Government urges private power generation; Water is rationed in Azogues; Taste of Venezuela; Cuenca is most expensive city; Crime report; EU-Mercosur deal

Hungry? –
(De El Mercurio del domingo, 11/1) El sabor venezolano en Cuenca (The taste of Venezuela in Cuenca) – Some immigrants shared their stories full of sacrifice and resilience and maintaining the essence of their land with each culinary creation. Yasenia Infante, a licensed nurse in Venezuela, moved to Cuenca where she sensed she could build something, put down roots, and achieve dreams <And how many of you had that same sense when you came to Cuenca?> After working from home, she opened ‘La Vaquerita y sus delicias’,, on av. Loja y Isabel la Católica. The restaurant offers cachapas, empanadas, arepas fritas, breakfasts, and mondongo and rib soups.

Work is underway to repair water and soot damage at the New Cathedral. Due to the erection of scaffolding masses are being relocated to the Old Cathedral from January 12 to 17. (El Mercurio(

Javier Gil, owner of the Full Criollo Sabor Venezolano on Gran Colombia, said the economic crisis affected him so badly he couldn’t buy shoes for his son, and a carton of eggs cost more than a week’s worth of work. He left at 21 years old with $140 in his pocket and a heart full of hope. His restaurant offers arepas, tequeños, tostones, rib soup, shredded beef, cachapas and other specialties of the ‘Pabellón Criollo’ region. He said that what he misses most about Venezuela no longer exists, and said he plans to go back to Venezuela, but with a return ticket to Ecuador. <Are you also missing things about your country of birth that no longer exist? Like democracy responsive to voters and not to campaign contributors?>

Venezuelan chef Victor Rivero came to Cuenca in 2016 with his wife Karla Rachadell, fleeing the scarcity of basic products and the closure of the border with Colombia. Cuenca became his new home where he opened ‘Clandestino’ on Pres. Córdova 14-63 y Coronel Talbot which offers Italian-Asian fusion food. He was surprised by the derrocamiento (overthrow – your word for the day – a gold star for you if you can figure out what the root word in derrocamiento is> of Maduro. He said he understood that Trump’s motives weren’t the most charitable, but it renewed his hopes that there will be justice for the crimes of a dictator. After almost 10 years of hard work while Venezuela was under a dictatorship, he has no plans to return. <And now, all he’d be going back to would be another dictator replacing the one he fled.>

Curious? –
(De El Mercurio del sábado, 10/1) Cuenca tiene la canasta básica (CFB) de mayor costo (Cuenca has the highest cost of basic goods) – Cuenca maintains its position as the city with the highest basic basket of goods at $861.45 as of Dec., 2025. Nationally, the CFB is $819.01. The lowest CFB in the 9 cities tracked by the Índice de Precios al Consumidor is Santo Domingo with $789.61. Rent in Cuenca reached $253.25, food and drink was $265.46, and clothing was $56.33. Family income in Ecuador was $877.33.

(De El Mercurio del sábado, 10/1) Gobierno Nacional insta a autogenerar electricidad (National government urges self-generation of electricity) – In the middle of worries about the lack of rain and the possibility of more blackouts, the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía invited citizens to purchase equipment that would allow them to generate their own electricity. The request is aimed mostly at businesses. <So that’s the Government’s plan B since praying for rain didn’t seem to have been as successful as hoped.> According to Ángel Erazo, general manager of the Corporación Nacional de Electricidad (CNEL), the goal is to double the 54.95 megawatts reached in 2025 to 100 MW.

(De El Mercurio del sábado, 10/1) Azogues: la sequía obliga a racionamientos de agua (Azogues: drought forces water rationing) – Azogues started water rationing el viernes, 9/1 due to the decrease in the flows from the sources that feed the potable water plants. The service cuts apply by sector and last about 4 hours, with the possibility of increasing the hours if the lack of rain persists. Various areas were listed with shutoffs from 12:00 to 18:30 and 11:00 to 24:00. <So straight to 6-1/2 and 13 hours without water, skipping the 4 hour shutoffs. Get ready – start practicing pouring bottled water into your coffeepot by candlelight.>

(De El Mercurio del sábado, 10/1) Sellan el acuerdo UE-Mercosur (EU-Mercosur agreement finalized) – After more than 25 years of negotiations, the UE (with 27 members) approved the agreement with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay & Paraguay) which would create the largest free trade zone in the world with 700 million consumers, and eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of the bilateral commerce. <I wonder if Trump is going to punish the two parties by imposing 50% tariffs on them?> Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU will go to Asunción, Paraguay to initial the agreement which still needs the support of the Eurocámara before it goes into effect. That result is still not clear since 150 of the 720 European delegates are threatening to take legal action to prevent the agreement. The fear is from the agricultural sector which worries the impact of the imports of massive quantities of beef, rice, honey or soy from South America in exchange for European vehicles, machinery, cheese, and wines.

(De El Mercurio del viernes, 9/1) Friday has a lot of crime news so here are all those articles –
Alertan “vacunas extorsivas” (Warning about “extortionate vacunas”) – The National Police announced that this type of extorsion, also known as the “drop by drop” method, started in the mercado El Arenal and spread to Totoracocha. Extortionists (mostly foreigners) offer informal cash loans to businesses and then demand payments each day with high interest rates until the loan is paid off. <Kind of like the mail offers where endorsing the enclosed check means you took a loan at 35% interest, and your children will be paying it off.>

Sicariato en carretera Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje (Murder on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje highway) -A 39-year-old man without a criminal history was shot 5 times and killed on the morning of el 8/1 next to the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje in the Casacay sector in El Oro. He lived in the sector and was found by his daughter who heard explosions. The suspects were believed to have moved on a motorcycle towards Azuay, but were not found. This crime is in addition to another on el 7/11/2025 on the same highway in the Minas sector near the entrance to Pucará. The driver of a Ford F150, also without a criminal history, was shot in the head and face. Investigations indicated that the attackers were in 3 vehicles, one of which was marked like a security company vehicle. Before shooting, the criminals threw grenades.

Dos hombres asaltaron a guardia (Two men assaulted a guard) – 2 men on a delivery moto assaulted a security guard in the Martin Fierro development in the north of Cuenca on miércoles, 7/1 about 4:30 pm. The act was caught on a security camera and showed the 2 suspects arriving on a moto and trying to enter the development. When they saw the guard leaving the guardhouse, they immediately attacked him and hit him on the head with the gun grip. After that, they took his pistol, fired one shot, and fled. Residents of the sector asked for more control of people riding motorcycles since there have been several assaults of this type in the area.

(De El Mercurio del jueves, 8/1) Nuevo gerente del hospital del IESS (New manager for the IESS hospital) – Fernando Ortega Berrezueta, critical care physician, was named the new manager of the hospital José Carrasco Arteaga. He currently works in the ICU for adults at the Hospital del Río and teaches Emergency and Disaster Medicine at UDA. IESS announced the strengthening of supplying medicines after putting a centralized purchasing process in place. It has acquired 1,779,000 units corresponding to 38 new medications. After an investment of more than $20.9 million, the supply for all of 2026 should be guaranteed. <Unless something like Covid comes around.> IESS said that since 5/1, about 68 hospitals and health centers in more than 20 provinces started receiving the medications. This is in addition to medicines and devices purchased earlier for $14.1 million.

(De El Mercurio del jueves, 8/1) Catedral Nueva en fase de intervención interna (New Cathedral undergoing internal renovation) – The New Cathedral is entering a new phase of renovations focused on the interior in the central nave, cupulas and vault. These were areas affected by accumulated humidity, hollín (soot – another word for the day), and microleaks over the passage of time. Juan Izquierdo, the architect and project director, said the work started about a year ago with the exterior. It received a deep cleaning, sealing of cracks, and reinforcement of cosmetic damage to the facade and roofs. In the next few days, the ceramic downspouts along Sucre and Santa Ana streets will be replaced. Scaffolding will be erected to work on the ceilings. The work is being done with the traditional materials and techniques without modern chemical products. While the scaffolding is up, planned for the 12 to 17th of enero, the masses and confessions will be temporarily relocated to the Old Cathedral at the same times.
_________________

Information in this column, including dates, times and locations, is courtesy of the El Mercurio newspaper. Comments between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), are the personal opinions of the author and not part of the news translation.