Martes, 4/7/2016: Tranvía and airport, car inspections, San Francisco Plaza, Cancer

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Storytelling – There will be a program called “Cuentos para adultos con orejas” (Stories for adults with ears) Wed. at 20:00 in the Casa Beco (Juan Montalvo 10-24 y Gran Colombia). <Just make sure you ave your hearing aids in and turned on.> Cost: $2.00.

Documentary and dialogue – There will be a documentary film “Semillas ¿bien común o propiedad corporativa?” (Seeds, common good or corporate property?) in the Rizoma Plataforma Disidente (CCE) on 13/7 at 18:00. After the film, you can talk with 3 people who work with agoecología, the defense of seeds and “sabores nativos” (native flavors, but I think it might have been a typo for “saberes nativos” – native knowledge).

Articles about –

Monument – <This is your daily dose of history.> A monument to general José Domingo de las Mercedes de la Mar y Cortázar was unveiled today at 10:00 in the Casa de la Provincia. He was born in Cuenca in 1776 and was the 1st president of Perú. He went to Spain into a military career where he rose to command a squadron named after him. He then went to Perú, and after meeting José de San Martín, an Argentinean liberator, he left the Spanish army to be a “soldado de la independencia” (Soldier of the independence). He received one of the highest honors – Mariscal del Campo (Field Marshall) from Bolívar. During the Convención de 1845 in Cuenca, it was decided to erect a statue in honor of the Mariscal. The statue was unveiled this morning. <Now that puts an outer limit on mañana. Although the remodeling of SF Plaza is nothing to sneeze at.>

CCE – The study of the CCE’s building was delivered today.

Forum – There was a literary forum by the Casa Tomada de Cuenca Collective, a group of authors who meet to talk about literature, that met today to talk about writer Juan Goytisolo who recently died.

Recital – The Santa Catalina Chorus presented “Hijo de la Luna” (Child of the Moon) Tues. in the Teatro Sucre. The program will be popular music from different countries and will close with a selection of cumbias. <Think people are going to get up and dance? It’s got sideways steps so it could be done in front of your seat. Imagine that.>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Un dólar para saber si tiene o no cáncer (One dollar to know if you have cancer or not) – A mobile unit of SOLCA is equipped to diagnose 5 of the most common cancers and exams can take 10-30 min. depending on the test. The unit is currently at EMOV EP (Carlos Arízaga Toral y Tarquino Corder vía a Misicata and will be there 3 or 4 more weeks. Hours are lunes a jueves from 7:30, first come, first served with 60 appointments each day. <So is this price right for all of you pissed off by the IESS increase?>

Vehicle inspections – <Attention car owners> – “Cupos” (spaces/ slots/ times) <You get the idea.> for vehicle inspections can only be made on line. The two inspection centers at Mayancela and Capulispamba have 300 slots each, every day. Go to www.emov.gov.ec and in the highlighted section, click on “Turno de RTV en línea,” enter your license plate number, the last 5 digits of the chassis number, pick the location and time, and enter your personal data. Print out the application and bring it to the RTV. Arrive 10 min. early. <I don’t think 10 minutes is enough to do all the stuff you had to do before you even gave your car key to the technician.> You can also cancel an appointment at the same site.

Pólit censured – Carlos Pólit was censured with 132 votes in the Asamblea Nacional. With this vote, courts in the 12 countries identified in the Odebrecht corruption case will be notified as well as the Fiscalía General del Estado (Ecuadorian Att’y Gen’l). Pólit resigned on 20/6 while he in the US for “razones médicas” (medical reasons – good words for day). <Miami being better for his blood pressure than jail. He’s already demonstrated that he’s a flight risk.>

Wetlands – Below the volcán Antisana is páramo which used to be rich wetlands. More than 40 drainage ditches have been cut a 14 hectar wetland within the Antisana water conservation area to provide grazing for livestock. The paramo became overgrazed and the Quito Water Company bought the land and reduced the number of animals. The idea is now to restore those wetlands.

Tranvía and airport – Paúl Granda, Minister of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) met with Mayor Cabrera yesterday. For the Tranvía, an oversight committee was formed which will include an international expert, MTOP, Chambers of Production, and academics.
Granda also confirmed that TAME will resume flights between Cuenca and Guayaquil. <And that’s all they wrote so that’s all I can translate. I have no idea when or how much it will cost.>

San Francisco Plaza – There is no word from the Mayor whether the contract for the remodeling will be given to the winning bidder or if it will be rebid. The technical, legal and financial information was ready Fri. afternoon. <Sounds like the Mayor doesn’t want to work on the weekend any more than most people do.>

Internacional –

Chile – Sebastián Piñera won the presidential primaries for the right, gaining 6 percent in polls conducted in mayo y junio.

Brazil – Exminister Gellel Vieira Lima, a politician close to Pres. Temer was arrested for obstruction of justice during an investigation into corruption at the national bank. <I think.>

Colombia – ELN (Ejército de Liberación National) reiterated their intent to reach a bilateral cease fire.

Deportes –

“Bolívar Armijos 8K” – The 7th Circuito Pedestre Recreacional “Bolívar Germán Armijos García” run will be este domingo from 9:00 leaving from the Barrio La Campiña and wind up in Racar. To register, call 418 7245, 099 831 5889 or 099 551 1455. <whoever answers the phone should be able to tell you where that barrio is.> Free.

Discuentos y compras –

Colineal – Liquidation on imported furniture and accessories – 50% off – miércoles, 5/7 to domingo 9/7 – Calle Octavio Chacón 2100 (Parque Industrial).

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne