More police needed to meet int’l standard; Industrial parks to expand; Gasolines upgraded; Father Crespi, the musical; Street art expo; Covid-19 is under control

Miércoles, 8/6/2022

Hola, Todos –

Sorry, but I had to take yesterday off to take care of medical stuff. It still amazes me that from seeing a primary care doctor once every few years, old age is making me see a bunch of doctors every few months.

Actividades –

Cuenca’s Padre Crespi

Escenifican la vida y obra del padre Crespi (The life and work of Father Crespi is being staged ) – Over 70 people are part of the project which is having its pre-premier tonight. In 2013, Jhonny Vallejo composed a work after research into the life and labor of padre Carlos Crespi. He describes Crespi’s birth in Italy, his journey to Latin America and his work in Cuenca through a series of 23 songs. He made a proposal to the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (UPS) and with Luis Alvarez who became the producer of the musical, found the cast of singers, dancers, actors, children and orchestration. The first part of the production has pop, rock and jazz; and the 2nd part uses Ecuadorian genres fused with foreign music.

The premier will be in the Teatro Carlos Crespi at the UPS (calle de las Carretas y del Obrero) este viernes a las 19:30 with more performances el 15, 22, 23, & 24/6 at the same time and place. There will also be performances a las 10:00 on el 11, 18 & 25/6. Free.

“Galerías Urbanas” se toman parque Guataná (“Urban Galleries” take over Guataná Park) – The Dirección de Cultura del Municipio de Cuenca will present the “Galerías Urbanas 2022” project with urban art in the parque Guataná (calles Guataná y Dolores J. Torres in the González Suárez Gran AKI sector) on sábado y domingo between 10:00 & 22:00. There will be grafitti art with 11 local artists, electronic music, an entrepreneurs feria, skateboard demonstrations, and the 2nd qualifying round for the BMX freestyle championship. Open to the public, free.

Exposición – There will be a photo show and scale model trains exhibit <for those whose inner child still wants to wear an engineer’s cap and blow the horrn> until 17/6 in the Casa Patrimonial Quinta Bolívar (av. 24 de Mayo y redondel de Gapal) from lunes a viernes, from 10-16:30.

Teatro – “Bang Bang estás muerto” will be staged el viernes a las 19:00 in the Sala de Conciertos in the Casa de la Cultura (Pres. Córdova 7-89, 3d floor). Tickets are available by calling 097 907 6949, and cost $10 for the general public and $5 for students. <What? No senior discount?>

Titular –

The government will introduce two new types of gasoline beginning in July, one. Eco Plus, an 89-octane ethanol, the second a 95-octane Super Premium. (El Mercurio)

Hace falta más policías (More police officers needed) – In Cuenca there are about 900 police officers in the area of prevention, and another 150 in the area of investigations for the whole of Azuay. At Pres. Lasso’s meeting on security el último lunes, which included 300 mayors, prefects and governors, there were no concrete actions taken to combat the insecurity. Mayor Palacios felt it is necessary that the Guardia Ciudadana de Cuenca (GCC) and the Agentes Civiles de Tránsito (ACT) be authorized to carry non-lethal arms. This is part of the Ley que Regula el Uso Progresivo de la Fuerza which is being debated in the Asamblea Nacional. Walter Villaroel, commander of the subzone of the National Police Azuay N° 1 said that there are 900 police and 150 investigators in Cuenca and that double this number is needed to meet international standards and recommendations from security organizations. <Think how much safer this already safe city would be with a full complement of police. We could be like Singapore and the cops could start catching people for littering or spitting.>

In bullet points:
• According to data from the Policía Nacional, from 1/1-13/5/2022, there were 223 robberies of persons. In the same period in 2021, there were 175.

• National Police data showed from 1/1-30/4/2022, 95 cases related to narcotics were investigated, 67,462.46 grams of drugs were seized, and 94 people were arrested.

• The Consejo de Seguridad Ciudadana data indicated 60% of the citizenry felt
somewhat unsafe, and 21% did not feel safe at all. <Does that 21% percent include husbands who are cheating on their wives?>

• According to National Police data, robberies of persons, houses, and commercial establishments were the main crimes committed in Cuenca.

• The aeropolicial service returned with the helicopter landing at the airport last weekend.

Cuenca –

Industrias, a la expectativa por el PDOT y PUGS (Industries await PDOT and PUGS) – The PDOT and PUGS land use and land development plans are having their 2nd debates this week. Rodrigo Cordero, president of the Cámara de Industrias, Producción y Empleo de Cuenca (CIPEM) said that since Cuenca is the production capitol in the south of Ecuador, it’s important to define the vision for the coming decades. He said the land for industry is currently insufficient to allow enough growth for an economically active population. One of the largest needs is security and employment which are tightly related in that fuller employment can diminish crime.

Councilman Andrés Ugalde stressed the importance of the PDOT and PUGS plans. Currently, 300 new hectares of industrial land are contemplated, with 110 in the Parque Industrial, 10 in Plásticos Rival, 50 in the Ecoparque Chaullayacu, 16 in Chaulluabamba, 30 in Capulispamba, and 45 in Patamarca. In addition, there will be land available that will be classified (zoned?) for conditional industrial and artisanal uses, but studies need to be done to accomplish this. This land will provide 70 additional hectares between Guangarcuho, and the enlargement of the Ecoparque Chaullayacu. There are also about 30 hectares in Sinincay and El Valle for artisanal production. Lastly, there has been land classified for potential industrial use that needs special plans for its development. In total there are 260 hectares in the productive corridor in Victoria del Portete y Cumbe. The challenge now is that most of the land permits A, B, & C industries, which is up to medium industries. What worries Ugalde is that there is no land for large, type D, industry. <I wonder if NIMBYs are here in Cuenca, too. Maybe that’s why there’s no land for large industry.>

Población entre los 18 y 49 años puede acceder al segundo resfuerzo (Population between 18 and 49 years old can get second booster) – <People between 18 & 49 who had their 1st booster at least 5 months ago, can get their 2nd booster. If you are in a vulnerable group, you can get your 2nd booster 4 months after your 1st. This group includes people over 50, people over 12 with moderate or severe immunosuppression, people over 18 in strategic groups, people with chronic and catastrophic diseases, disabled people, caregivers for vulnerable people, people with HIV and sex workers.

Yesterday’s news from martes, 7/6/2022 –

Hoy presentarán plan de Eco Plus y Súper P. (Eco Plus and Super P plan to be introduced today) – The Empresa Pública de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador (EP Petroecuador <This is the company that has ex-directors who are fat, happy, and living la vida lujo in Miami – see the photo in Monday’s CHL.>) announced a plan to start selling 2 new types of gas. 89 octane Eco Plus will go on sale this 12/7 for $3 something. It has a mix that is up to 7% ethanol, extracted mainly from sugar cane. Eco which is currently sold, is 5% ethanol with between 80-85 octane. The 95 octane Super Premium gas will go on sale el 12/9/2022 at a price 1.3% above the current Super which will be discontinued. Once this plan is in effect, there will be 3 choices for gas – Extra or Ecopaís (85 octane), Eco Plus (89 octane), and Súper Premium (95 octane). <Tell me if your car is happier with Eco Plus.>

Casos de COVID-19 aumentan, pero son leves (Cases of COVID-19 increase, but are minor) – Hospital occupancies are down. In the Public System, hospitalization was at 3%, no one was in intermediate care, and ICU beds were 5% occupied. In the IESS-FF.AA and PP.NN. (Armed Forces & National Police) system, hospitalization was at 17%, intermediate are beds were vacant, and ICU beds were 30% occupied. In the private system, hospitalization was at 3%, one patient was in intermediate care, and the ICU beds were 11% occupied. <Why are the percentages for soldiers and cops so high? Are these the vaccine deniers or are they just more exposed due to their jobs?>

Cirugías ambulatorias se resuelven en unidad móvil (Ambulatory surgeries are performed in mobile unit) – The Coordinación Zonal 6 de Salud and the Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso (HVCM) have started surgeries in the Unidad Móvil Quirúrgica, a rolling surgery suite for light and moderate pathologies to reduce their waiting list for various pediatric, gynecological and general surgeries. Procedures include removal of hernias, lipomas, and benign skin tumors. <I wonder if they do house calls – pull up in your driveway, and 30 minutes later, you’re on the sofa recovering with a bag of chips and a soda.>

Region –

Casi en el 50% se encuentra variante en vía a Molleturo (Bypass on vía to Molleturo almost 50% done) – The Ministerio de Transporte y Obras (MTOP) has opened 1.2 of the 2.7 km. of the by-pass being constructed below km. 49 of the vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme. It is being built along the banks of the río Miguir with the purpose of serving light vehicles and then heavy transport when the slope stabilization and associated work restarts. Work done so far includes removing the vegetation and improving the soil to support the weight of vehicles. <If it gets improved to CalTrans standards, we might never go back to the original road – unless the río Miguir is prone to flooding.> On el 15/5, km. 40 was opened to traffic between the hours of 6-18:00, 7 days a week. If there are heavy rains, km. 49 could be temporarily closed to traffic as the situation demands.

Nacional –

Modernizar la refinería requiere $2.700 millones (Refinery modernization requires $2.7 billion) – Petroecuador is expecting to firm up the bidding for the modernization of the Esmeraldas refinery in 3 months. The general manager of Petroecuador, Italo Cedeño, said the project should have the capacity to refine 110,000 barrels of crude each day, and produce Euro V fuels. <So the new buses will also be happier with a longer life expectancy?> The goal is to improve the processing at the plant to reduce the quantity of waste which now have to be exported at below market prices. The plant should be able to use the waste to produce diesel and propane which the country now imports. Cedeño said that modernizing the plant would take about 2 years instead of the 8-10 years needed to build a new one. He also said that the company would announce the competition for increasing the Amistad field to quadruple the production of gas from 15 to 100 million cubic feet per day.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne