Homeless count is in the thousands; City residents to be randomly tested; Newborn baby survives Covid; Historic district shooter arrested; Election challenges

Martes, 29/9/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Del cuerpo del periodico –

Uso de internet (Internet use) – <I can hear you thinking, “I don’t need anyone to teach me how to use the internet.”> The Agencia de Regulación y Control de las Telecomunicaciones (Arcotel) is giving a talk on how to use the internet securely for educational activities este jueves a las 18:00. Go to www.arcotel.gob.ec for more informatio

Otras cosas –

Titular – Puentes, refugio de los sin techo (Bridges, shelter for those without a roof) – Teams from the Fundación Vida and the Ministerio de Inclusión Económica y Social (MIES) have assisted people living under the Otorongo and El Vado bridges and the pedestrian bridge at the Universidad Católica de Cuenca. The increase in begging is visible on corners, plazas and around restaurants and shopping centers. Sociologist Hernán Cáceres said this increase has two explanations. The first is the high level of unemployment in the country, and the second is the lack of intervention by the competent authorities to provide help and to control this activity.

The Ministerio de Inclusión Económica worries about the increase of street beggers and homelessness in Cuenca.

The MIES coordinator of Zone 6 said that there is a temporary shelter for 72 people without a means of support or home during the pandemic, most of them foreigners. The Proyecto Vida of the City of Cuenca, works with organizations to support the vulnerable population. The Casa del Migrante had a humanitarian corridor to allow foreigners to return to their countries of origin, but that was stopped because of the pandemic. At a national level, the Government is assisting 700 people, but the number of people on the street is much higher. The ‘Venezuela en Ecuador’ collective has identified 8,000 on the street with the number growing daily.

Brigadas visitan 2,436 casas para aplicar pruebas (Brigades visit 2,436 houses to apply tests) – Starting this week, teams from the City of Cuenca and the Ministerio de Salud Pública will randomly visit 2,426 houses to take rapid tests. 2,300 tests will be given to a single family member to see if that household is infected, and in another 136 houses, the test will be given to everyone in the family. The results will be part of a study to know the percentage of people infected, and their relation to socio-economic conditions, demographics, knowledge of COVID-19, and their behavior during the mobility restrictions. From data obtained during previous campaigns, the Consejo determined 80% of those infected did not present symptoms. The purpose of this campaign is to find asymptomatic cases and isolate them to prevent more infections.

Una recién nacida vence a la COVID-19 (A newborn beats COVID-19) – An 8 day old baby was admitted into intensive care at the IESS hospital with respiratory difficulties. She was treated by a specialized medical team and got better until she was discharged to her family.

Dudas: alimentación y recargas (Doubts: food and refills – that’s what Google translate says and that’s why you need to be careful with translation programs) (Doubts: feeders and recharges) – After 1 week of operation, passengers still have doubts and uncertainties, especially about buying and recharging the Movilízate cards and transfers. On the issue of feeder buses, the president of the Cámara de Transporte (CTC), Manolo Solís, said that there are 11 buses dedicated to taking passengers to and from the last tranvía stops, 6 in the south and 5 in the north. For the south end, the first bus leaves Baños at 5:38, arrives at the tram stop at 5:48 where the first tram is waiting to leave at 5:50. At the north end, the bus leaves Ricaurte a las 5:36 and arrives at the tram stop at 5:36 with the first tram leaving a las 5:50. Passengers getting off the bus get a ticket and have 45 minutes to get onto the tram without paying another fare. This also applies for passengers getting off the last stop of the tram and boarding a bus. This will be the system until an integrated bus/tram card is ready at the end of this year or the beginning of 2021.

Recharging a card is simple. You put the card in a reader and enter the amount you want to add to the card. If you’re not sure how to do this, ask for help from tranvia personnel. A Tranvía employee said that there have been complaints that riders have put money into the recharge machine but not gotten their cards recharged. But these complaints have not been confirmed. A bank teller who rides the tram 6 days a week said that there needs to be more information. With an almost $300 million system, there should be better organization to prevent confusion. There should be an employee trained to assist customers at each stop since this is a completely new system. Another rider said the time to buy a Movilízate card should be reduced. He stood in line for an hour to get a card and thought there should be more locations in the city to buy one.

Un policía herido tras disparos (A police officer injured after shooting) – Yesterday morning, between calles Emilio Arévalo y Miguel Heredia in the San Sebastián sector, a man fired shots into the street from a balcony of a house. Witnesses heard at least 6 shots, one of which hit the back window of a parked car. The citizen sitting in the car was not injured. The Policía Nacional sent a tactical team, the Grupo de Operaciones Especiales (GOE) to enter the house. They used a bomba de aturdimiento (stun bomb – one of those flash/bang things? – your word for the day, and probably pretty useless in general.) to neutralize the shooter. 3 escopetas de cañon largo (long barrel shot guns) were found in the house. Police said these are usually used for hunting.

When verifying the emergency, a policeman was injured and taken to a hospital where his condition is stable. <Since the paper didn’t explain the injury, I’m wondering if it was something dumb like knocking himself out running through a low doorway or falling down some stairs.>

Definirán suerte de candidatos objetados (Luck of objected candidates will be defined) – As of now, 6 pairs of candidates have been registered with the CNE although there have been objections to two of those. Of the 19 pairs of candidates elected in the primaries, 6 have officially registered with the CNE. Currently, the teams are Gustavo Larrea y Alexandra Peralta (Democracia Sí) who have been qualified by CNE; Guillermo Lasso y Alfredo Borrero (CREO and Partido Social Cristiano); Andrés Aráuz y Rafael Correa (Alianza Unión por la Esperanza); Xavier Hervas y María Sara Jijón (Izquierda Democrática); Juan Carlos Machuca y Cristóbal Luna (Libertad es Pueblo); and Paúl Carrasco y Frank Vargas Anda (Podemos) who registered yesterday.

The Lasso-Borrero and Aráuz-Correa teams will be analyzed by CNE taking into account the objections, and should be decided by mañana. Two organizations exercised their rights to object to candidates. The Alianza Unión por la Esperanza objected to the Lasso-Alfredo slate, accusing Lasso of having money or investments in offshore tax havens. Lasso denied an Argentine publication on the subject saying he is in compliance with the law. <Sometimes compliance with the law just means you got an expensive lawyer.> The Ecuatoriano Unido movement objected to the candidacy of Rafael Correa since he has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for bribery and did not accept his candidacy in person.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne