ICU bed occupancy drops to 50% in Cuenca; Election vote-counters to be selected; Cuenca Wyndham hotel wins design award; Live symphonic jazz concert

Martes, 3/11/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Arte resurge como ave fénix (Art resurfaces like a phoenix) – In spite of closures of galleries during the pandemic, other artists are opening spaces in Cuenca. Painter Olmedo Quimbita opened a gallery on Calle Larga y Miguel Ángel Estrella to exhibit his works, and a group of artists related to design and theater opened Artkam on calle Pasto y av. 24 de Mayo where visitors can have a cup of coffee, see a theatrical work, or take their pictures with fictional characters. The gallery also sells collectibles, mostly related to comics.

81,520 inscritos a secundaria virtual (81,520 enrolled in virtual high school) – The Todos ABC campaign for youth and adults who never entered or finished high school starts el jueves. The program lasts 2 years and 81,520 people have signed up. You can still sign up until 22/11 at adistancia.educacion.gob.ec.<Or maybe encourage your cleaning lady to sign up if she was a high school drop out.> Classes will be given virtually, but in person activities will be restarted gradually in the coming months.

For the first time since May, usage of ICU hospital beds in Cuenca has dropped to 50 percent.

Mediaciones lectoras (Reading mediations) – The Municipalidad de Cuenca is presenting two reading mediations. The second will be about the independence of Cuenca Wednesday a las 14:00. Register at 2365.204 or at bmsidcay@hotmail.com. <Remember to add the 07 area code in front of the phone number if you call from a cell phone.>

Concierto sinfónico (Symphonic concert) – The last activity by the CCE for the Independence of Cuenca will be a symphonic jazz concert el 19/11 a las 19:00 in the CCE theater (Luis Cordero between Sucre y Pres. Córdova). There will be a limited capacity of 400 people. Free.

Converencia educativa (Educational conference) – There will be a conference about use of digital tools for education given by Martha Agila, the director of technologies for education at the Universidad Técnica de Loja. It will be el jueves a las 19:00 in the auditorium of the Alianza Francesa. <Those of you whose kids are going to school virtually might benefit from this.>

Del cuerpo del periodico –

Tarqui, al rescate de semillas ancestrales (Tarqui, to the rescue of ancestral seeds) – There is a project in Tarque called “Rescate de Semillas Ancestrales” which has the goal of helping small producers. In the middle of octubre, 128 kits were given to families in different communities as a way to value traditional seeds and to provide healthy food to the families. Also there will be commercial, crafts, and entrepreneurship ferias los sábados in the “Marco Vele” stadium from 7:00 hasta las 15:00.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Retoman proyecto vial de 4 carriles (4-lane road project resumed) – There is a need to concretar (nail down/specify/finalize) widening the road to the eastern cantons of Azuay to 4 lanes. Cantonal and parish authorities along the route are also talking about generating the means to maintain the system with tolls and the possibility of a concession. The subsecretary of MTOP said the studies for 4 lanes will be resumed el próximo año.

Miembros de las JRV serán notificados hoy (JRV members will be notified today) – The drawing for who will be part of the Juntas Receptoras del Voto (JRV – Vote Receiving Boards) started yesterday. 80% of those selected to receive and then count the votes will be students, mainly at university. In the country, 272,853 will be picked and another 4,410 outside of the country. There will be 13,615 people selected for the 1,951 polling places in Azuay. Also notified by the CNE were representatives of the political parties and members of the media. The CNE is also planning biosecurity protocols to protect the members of the JRV’s and voters at the polling stations. Recommendations are for voters to bring their own pens to mark the ballots, do not bring other people <leave the kids and other non-voters at home>, maintain social distancing and bring hand disinfectant.

Baja la demanda de pacientes en los hospitales (Low demand by patients for hospitals) – The public hospitals had a reduction in the number of patients occupying ICU beds and considered critical due to the aftermath of Covid. ICU beds are 50% full with 20 critical patients in the Vicente Corral Moscoso hospital and 28 in the José Carrasco Arteaga hospital. Health officials warned that this does not mean the pandemic is over since there could be an increase in cases from the 3/11 holiday. Remember that use of masks in public, social distancing and washing or disinfecting your hands is mandatory. There is also a restriction on driving after 11 pm. The MSP announced that there are 10,894 cases in Azuay and 8,628 in Cuenca with an increase of 150 in the last week. Epidemiologist Andrea Gómez Ahora attributed this low number to the low numbers of PCR tests. MSP data shows a testing rate of 234 tests for every 100,000 people in the last 4 weeks. <If you start thinking that you’re Covid proof, think about the new outbreak in Europe instead and put that mask on.>

Campaña acerca del respeto a peatones (Campaign about respect for pedestrians) – EMOV (Empresa de Movilidad Tránsito y Transporte) is developing an awareness campaign about respecting the rights of pedestrians to move safely. The campaign is focusing on the rights of people with visual and physical disabilities. Officials participated in demonstrations where they were blindfolded and used wheelchairs to experience the difficulties of navigating the streets and sidewalks of Cuenca.

Apelaciones e impugnaciones de candidaturas preocuppan al CNE (Appeals and challenges of candidacies concern the CNE) – The Tribunal Contencioso Electoral (TCE -Tribunal for Electoral Disputes) ruled in favor of the Justicia Social and Podemos movements after they were disqualified by the CNE for irregularities in the signatures when they registered. CNE is worried about having enough time to print ballots which should start by the end of this month. Justicia Social was given 15 days to hold its internal elections to name its candidate. The party has asked for more time and the Partido Social Cristiano and the CREO movement are both objecting to the decision to restore legal life to the Justicia Social party. CNE has until tomorrow to decide on this appeal and if it goes back to the TCE, the TCE will have an additional 15 days to issue its decision. CNE’s original schedule was calculated to give parties time to hold their primaries and report the results in time to print ballots with all candidates included. A representative of Justicia Social said that it would name Álvaro Noboa as its candidate. The party was created by Jimmy Salazar, husband of Pamela Martínez who was sentenced in the Sobornos case.

90,000 vehículos cumplieron RTV (90,000 vehicles finished RTV) – EMOV EP announced that vehicles with license plates ending in 0 to 4 have priority for turns for the RTV (Revisión Técnica Vehicular – Technical Vehicle Inspection) <If you have a car or are going to buy one, you better know about this.> Go to www.emov.gov.ec and the Renovación de Matrícula (Renewing Registration) section, complete the 3 steps, pay your taxes with the Botón de Pagos, and get an appointment on line. You can also pay your taxes where you get your car inspected. <Or get a facilitator to help you if you didn’t bother to learn enough Spanish to do this. And if your Spanish is that bad, how did you pass the written driving test?>

Hotel Zahir gana por segunda vez un Óscar del turismo (Hotel Zahir wins an Oscar for tourism for the second time) – The Hotel TRYP by Wyndham Cuenca Zahir has won a World Travel Award 2020 in the Mejor Hotel de Diseño y Innovación (Best Hotel for Design and Innovation). The award was based on various factors including its business structure, quality of service, food, rooms, and principally innovation in service and the creation of spaces adapted to the new challenges. <The photo shows a terrace with bucky domes (geodesic domes ) containing seating or dining arrangements.>

Internacional –

Congreso peruano destituye a Vizcarra (Peruvian Congress “fires” Vizcarra) – The Parliament declared President Martín Vizcarra “incapaz moral” (morally incapable) for corrupt acts committed while he was governor of Moquegua province from 2011-2014, and also declared “la vacancia de la Presidencia de la República” (the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic). What follows will be the succession process established in the Constitution. For now, the presidency will fall to the president of the Congress, Manuel Merino of the Acción Popular politial party. The decision was a surprise. Although there were many legislators who were thinking about forcing an impeachment, it appeared that there weren’t enough votes for a “vacancia” (vacancy) which is the name of the impeachment process in Perú. <But that’s how it’s done when you have a corrupt president and a functioning government. Congress impeaches and saves the electorate the work.>

Agenda –

No events for viernes, 13/11. <Plus, are you planning to leave your house on Friday the 13th?>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne