec for $5.00. 110 proposals were received of which 11 were selected.

La Mala Noche – This film, directed by Ecuadorian Gabriela Calvache won the best international film at the Primavera Film Festival Barcelona. The film is about a woman who became absorbed by human trafficking and took a risky decision to liberate people. The director spent almost 6 years researching prostitution networks operating in Ecuador, Colombia, and Spain.

Del cuerpo del periodico –

Recipe of the day – Today’s recipe is for Camarones a la mexicana (Mexican shrimp). The ingredients are shrimp, butter, garlic, cilantro and tequila. <Care to make a guess as to what makes this Mexican shrimp?>

One of the police officers injured during a kidnapping at Rio Blanco recovers in a Cuenca hospital. (El Tiempo)

“Galápagos Music Fest” – This festival on Facebook and YouTube has over 25 performers from various countries. The festival, organized by US singer and 25 year Galápagos resident Cristina Morrison, is to raise funds for food and supply kits for residents of the Galápagos who have been stuck on the mainland since el marzo pasado. The festival has two phases with the 3 hour concerts starting a las 18:00. The first phase started el jueves pasado and ends today. The second will be this coming jueves y viernes. The program includes pop, jazz, classic, alternative, blues, bossa, rock and more.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Niños deben estar activos (Children must be active) – Today is the Día del Niño, but very different due to the unprecedented isolation. A psychologist recommended that children have a routine to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to “school,” help with household chores and have enough time to rest. She also recommended limiting news with tragic or exaggerated content. <Right now, that seems like just about all news. And good advice for grownups, too, to help maintain our sanity.>

Fewest Covid cases in Morona Santiago – With 105 cases, Morona Santiago is the province the the second fewest infections after Los Galápagos with 76. Three other provinces have fewer than 200 cases. Guayas has the most at 14,091 followed by Pichincha at 4,042 and Manabi at 2,328. Azuay has 881 with 749 in Cuenca.

Police attacked in Río Blanco – On la noche del sábado, 5 police officers were sent to control a confrontation involving a group of citizens in the Río Blanco mining sector in Molleturo Parish. When they arrived, they were surprised by a supposed anti-mining group who forced them out of the patrullero (patrol vehicle) at gunpoint. The group burned the vehicle and pushed it into a 200′ deep gully, then stripped the cops of their papers, weapons and clothes. One cop escaped and walked 3 hours until he was able to call 911 from a restaurant in Miguir.

On sábado a las 16:00, there was a minga of community members at the mining project when an armed anti-mining group of about 100 arrived in trucks, pick-ups, and motos telling the community members they were out of compliance with regulations. The discussion led to confrontation in which both adults and children received superficial injuries. <Sounds like the wild west.>

Burial of unclaimed bodies – Three bodies that had been kept in the refrigerators of the Centro de Investigación de Ciencias Forense since 2019 were buried in crypts at the Cementerio General de Cuenca after presenting data such as dental, medical, genetic and photgraphic records to the judicial authorities. All three bodies were either unidentifiable or unclaimed including that of a US citizen. His death was natural and his family in the US was notified, but his children did not want to claim the body. <That’s sad. Why would your children not want to make final arrangements for you? And it didn’t sound like it was a COVID related transportation problem.>

Explosion at Teleamazonas – The explosion was outside the station este domingo a las 5:15. Police got information from security cameras. Traces indicate use of dynamite which easily acquired in the country. <So if you don’t like the news, blow up the messenger?>

Terminal Terrestre – City officials toured the Terminal Terrestre yesterday to verify compliance with bio-security measures for reopening the facility when the national COE permits. 5 ozone compartments for disinfection have been installed in the different accesses to the terminal and circulos de vida (circles of life – your phrase for the day.) <Think this will make it into the Diccionario de la Real Academia del Español?> have been painted in the ticket purchase and package delivery areas. There are now different doors for entries and exits.

International flights, churches and shopping centers reopen – A flight from the “Mariscal Sucre” airport in Quito went to Loja a las 6 Monday morning with a 10:00 flight to Coca following. An international flight from Miami is scheduled for este jueves. The “José Joaquín de Olmedo” airport in Guayquil will resume international connections June 15. The “Mariscal La Mar” airport in Cuenca will reopen for flights el 15/6.

Catholic churches will be open for 15 minutes for prayers under strict protocols. Religious celebrations and masses will not be held. VP Otto Sonnenholzner announced that work is being done on protocols to open the Galápagos for tourism starting el 1/7. Quito, the largest city in Ecuador, <When did it take over from Guayaquil?> is moving from red to yellow, allowing interparrochial and intracantonal buses to go to other cantons that are yellow.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne