High-profile lawyer gunned down; Lasso meets with mayors; Property owners want delay in highway project; Weekend lockdown begins at 8 p.m.

Jueves, 29/4/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Nada.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Despenalizan aborto por violación (Abortion for rape decriminalized) – See today’s (jueves) CHL article for story.

Restringen uso de canchas y parques “por prevención” (Use of courts and parks restricted “for prevention”) – This morning saw various parks with tape around the soccer goals and basketball hoops as a way to reduce coronavirus cases. There are various sites in the city where people are playing sports and attracting crowds. <I saw a policeman breaking up a volleyball game this morning.> If the games go on, authorities will take away the goal posts indefinitely. Mayor Palacios said that EMOV EP agents are watching to see that urban buses don’t exceed the permitted capacity, and controlling capacity in restaurants, mercados, and shopping centers. The mayor said that ICU beds are full and as soon as one opens up, it is filled. The COE clarified that the toque de queda (curfew) will be from 20:00 to 5:00, and the lockdown for this weekend will start at 20:00 el viernes and end at 5:00 in spite of the labor day holiday.

The Coordinación Zonal 6 de Salud announced that since ayer, it will vaccinate people older than 85 without an appointment at the colegio (sic – I think it’s supposed to be the coliseo) Jefferson Pérez. It will continue with other vaccinations in other locations that have been set up. If you missed your appointment for whatever reason and want to be vaccinated, you need to set up another appointment at the Ministerio de Salud’s website or by calling 171. Vaccinations will be given on el sábado and if you have a turno (turn – appointment), you can leave your house with the notification that was sent to your phone or email and with your cédula. <So don’t be an obsessive technology neatnik and erase that message.>

Property owners affected by the highway widening project south of Cuenca are worried about eminent domain payment. (El Mercurio)

MTOP adjudica el contrato para construir corredor vial (MTOP awards the contract to build a highway corridor) – Complaints from families living in Turi and the contract award to Hidalgo y Hidalgo for the construction of the road Cumbe-Cuenca-Azogues-Biblán have reopened discussions about the project. Assemblyman elect Fernando Villavicencio and a group led by Sebastián Cevallos, a national subdirector of Unión Popular, are opposed to the contract awarded el 16/3. They do not want the concession awarded until there has been sufficient public notice. Also opposed are families who have property in Tarqui, Zhucay, y Baños who want to be fairly paid for their land. The average payment of $4.50/meter does not reflect the true cost. The Zone 6 subsecretary of Public Works, David Jaramillo, said that the budget for land was based on information from the Avalúos y Catastros del Municipio de Cuenca. <So if your real estate agent advised you to understate the value of your house or condo when you bought it “to save on taxes,” this might be where it comes back to bite you in the ass.>

The project will take 5 years to build and the concession will last 30 years. The corredor will start at avenida La Ópera and follow the banks of the río Tarqui. Part of the vía Cuenca-Cumbe will be widened to 4 lanes. 7 interchanges, 4 in Cuenca and 3 in Cañar, will be built. The estimate budget is $507.65 million with $241.92 million for construction and $265.73 million for maintenance which needs to be paid for by the contractor <If I’m reading this correctly, and it’s highly likely that I’m not.> The contractor can also build 2 toll stations.

Investigan piezas perdidas de museo (Lost museum pieces being investigated) – The Prosecutor’s office of Azuay is investigating a complaint that 3 archeological heritage assets are missing from the Museo Pumapungo which has one of the most important reserves in the region. In julio de 2020, the Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio (MCP), which is responsible for the museum, informed the Prosecutor’s office that these objects were missing. The Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (INPC) also noted that the pieces were missing in 2017. The pieces are a Narrío stone bead, a Tolita ceramic anthropomorphic head, and a gold Milagro-Quevedo nose ring. <Don’t worry, the snot’s long gone.>

Matan al abogado de Glas y “Rasquiña” (Lawyer for Glas and “Rasquiña” killed) – Harrison Salcedo who represented Jorge Luis Zambrano, the leader of the Los Choneros gang who was killed in diciembre of last year, was himself killed al estilo sicariato (hitman style – your phrase for the day and nothing to do with Psi’s Gangnam style). The shooting occured Wednesday around 9:00 in the north of Quito. Shortly after the shooting, a riot broke out in the Penitendiaría del Litoral on the vía to Daule in Guayas Province. The Police are coordinating with the Prosecutor’s office to investigate the circumstances of the shooting and the riot and to see if they are related. Salcedo was also the lawyer for former vice presdient Jorge Glas in defendants in the Cuenca Coopera case.

The Servicio Nacional de Atención Intregral a Personas Adultas Privadas de la Libertad y a Adolesentes Infractores (SNAI -National Service of Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders) <You could serve your sentence before you got all that said.> announced that the riot left 5 dead and another 12 injured who were taken to medical centers for treatment. The confrontations were between inmates in pavilions 8 & 9. Another 37 prisoners have been placed under investigation. After these clashes, security has been reinforced in all of the prisons in the country to avoid more possible riots or violence such as that in febrero that resulted in massacres in the prisons in Azuay, Guayas, and Cotopaxi. <I wonder where they’re holding the rapist? And is he going to get some of his own back?>

Lasso y alcaldes dejan claras las prioridades (Lasso and mayors make priorities clear) – Pres. elect Lasso held a virtual meeting organized by the Asociación de Municipalidades Ecuatorianas (AME) with 221 mayors in the country. The priorities were vaccinations, potable water, security and money owed to the cities. At the moment, Lasso’s priority is to vaccinate 9 million people in his first 100 days, <When and where did this 100 day business start anyway? Did Eisenhower or Kennedy make 100 day promises?> and he asked the mayors for their support. He will try provide potable water to every citizen in the country <Ecuadorians in Flint will have to suffer with undrinkable water.> and guarantees credit with the Banco de Ddesarrollo del Ecuador. He will convene the Consejo de Seguridad Nacional on the night of his taking office to analyze the issue of security. The amount of money the Gobierno owes the municipalities has reached $1.246 billion. <I don’t know if the country has the credit rating to borrow enough to kick the can down the road.>

Internacional –

Variante brasileña podría evadir la inmunidad previa (Brazilian variant could evade previous immunity) – A study that used a model to study the situation in Manaus during the 2nd wave at the end of last year found that the Brazilian P.1 variant is 1.7 to 2.4 times more transmittable and evades 10-46% of the immunity acquired after infection by other variants. The findings were published in Science, and the researchers warned about extrapolating the Manaus results to other cities. Manaus was one of the few places in the world that had reached herd immunity. Then there was a 2nd wave of the virus.

Descuentos y compras –

ETAFASHION – sale until 30/4 – 20% off on fashion and home until 11:00 – up to 50% off with an additional 20% off with direct direct credit from CD Planeta’ on selected merchandise.

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