IESS hospital adds space and equipment, Plastic bag ban goes into effect in 2021, Masquerade parade set to go, 383 disappearances in 2019

Jan 2, 2020 | 2 comments

Miércoles, 1/1/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Otras cosas –

Titular – El 2020 será un año de desafíos (2020 will be a year of challenges) – 3 key challenges for the 2020’s will be in the areas of the economy and social issues, the environment, and politics.

Tree census -Biologist Gustavo Morejón created the web page Save.bio to find out how many trees there are in Cuenca including their diameters, height and species. Having this data will help the population face climate changes since a tree produces 106 kilograms of oxygen annually. If the city has 630,000 people, then it needs 4.5 million trees. You can help by adopting a tree for $5.00 and then taking care of it through constant monitoring. The tree will be tagged as adopted with your data on a computer code. Go to www.save.bio to register.

Disappearances – In 2019, there were 383 disappearances reported – 217 adults, and 166 minors. Of these, el paradero (whereabouts – your word for the day, mostly because I like the English word) of 2 adolescents and 12 adults is still unknown. The rest were located. La Policía Nacional determined most of the disappearances were voluntary, and in the case of minors, due to grades in school, problems with their love lives, or drinking. In most cases the minors went to someone else’s house and eventually went home.

Old politicians were one of the targets of the masquerade parade.

Mascaradas – Everything is ready for the parade (Day of the Innocents) which will be on 6/1 a las 17:00 along Huayna Cápac. This will be the 39th year of the parade which is sponsored by the Amistad Club and Unión de Periodistas de Azuay. There are 4 categories of institutional, comparsa, children, and individual with cash prizes.

IESS hospital – Several areas of the hospital will be expanded in the first half of 2020. There will be a $600,000 investment in a new trauma center with an additional $1 million for equipment <To take care of all those patients whose cars roll down steep slopes or run into other cars.>; $1 million for 5 new rooms in gastroenterology next to the oncology consulting offices; and improvements to the pediatric area.

Pasada de Niño Rey – El Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (INPC) has certified the Pase del Niño Rey (Passage of the Child King) as an intangible cultural heritage. The parade is held el 5/1 each year through the streets in the Centro Histórico. The religious tradition started in 1925 with floats, comparsas, costumes, and gifts and candies for the children. It is the 2nd largest parade after the Pase del Niño Viajero on 24/12, and is one of 17 national fiestas which also include the “Mama Negra” <celebrated in Latacunga in late sept.>, Carnaval of flowers and fruit, and la Diablada de Píllaro.

Ban on single use plastics – The ordinance prohibiting the use of single use plastics will take effect gradually with complete compliance by 2021. For the first 6 months of this year, you can use plastic that is 50% recycled and the rest with biodegradable material. At 8 months the percentage goes up to 70%, and by 2021, single use plastic bags, tubs, glasses, etc. will be prohibited altogether. Currently it is estimated that 3,200,000 tipo camiseta plastic bags <bags with handles like the typical grocery store bags> are used in Cuenca each year. The hope is that people will return to using non-plastic bags, saddlebags, <That would get you an environmental star since the saddlebags go on a bike, or a horse, neither of which is a petroleum based means of transportation.> tulos, and baskets.

Section C – There is a special section which reviews issues and stories from the past decade. <More work than I’m willing to do.>

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. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.

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