Increase of cars overwhelms city streets; Local shooting investigated; Referendum questions; New cultural center debuts; Loja theater festival opens

Lunes, 14/11/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Frankenstein, obra multimedia, abrirá festival Artes Vivas de Loja (Frankenstein, multimedia work, will open Artes Vivas de Loja festival) – The VII Live Arts Festival of Loja (Fiavl) will be from 17-27/11 with over 100 activities, both in person and virtual. The festival kicks off with Frankenstein, an Emmy winning multimedia theater work from the US, in the “Teatro Benjamín Carrión Mora” el 17/11. Go to www.festivaldeloja.com for the program. Over 800 local, national and internationa artists, from 12 countries will be on participating.

De El Mercurio del sábado, 12/11:
Casa Aurora abre sus puertas a la cultura (Casa Aurora opens its doors to culture) – Nicolás Andrés López has opened a new cultural space in a house built in 1993 on calles Los Cisnes y Golondrinas in the U. of Azuay sector. Hours are from 10:00-13:00 with no admission charge. The opening exhibit is paintings by 74 year old Cuencano artist Gustavo López which are displayed throughout the house. The next event will be a Christmas Fair on el 2 y 3 de diciembre. Entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and independent design brands are invited to participate. Call 099 866 7897 or 098 720 0862 if you’re interested in selling at the fair. In parallel, Casa Aurora is preparing a culinary space and an area to sell artesanal beers.

Titular –

The rapid growth in car ownership is overwhelming Cuenca streets. Per capita, Cuenca has the highest rate of car ownership in Ecuador. (El Mercurio)

¡Papá! Campeón del pueblo (¡Papá! People’s Champion) – Something about Aucas <whoever they are> winning its first championship.

Cuenca –

Caos vehicular en Cuenca se da por tres razones (3 reasons for traffic chaos in Cuenca) – Going from one place to another in Cuenca involves travel on crowded streets, streets narrowed to one lane by repaving projects, and sharing the roads with buses, taxis, cargo and garbage trucks, and motos. Transit in the city is getting more complicated due to the excessive number of vehicles, lack of adequate planning <Is there even a traffic engineering major in the universities?>, and little attention to transit systems.

Growth of the number of cars in Cuenca is 4 times faster than the growth in the population – for every child born, 4 new cars are added which is an unsustainable situation. <Of course, gringos will take the credit because we contribute to the economy by buying so many cars, just like we created the increases in property values, and singlehandedly, support the local economy.> According to INEC, Azuay registers the highest percentage of vehicles at 183 per every 1,000 residents. From 2021 to 2022, the number of vehicle registrations grew 7.2% from 152,676 to 163,598. In addition to the number of cars, are the number of repaving projects such as on De las Américas, Abelardo J. Andrade, Héroes de Verdeloma, Hurtado de Mendoza, & Loja. Marco Torres, a taxista, said that rush hours are from 6:30-8:30, 12:30-14:00, & 16-19:00 with Friday the worst day from 15-19:00 in sectors such as Huayna Cápac, Milchichig, Las Américas, and Feria Libre heading to Control Sur.

In Cuenca, the time for 50% of the trips is 20 minutes or less, but this depends on where you live and where you’re going since this varies through the day. According to Daniel Orellana, professor and geographic and environmental sciences at the U. of Cuenca, growth in the number of vehicles is unsustainable and needs basic solutions such as a mobility and transport system that is reliable, safe, comfortable and integrated.

Sucesos –

La Policía Nacional investiga un intento de sicariato en Cuenca (National Police investigates attempted contract killing in Cuenca) – Police are investigating hit men that shot at 3 people at point blank range last sábado on Don Bosco y La Niña in the south part of Cuenca. A Chevy Aveo was hit by a Sail, lost control, and crashed into a fence. After this, 3 delinquents arrived on a moto and shot at the occupants of the Aveo. They collected an accomplice who was in the Sail and left the area. <So the criminals packed 4 people onto a moto?>

911 sent a rescue vehicle and 3 ambulances, from the fire dep’t, the Red Cross, and the IESS hospital. <Sounds like you have to get shot in a pretty dramatic crime to get an ambulance from IESS. If you have a heart attack, would you get a faster response by calling a cab or having a friend drive you?> The 2 men and 1 woman in the Aveo suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to the IESS hospital where they are recuperating. Pablo Luna, police chief for the South Cuenca district said the case is under preliminary investigation to clarify the circumstances. He added that the Aveo had left a shopping center and was hit by the Sail when it drove along Don Bosco. The license plates had been altered.

Nacional –
De El Mercurio del sábado, 12/11 y domingo, 13/11:
CNE espera una comunicación oficial sobre consulta popular (CNE awaits official communication on referendum) – The Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) is waiting for the final version of the referendum proposed by the President so it can start the process to put it on the ballot in febrero, 2023. 8 questions have been approved by the Corte Constitucional. In summary, they are:
1. Extradition in crimes related to international organized crime such as trafficking of narcotics, arms, people and migrants. The 2008 constitution prohibits transferring nationals to another country for processing.
2. Guarantee the autonomy of the Prosecutor’s Office in selecting, evaluating and sanctioning its officials. Creation of a council which will no longer be subjugated to the Council of the Judiciary, which currently has the power to name prosecutors. The Attorney General’s office does not approve of this change.
3. Reduce the number of assembly people from 137 to 100. It is expected that after the Census, the number in the assembly will increase to 152 due to population growth.
4. Require political movements to have a minimum number of affiliates, with the roster being audited periodically by the CNE. The question seeks to avoid irregularities in the signatures to validate the parties. According to the CNE, over 250,000 people are members of a political party and most of them don’t know it. <So what have you signed recently that you either didn’t bother to read or didn’t understand?>
5. Incorporate a water protection subsystem in the Sistema Nacional de Aguas Protegidas (National System of Protected Waters) under State control.
6. People, communities, and nationalities would receive compensation for their support in the generation of environmental services. The Ecuadorian Constitution is practically the only one in the world which prohibits the commercialization of carbon credits, considering them to be a violation of sovereignty.
7. Eliminate the power of the Consejo de Participación Ciudadana y Control Social (CPCCS) to designate officials so that the Asamblea Nacional will have that power. The CPCCS was created by ex-Pres. Correa to counteract “partidocracia” (partycracy). As a result the power to name officials was concentrated in the Government (Executive).
8. Modify the process of designating the members of the CPCCS so they will be elected through a process carried out by the Assembly. After the 2018 referendum, the CPCCS members were elected by popular vote. This would be changed by this question.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne