Most Guayaquil prisoners are not convicted; Fears of fuel price rise; Traffic radar upgraded; Symphony plays tonight; Vaccination of kids 5 to 11 begins

Jueves, 14/10/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Habrá coloquio sobre salud mental (There will be a colloquium on mental health) – The Instituto Internacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Educativo (International Institute for Educational Technological Research and Development) and the Zone 6 coordination of the Ministerio de Educación will present the 1st colloquium on Salud Mental y Inclusión Educativa (Mental Health and Educational Inclusion) el 21/10. The free program, geared for teachers and school administrators in Azuay, Cañar, y Morona Santiago, will be virtual. To register go to bit.ly/3C6HU5P.

Violonchelista dará charla y recital (Cellist will give talk and recital) – There will be a concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca el 15/10 a las 20:00 in the Santo Domingo church with works by Rossini, Tchaikovsky y Ravel. The concert will feature cellist Francisco Vila who has played with the Houston Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic of Liege, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, and more. Vila gave a talk at the Museo Pumapungo today.

Titular –

Businesses say they feel the impact of rising gasoline and diesel prices.

El Gualaceo, en la gloria (El Gualaceo, in glory) – El Gualaceo SC made history in professional football and Ecuadorian history by qualifying for Serties A of the LigaPro for the first time. <This is sports so you’re on your own for the details.>

Cuenca –

Relacionan subida de precios con alza de los combustibles (Price hikes linked to fuel price increases) – The gradual increase in fuel prices has generated unease in some people who feel that the prices of products have increased because of that. An El Mercurio reporter spoke to people at the Feria Libre. Walter Mera brings oranges from Poza Honda, Manabí 3 times a week and he said that the increase in fuel affects everyone, especially the final consumer. He said the effect was not only a few cents more in gas, but that the price of oil and tires increased. Mera said it was a chain reaction, when gas goes up, everything goes up. As an example, he used to sell 100 oranges for $4 and now sells them for $4.50. This story was repeated by other businesspeople. The consumers who were interviewed said their money didn’t go as far as it used to with one man saying that “You come to buy with $ 20 and you have nothing.”

Pedro Palacios asume vicepresidencia del Foro de Ciudades Intermedias (Pedro Palacios assumes vice-presidency of the Forum of Intermediate Cities) – <Mayor Pedro Palacios gave an opening speech at the Foro Mundial de Ciudades Intermedias de Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos (CGLU -World Forum of Intermediate Cities of United Cities and Local Governments). The forum was in Kutahya, Turkey from 5-8/10. It is the most important international forum for local governments and medium sized cities in the world to debate and establish joint lines of action from the viewpoint of intermediate territories. Palacios will be the vicepresident of the Foro and Cuenca will be the location for the Foro Regional de Ciudades Intermedias in junio or julio of 2022.

The Primer Personero Municipal (longwinded way to say mayor) called this a new opportunity for Cuenca to position itself as one of the best cities in Latin America for investing, visiting, studying, working and living. The CGLU is the largest network of cities in the world representing 5 billion people or 70% of the world population. In the network, there are over 240,000 cities, regions, and metropoleses and more than 175 local governmental associations in 140 countries.

En Cuenca la CTE tiene 19 radares (The CTE has 19 radars in Cuenca) – The Comición de Tránsito del Ecuador CTE) has a total of 19 fixed radars to control speed on state highways in the jurisdiction of Cuenca. 30% of them aren’t operating normally. CTE will review the devices, and replace them if needed. They should be installed after technical studies at spots with large numbers of accidents. There should be signage before and after the devices according to a law that went into effect el 10/8/2021. Ruth Caldas, CTE director in Azuay, explained that it is currently gathering information about the placement and condition of the radars in the province. She said after this analysis, the information will go to the national CTE and then to ANT to make changes. However, the goal is not to punish, but to prevent accidents. <Different mind set about traffic control than in the US which explains why there are traffic cops scattered around who never give out tickets. I guess the idea is that if you see the “radar ahead” sign you’ll slow down before you get to that curva de muerte.>

Region –

Reparos a unidireccionalidad vial (Repairs to road unidirectionality) – One way roads have been proposed as a solution to the heavy traffic at the south entrance to Cuenca. It would include the Narancay-Tarqui segment, the Panamericana Sur and the Turi-Tarqui highway. The Provincial Government and its Asfaltar EP company proposed that the segment Narancay-Tarqui would be exclusively for vehicles leaving Cuenca on weekends and during holidays. At the same time, the Turi-Tarqui highway, which is a toll road for Asfaltar EP, would be for people entering Cuenca from the río Jubones watershed and El Oro province. Paolo Carpio, manager of Asfaltar EP, said this would reduce the time stuck in traffic entering and leaving Cuenca. The one way system would apply on Friday afternoons, but needs to be publicized, studied, and have the participation of the people. <What about that other traffic jam on Sundays?>

The presidents of the parish juntas of Turi and Tarqui are not in agreement with the proposal, fearing damage to the roads from increased traffic and more heavy vehicles. The president of the Tarqui Parish junta said it would be better to remove all the vendors along the road to decongest traffic.

Nacional –

Más del 75% de presos en Penitenciaría sin sentencia (More than 75% of prisoners in Penitentiary without sentence) – Over 75% of the prisoners in the wing of the Prison No. 1 de Guayaquil where the 28/9 massacre occurred had not been sentenced, and 61.3% of those killed had sentences between 20 & 30 years. Bernarda Ordóñez, secretary of Derechos Humanos, said of the 119 prisoners killed, 106 have been identified. 77% of these people were in wing 5, and only 24.5% had been sentenced. The other 75% did not have a final judgement to confirm or ratify their guilt or innocence. She referred to the the legal limbo prisoners found themselves. 33% of those killed were under 25, and 35% of them were accused of robbery and drug trafficking. <Truly cases of “justice delayed is justice denied” since justice delayed resulted in death without due process. Does Ecuador have the equivalent of Camp Cupcake where Martha Stewart and other rich white collar criminals served their time?>

Listo el esquema para vacunar a menores entre los 5 y 11 años (The plan to vaccinate minors between 5 and 11 years old is ready) – The over 2 million children from 5-11 can be vaccinated starting el lunes. The Ministro de Salud, Ximena Garzón, called for school authorities to coordinate with health centers to get brigades which will administer the vaccines. There will be enough vaccines to innoculate all these kids who will receive different doses from adults. Children between 6 & 11 will get Sinovac, and 5 year olds will get Pfizer, both brands spaced 28 days apart. the campaign will start with the 6-11 years olds, and then 5 year olds after. Once this age group is vaccinated by the end of noviembre, the government expects that over 85% of the population will be vaccinated. She announced that there have been small outbreaks of the virus because people have tended to relax their observation of biosecurity measures. She said they are working with the national COE to take actions in the localities where there have been new outbreaks so that the economic reactivation will not be put at risk. She also said that the age group that has delayed getting the vaccine the most is the 18-20 year old group.

Negocios –

La tienda emblema de Colineal se inaugura en Cuenca (Colineal’s flagship store opened in Cuenca) – The new 3 story Colineal store on Gran Colombia y Unidad Nacional opened yesterday. The 6,000 sq. m. of construction is divided into 4,500 m. of sales rooms and 1.500 m. of underground parking. Besides the complete line of home furnishings, is a cafetería <I bet they won’t have Swedish meatballs in lingonberry sauce, though.>, a terrace, and and an area for little ones <Don’t want those crumb crushers putting their sticky little hands on that expensive upholstery>. Besides furniture for the house, there are decorative accessories, sports accessories, outdoor furniture, and utilitarian items <fancy toilet brushes?>. Manager Sofía Maldonado said that the furniture is at the same level as stores in NY, Madrid or Paris, and invited the public to visit the store. She noted they have furniture at different price points including their Carpenter line where you can get a complete living room, dining room, or bedroom for $3,000.

And that’s it for today so hasta ?

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.