Highway partially reopened in landslide area for supplies; High water collapses bridge; China oil deal cost country billions; Artist began career at age 6

Apr 1, 2022 | 2 comments

Jueves, 31/3/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
See the article below, El artista que sueña sus obras.

Titular –

Lasso reestructura gabinete (Lasso restructures cabinet) – See article in Thursday’s CHL for story.

Cuenca –

A cuidar las cuencas hídricas (Taking care of watersheds) – The alluviums in Sayausí el último domingo show the need for protecting the watersheds in Cuenca. The slides were a product of heavy rains in the high zones of Sayausí, which provoked unusual increases in the water courses that run into the Tomebamba. Environmental engineer Mario Martínez said that main watersheds down to micro-watersheds are often altered by human activity including extensions of farms, illegal construction and mining. These activities strip the existing vegetation which slows the flow of water from the land. Another cause of the slides is when creeks are blocked or diverted.

A single lane of the Cajas highway has been cleared to allow the delivery of vital supplies to residents of the area affected by Sunday’s landslide. (El Merucrio)

In Cuenca, about 85% of the land in areas where sub-basins supplying water are located are covered by páramo and native forest. They regulate the flow of water since they act like a sponge which releases water slowly throughout the year. In 1985 a law was passed protecting these areas, and ETAPA which is part of the City of Cuenca, has a plan for their care. The MICPA plan includes mutual agreements with landowners to conserve páramo and forests, to recuperate riparian vegetation, and to implement best practices for farming and ranching from an environmental viewpoint.

The passage on the Cajas highway opened yesterday through the slide areas is not for continuous traffic but for transport of donations, food, and potable water, and for residents of the area to take their products such as milk and vegetables to market. The road is also for vehicles from relief agencies and basic services such as electricity. There is damage in 600 m. of electrical networks. The fire department is still distributing water in tankers to hospitals such as Monte Sinaí, Juan de Dios, and the clínica Santa Inés. For the 3d day, educational institutions such as the U. of Cuenca have suspended in-person classes for lack of water. The City has set up 3 shelters and there is a drop off site for donations in the parque La Libertad.

El río Burgay vulnera puentes (The Burgay River breaches bridges) – An unexpected surge in the río Burgay damaged bridges that serve 5,000 people in Biblián canton. In the Sageo parish, a bridge located in the middle of the access between the Panamerican Highway and the autopista desmoronó (collapsed, our word for the day) when the river destroyed an abutment. The bridge to the Burgay farm, a property of the Cañar province, also collapsed in the Jerusalén parish. The bridge also went to haciendas that produce about 50,000 liters of milk each day. <Actually the cows produce the milk, but they live on the hacienda.>

The river also caused a retaining wall supporting 60 m. of road to the Jerusalén parish to collapse. The river didn’t bring down the La Calera bridge, but it washed a lot of debris against the supports. The Biblián fire department is clearing the tree trunks, rocks and plants. The province of Cañar will start rebuilding 2 bridges in the next 30 days.

Eduardo Segovia

El artista que sueña sus obras (The artist who dreams his works) – Ceramicist and painter Eduardo Segovia recreates in his studio what he dreamed the night before. When he was a child of 6, he went to the Convención del 45 barrio and watched the potters in the barrio. He asked for some clay to play with and instead of plates and pots, he made carts and animals. After that he made birds with a tiny hole in the tail which whistled. <Did he blow into the beak to make the bird toot? Better than the other way around.> He eventually was making 100 a day to sell around the city. He played with clay at school and caught the attention of his teacher who referred him to the school’s adminstrator, padre Carlos Crespi. <Like getting sent to the principal’s office.> Instead of expelling him, Crespi took him to an archeological museum with pre-Columbian pottery. He eventually studied and worked in the US but came back to Cuenca. He became a painter by accident when a couple of Germans who were collecting donations of artwork to sell to benefit disabled children thought he was a painter. He said he was a ceramicist and they asked him if he could paint on his ceramic pieces; he thought, why not on canvas?

There will be an exhibit, “Eduardo Segovia, el Tiestero de la Convención del 45” which is being prepared by the municipal Dirección de Cultura. The show will open el 8/4 a las 18:30 on the 2nd floor of the ex Escuela Central. Segovia and his wife will be there to guide visitors through the show.

Empresarial –

BanEcuador: el 58% de créditos son de mujeres (BanEcuador: 58% of loans are to women) – The Crédito de Oportunidades program of the Gobierno Nacional with the support of BanEcuador, has disbursed $3,340,891 in Zone 6 (Azuay, Cañar, y Morona Santiago provinces) since the beginning of the year. Of this, $1,322,973 was disbursed in Azuay. The loans amounts are between $500-$5,000 at 1% interest with a term of 30 years. To get a loan, applicants need to present their original cédula and voting certificate; a utility bill not more than 3 months old; the application for the loan; documents that support the economic activity such as bank accounts, facturas, bills of sale, RISE, RUC and commercial references; and in the case of declaring assets, documentation such as property tax, deeds. Agricultural businesses can go to www.banecuador.fin.ec or go in person to a BanEcuador office from which they will receive a response in 3 days as to whether their loan was approved or denied.

Nacional –

Perjuicio millonario por venta anticipada de petróleo a China (Millions of dollars in losses due to early oil sales to China) – Pre-sales to China during Rafael Correa’s administration have cost Ecuador $5 billion according to the Comisión de Fiscalización (Audit Commission) of the Asamblea Nacional. The agreement with Petrochina was promoted as a way to avoid intermediaries by making strategic alliances between government companies, but the opposite was true. The Petrochina case revealed that Correa’s Government was one of intermediaries. <And a lot of the money stuck to the fingers of those intermediaries who are living in waterfront condos in Miami?>

Fernando Villavicencio, president of the Commission, said that expensive debt was contracted with interest over 7% and the debt was to be repaid in oil at discounted prices. According to documents submitted by Petroecuador and Petroperú, Ecuador lost about $3.60 on each barrel of oil. Multiplied by 1,325,000,000 barrels between 2009 and 2024, the loss to the state will be $4.771 billion. This information has been sent to the Prosecutor in the New York Court. <Sounds like “Confessions of an Economic HItman” only with China as the exploiter instead of the US.>

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.

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