Lunes, 25/7/2016: Peruvian invasion remembered, Orphanage closes after 80 years, Guayaquil celebrates its founding

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming Agenda events –

Guitar seminar – Maestro Bolívar Ávila will lead a 30 hour seminar from 25-29/7 in the Centro Cultural Sono ( Borrero 6-83 y Pres. Córdova), where you can also get additional info.  Cost: $50.00

Libro de ensayos (Book of essays) – Journalist Rodrigo Aguilar will present “Memorias de un desgajado,”  a collection of essays, tomorrow at 19:00 in the library of the CCE.

Today’s Agenda events –

Foro – There will be a forum in honor of the birth of Simón Bolívar today at 18:30 in the Centro Cultural Quinta Bolivar (sector Gapal).  Panelists will talk about Bolívar and his passage through Cuenca.

Articles about –

Military occupation of El Oro – Two researchers are investigating the occupation of a large part of El Oro Province by Peruvian military for 6 months in 1941.  On July 23, 24, & 25, Peruvian troops launched massive attacks on the Province.  Arenillas and Santa Rosa were bombed and on July 30, paratroopers took Machala without resistance.  The occupation ended when Ecuador signed the Protocolo de Río de Janeiro which recognized disputed territory in the Amazon as Peru’s.  The researchers are concentrating on the social impact of the occupation during which many people fled.  Some 10,000 took refuge in Guayaquil and Azuay.  The researchers found very few sources of information since at that time in Ecuador, there was no telephone communication nor roads between cities, and communication between Machala and Guayaquil was by sea. The historians discovered that there were camps for children in Babahoyo, Quito, and Riobamba and a policy to redistribute the population of El Oro.  What graphic information they found was mostly from the Univero and El Telégrafo newspapers.  The first skirmishes were at Aguas Verdes and Huaquillas.  (If you go to Máncora for a beach vacation, chances are you’ll cross the border there, although it must have looked very different then.)

Student TV – Students at the U. Católica are producing touristically oriented TV programs.  The “Zona 6” programs report on the customs and gastronomy of Zone 6, composed of Azuay, Cañar, and Morona Santiago Provinces.  “Cultura TV” shows profiles of people and schedules of cultural events and is on M, W, & F at 19:30. “Zona 6” is broadcast on Fri., at 14:30 on Telecuenca, Channel 2 in Cuenca and Channel 26 in Paute and Gualaceo.   (Sounds like they’d be informative shows, and since it’s TV you can enjoy the pictures.  Still don’t think there’s any reason for you to learn Spanish?)

Otras cosas –  
 
Titular – Barcelona finalista y goleador del torneo (Barcelona finalist and scorer of championship)  (Fútbol stuff.)

El Duelo 6K – The extreme athletic event, held to commemorate Jefferson Pérez’ Olympic gold medal on July 26, 1996, was held yesterday.  The different categories were won by 3 Ecuadorians and a Kenyan.

Antonio Valdivieso Orphanage –  After 8 decades, the orphanage on Padre Aguirre and Juan Jaramillo will close its doors permanently.  (Coming soon, historic condos, starting at $300,000 – including a welcome bowl of soup.)  The Hijas de la Caridad (Daughters of Charity) who run the orphanage did not give a reason (I bet the youngest of them is in her late 80’s – reason enough), but will make an official statement in a few days.  There are 16 children who will be rehoused between 15/8 and 1/9.  Cuenca has 5 “casas de acogida” (shelters – your word(s) for the day) – Aldeas SOS with 90 people, Hogar Miguel León with 30 girls, Tadeo Torres with 25 boys, Casa María Amor with 30 people, and Buen Pastor with 38 people.

Matriculación – If your license plate ends in a 6, you have until the end of the month to get your car registered.  The locations are in Capulispamba, Mayancela, Terminal Terrestre & the parking lot at parque De La Madre with hours from 8-17:00 on M-F and 8-12:00 on Sat.

Pedestrian overpasses – Overpasses have been and are being built over the “vía rapida” (high speed way) Cuenca-Azogues. The ones built have already decreased the number of accidents. (But if you drive, be ready for pedestrians crossing the highway. Just because there’s an overpass down the road doesn’t mean everyone is going to use it.)

PDVSA – The Venezuelan state oil company is pulling out of the Sacha field which it operated in conjunction with Petroamazonas of Ecuador.  The field, part of Block 60 in Orellana Province, is producing 72,000 barrels a day and is operating normally although Petroamazonas is looking for a new investor.

Guayaquil – The city of 2.5 million people is celebrating its founding today.  (I bet you could still catch the fireworks if you left now, as I write this.  Not the “now” when you receive this.  Oh well – next year.)

Domestic Animal Protection Ordinance – The Environmental Management Commission will be in charge of the application of the ordinance and will create a new Unidad de Gestión Ambiental (UGA – Environmental Management Unit) which will be staffed by professionals in the area such as vets.  It will also make agreements with the universities for technical support.

Internacional –
 
Colombia/Venezuela – The Colombian government is working to reopen its border with Venezuela which was closed last Aug. 19. It wants to make sure the infrastructure is capable of handling the huge numbers of Venezuelans crossing into Colombia to shop, 165,000 of whom crossed on 10 & 17/7.  (I wonder how fast Walmart could build a store in Táchira?  Hopefully Venezuelan shoppers are more peaceful and civilized than those Walmart shoppers who trampled others on past Black Fridays.)

Venezuela – Two nephews of Venezuelan first lady, Cilia Flores, confessed to trying to bring 800 kilos (1,763 pounds) of cocaine into the US.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne