Lasso presents his ‘Opportunities’ proposal; Police seize hand grenades, dynamite at Guayaquil prison; Thieves attack local buses; Cattle rustling on the rise

Jueves, 23/9/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

De fotografía, historia y teatro tratarán charlas (Talks using photography, history and theater) – A series of talks and conferences will be given on virtual channels in the patrimonial houses administered by the Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca. The first, “Backstage,” was a las 15:00 <I think today> and talked about the work of photographer Rafael Idrovo on the YouTube account of the Dirección de Cultura. On the same site a las 16:30, there was a talk called “La revolución a caballo” (The revolution on horseback) <Did you know that Bolívar was nicknamed “Iron-ass” because of the time he spent on horseback? He also never fathered children – maybe for the same reason.> which was about when Bolívar stayed in Cuenca. El 24/9 a las 11:00, in the Casa de la Lira, there will be a talk given by Xavier Pérez about street theater. Also on 24/9, a las 16:00, there will be a presentation about the history of the Ecuadorian flag in the Quinta Bolívar. <Might help those of you applying for citizenship to pass the questions about the flag.>

Titular – Gobierno difunde metas económicas (Government disseminates economic goals) – The Government announced its plans for the next 4 years in the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo (National Development Plan), called the Plan de Creación de Oportunidades 2021-2025. The plan has 5 sections: economic, social, comprehensive security, ecological transition, and institutional.

Cuenca’s tram is an alternative to the rapid increase in motor vehicles (El Meercurio)

The economic section plans to look for more commercial opportunities and to strengthen legal security in order to attract private investment and generate jobs. Areas of the greatest potential are in tourism and agricultural productivity. Goals include growing the economy by 5%, reducing the public debt from 60.7 to 57%, increasing adequate employment from 30.51 to 50%, reducing unemployment in the 18-29 age group from 10.08 to 8.17%, increasing exports from 42.38 to 51.31%, increasing mining exports from $921 to a$4,040 million <hello?>, increasing foreign investments from $1,189 to $2,410 million, and increasing oil production from 516,000 to 1 million barrels per day.
The social section will center on eradicating poverty, combating chronic infant malnutrition and eradicating gender violence. It will also emphasize access to free, high quality health services; promote a quality, inclusive education system at all levels; and generate new opportunities for rural zones with an emphasis on pueblos and nationalities. The goals include reducing extreme poverty from 15.44 to 10.76%, reducing the rate of femicides from .87 to .80, increasing affiliation with social security from 37.56 to 41.73%, reducing the housing deficit from 58.00 to 48.44%, reducing the rate of teenage (ages 15-19) pregnancies from 54.6 to 39.4, and reducing chronic infant malnutrition in children under 2 years old by 6 points.

The security section will establish policies focused on problems that affect society on a day to day basis such as delinquency and organized crime. The plan would improve the Rehabilitation System and road safety and reduce risks of disasters with timely attention to emergencies. It would address national security, sovereignty, and the integrity of the territory. Goals include reducing the rate of homicides from 106 to 100, increasing effectiveness of investigations from 55.75 to 73.45%, reducing deaths from in prison violence from 130 to 88, reducing prison overcrowding from 29.85 to 20.42%, and reducing the number of prisoners per guard from 26 to 10.

The section of ecological transition addresses the calculation related to consumption (ecological footprint) and the availability of natural resources (biocapacity) which is currently at the limit with .3 hectares globally. The challenge to the country is to not increase these levels. This section will determine sustainable development, balanced access to water as a basic human right, and protection of the natural and cultural heritage of Ecuador. Goals include maintaining the national territory under conservation at 16.45%, increasing recovery of waste from 0 to 20%, reducing loss of electrical energy by 10.50%, increasing the territory under water protection from 18,152 to 284,000 hectares, and increasing the area under irrigation and drainage from1,458.46 to 11,461 hectares.

The institutional section addresses topics that have received the harshest criticisms from the citizenry such as corruption and legal security. The plan seeks to recover confidence at both national and international levels. It will consider themes including co-responsibility of the population, judicial independence, legal security, connectivity, Digital Government, public integrity, the fight against corruption, international politics and migration. Goals include improving the international perception of corruption from 93d to 50th place, increasing the rate of resolution of judicial cases from .84 to 1.06, increasing the number of public defenders from 3.87 to 5 <How you have .87 of a public defender? Someone who is sleeping on the job .13 of the time?>, increasing the index of perception of the quality of public services from 6.10 to 8.0, and increasing the level of confidence in the Government from 25 to 30%.

Cuenca –

Cada vez circulan más vehículos (More and more vehicles circulate) – In spite of plans and actions by public institutions to reduce the use of motor vehicles, the number of cars in the country has increased every year. In Cuenca, according to data from the Dirección Municipal de Tránsito (DMT), there were 52,674 cars in 2006, 105,178 in 2015, and a current estimate of 145,000. The Día Mundial sin Auto was Wednesday, and La Empresa de Movilidad (EMOV EP) organized events to celebrate and to encourage use of other means of transport including the launching of the Ruta de Tranvía on Google Maps.
Civil Engineer Marco Salazar, said that while Cuenca’s population grew at an average of 2% annually, the number of vehicles grew 5%. He said that 30% of the population is transported by private autos and 35% by urban and parochial buses. Other data shows that 30% of the population walks, the 3,600 taxis transport 4%, 1% uses a motorcycle, and 1% use bikes. <Sure seems like a lot more than 1% of the population on motorcycles. Especially if you count the families of 3 or 4 piled on one moto.>

14,000 recien nacidos son beneficios del Banco de Leche del Corral Moscoso (14,000 newborns are benefits of the Corral Moscoso Milk Bank) – In the 12 years of its existence, the Banco de Leche Humana at the Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso has met its goal to give mother’s milk to premature babies and others whose mothers can’t breastfeed them. There have been about 11,000 mothers who have donated 7,000 liters of milk since 2009. 14,000 newborns have benefitted. The Milk Bank also teaches hospitalized mothers breastfeeding techniques so that there is more suction and production.

Sucesos –

Policía decomisa dinamita y granada en cárcel del Guayas (Police seize dynamite and grenade in Guayas prison) – The Policía Nacional searched the interior of the Centro de Privación de Libertad (CPL) de varones (males – your word for the day.) del Guayas. They seized 3 guns, 150 rounds of ammunition, 12 sticks of dynamite and other improvised explosives, 16 cell phones, 27 armas blancas (knives), 300 envelopes of drugs, and more. Government representatives also went through other jails in Guayas to identify security vulnerabilities and how to reinforce these areas. Authorities are making adjustments to the CPL to enable new blocks to reduce overcrowding.

Region –

Abigeato y asaltos en cantones (Cattle rustling and assaults in cantons) – There have been incidences of rustling and attacks on transport cooperatives in Azuay. Rustling has occurred in the peripheral zones around Girón where community members have installed barriers across roads to control vehicles entering and leaving those areas. Chordeleg and Paute have also seen rustling. Authorities have increased operations in the early hours of jueves when people take their animals to the livestock market in Cuenca. The Unidad de Policía Comunitaria (UPC) has installed 50 cameras at strategic points.

Operativas en carreteras (Highway operations) – From the end of junio to the beginning of agosto, there have been attacks on interprovincial buses in the Pucará canton. The mayor of Pucará, Eloy Cedillo, said that controls staffed by military are being added on the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje. The attacks have been in the La Maravilla and Santa Martha sectors as well a stretch of the road that passes through Santa Isabel canton. Criminals take advantage of desolate areas, especially at night.

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne