Miércoles, 12/7/2016: Cuenca taxi protest, Immigration policy meeting, Animal refuge, University wind quartet

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming agenda event –

Foro Musica – There will be a forum on “Música contemporánea cuencana” mañana “a las” (at – another thing for you to remember) 19:00 in the Museo Pumapungo. <Now you know your days of the week and are going on to time.>

Articles about –

Wind quintet – The musicians in the “quinteto de vientos” of the U. of Cuenca Symphony Orchestra come from 4 different provinces. The quintet will play mañana a las 20:00 in the Museo de las Conceptas. Premiering mañana will be a compilation of the music from Carmen by Bizet and Pavanne for a dead princess, adapted for the quintet.

Exibición – A show of 80 works by students of the Academia de Arte de Olmedo Alvarado opened today at 19:00 in the Museo de los Metales (on Solano near Tres Puentes).

Otras cosas –

Titular – De “sumamente difícil” califica Moreno la situación económica (Moreno qualifies economic situation as “extremely difficult”)

Anti-corruption plan – The “Frente de Lucha contra la Corrupción” (Anti-Corruption Front), created by the government, submitted a report to Pres. Moreno. It contains recommendations for 5 axes (plural of axis in this case) and 25 strategies. The axes include corruption in the public sector, the fight against impunity, promotion of transparency, education and reflection as a country in values and national sense, and corruption in the private sector.

Movilidad Humana (Human Mobility) – The Cancillería (like the State Dept) is holding meetings before writing the Agenda de Política Exterior 2017-2021 (Foreign Policy Agenda 2017-2021). The viceminister of Movilidad Humana said they are working on a National Plan for Human Mobility that will consider not just Ecuadorians abroad, but citizens of other countries living in Ecuador. He added, “Si pensamos un Plan que excluya a estas personas en la construcción de la identidad nacional será un error.” (If we think up a Plan that excludes these people from the construction of a national identity, it will be a mistake.) <Too bad this wisdom doesn’t go past Mexico’s northern border.>

Taxi protest – The 2,200 taxis in 65 co-ops which comprise the Unión de Cooperativas de Transporte en Taxis del Azuay (UCTTA) are calling for a “movilización motorizada” (Motorized mobilization) Thurs. The union has 5 issues for EMOV, ANT and CTE. These include controlling informal taxis. Taxis from other cantons are coming into Cuenca which is illegal. <Maybe that’s why so many of you have had drivers who didn’t know where they were going. They don’t live in Cuenca.> They also do not want to use electric cars because the $34,000 cost makes them unprofitable, and the union doesn’t want any more operating permits issued for taxis, transporte mixto, light cargo vehicles and school buses. The 1.200 taxis in the Frente Unido de Taxistas (AFUT) will not join the mobilization.

U of Cuenca – There are 26,941 applicants for 2,000 spaces at the U of Cuenca in 8 areas – health sciences; social sciences, humanities and education; engineering, industry, construction and technological materials sciences; administration, economy and sociology; arts; law; services (tourism, hotelry, gastronomy); and agriculture, forestry, fisheries, veterinary sciences. <In contrast, there were about 40,000 applicants for about 2,000 spaces at Harvard.>

Animal protection center – Animal welfare organizations are meeting with the Cuenca Comisión de Gestión Ambiental (CGA – Environmental Management Commission) about building an animal shelter and the steps to get there. Councilwoman Gabriela Brito said other issues include the implementation of the domestic animal protection ordinance, identification of animals, a catastro (I think like an animal census – dog tags), reporting mistreatment, and the problematic Feria Libre. Brito said the canton has 4 rescue organizations each operating its own refuge. <There was a photo and mention of ARCA> The city has money to buy land for the shelter, but the operating expenses are high. She proposed a “mancomunado” model where the animal organizations jointly run the shelter since they already have the experience.

Alliance for “vialidad” (roadways) – El Cañar, El Oro y Azuay want to form an alliance for road maintenance and improvements. The proposal is to charge tolls that would be used to maintain both the main roads and the secondary and tertiary roads which aren’t usually paved. There are 4,129 km. of roads in Azuay. 3,600 of those are under the jurisdiction of the GAD Parroquiales (Gobiernos Autónomos Descentralizados – Parochial Decentralized Autonomous Governments) and only 500 under the central government.

Pagina Intercultural – The article is about the contradanza and baile de las cintas (contradanza and the ribbon dance) <It looks like dancing around the maypole.> Go to www.elmercurio.com.ec if you’re interested.

Descuentos y compras –

<Lots of car ads. Now that the kids are out of school are families planning road trips and deciding to make them in new cars?>

Recordmotor – new Honda and VW dealerships opening – 13 & 14/7 from 16-22:00 – Av. Solano y 10 de Agosto – 0% down specials – keg beer, German sausages and sushi. <Did that just convince you to go car shopping (or tasting) this weekend?>

Toyota – new Prius4G and all 2018 models – it was today from 9-17:00 – direct financing with 25% down, 11% interest and up to 5 year term. <Just in case you were curious about financing a car here.>

Chery – Tiggo 3 (little SUV) – from $19,990 – av. España 8-31 y Barcelona.

Decameron – <This is where you’re going to drive your new car to.> – Punta Centinela, from $279/person for 2 nights or Punta Sal, from $319 – limited departure dates and days.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne