Most sex abusers of school children go unpunished; 38.5 kilometer bike route planned; New bus fares go into effect; Police increase crime-watch patrols

Martes, 3/5/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Nada.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Pizarras “manchadas” “stained” blackboards ) – Data from the Ministerio de Educación showed 4.066 victims of sexual abuse in Ecuadorian schools between 2014 & 2019. 1.983 teachers were accused of sexual abuse inside schools. A data base revealed that in at least 97% of the cases, the teacher involved remained unpunished. The Comisión Aampetra, a National Assembly committee that deals with sexual abuse, took a sample of 42 reports of child sexual abuse in schools and determined that in all the cases, the school authorities did not comply with their obligation to report the abuse.

The planned 38.5 kilometer bike trail between Cuenca and Azogues will run along the abandoned railway. (El Mercuiro)

The Contraloría General del Estado sampled 1,182 cases and found less than half resulted in the firing of the alleged abusers. The rest of the cases se archivaron (were archived <essentially thrown into the circular file>), the teachers temporarily suspended, assigned to a different location, or simply admonished. Only 16 resulted in a judicial sentence. <This is starting to sound a lot like how the Church dealt with abusive priests.> There have also been severe delays in the judicial system. Of the 39 or 1.13% of the complaints recognized by the Ministerio de Educación, there were delays of up to 9 years to resolve according to data from Human Rights Watch. One reason given was the lack of a budget. There are only 29 Gessel chambers in Ecuador, of which 9 are damaged with no money for repairs. Only 74 of the 840 prosecutors in the country are trained to handle issues of sexual abuse of minors. The system has less than half ot the 136 psychologists needed. Families need to hire an attorney which costs an average of between $800 to $2000 and many don’t have that. Abusers use families’ economic conditions to buy their consciences.

A former zone coordinator for the Ministerio de Educación said he knew of extra-judicial reparations agreements for families to withdraw their complaints.  The Attorney General insisted on the necessity of increasing personnel with at least 540 investigators urgently needed. The Ministerio de Educación ordered a plan for erradicating sexual violence in schools in 2011, but it never implemented anything. According to the Contraloría, an undetermined number of cases disappeared into the archives of the Ministerio de Educación. The Departamento de Consejería Estudiantil is in charge of receiving and charging complaints, but only has 3460 of the 7446 units needed. Out of 448 cases reviewed by the Contraloría, 13% of the teachers returned to the classroom.

En la ruta del tren planean cicloruta (Bicycle route planned for train tracks) – The Ministerio de Transporte y Obras (MTOP), zone 6, delivered studies for the construction of the Cicloruta Cuenca Azugues Biblián y Sendas Peatonales (Bicycle Route Cuenca Azogues Biblián and Pedestrian Paths) that will follow the old train tracks. The whole route will have 38.51 km of which 18.6 or 48.3% will be in Cuenca, 1.6 km. in Paute, 12.9 km. en Azogues, and 5.41 km. in Biblián. 3 new bridges will need to be built and 3 others repaired. The route will be primarily for cyclists, but will be shared with people on foot <and dogs? – on leashes of course, and not dogs that chase bikes, I hope.>. It will start at the Miguel Angel Estrella station in Gapal. The railroad itself opened in 1965 and covered the ruta Cuenca-Sibambe (Chimborazo). It ended service in 1993 due to the Josefina landslide disaster.

De madrugada vigila escuadrón de motorizados (Motorized patrol in early morning hours) – The National Police through the Grupo de Operaciones Motorizadas (GOM) is intensifying its anti-crime controls with rounds from 2:00 to 5:00. They pay attention to commercial spaces in the Centro Histórico, gas stations, cajeros automaticos (automatic tellers, ATMs), and go through different neighborhoods. Last weekend, GOM stopped private cars, taxis, and motorcycles and checked the occupants of cars for criminal records. They said that delinquents are taking advantage of the health emergency to commit crimes. Robberies of vehicle accessories, homes, motorcycles and livestock rustling are the most reported crimes. After an operation last sábado, 8 people were detained for violating curfew in the city center, El Vecino and Panamericana Norte.

Incendio destruye una casa “refugio” (Fire destroys a “shelter” house) – A fire last Saturday night destroyed the wooden machine house at the old train station of the Ferrocarril de Gapal. There were no injuries. Neighbors reported that the long abandoned building was used as a shelter for delinquents and thought that the fire had been caused by the delinquents.

Ya rigen nuevas tarifas en la transportación interprovincial (New rates already apply in interprovincial transportation) – The new 15% increase in interprovincial and intercantonal bus fares went into effect el 1/5. ANT is conducting controls in the terminal terrestres to verify compliance with the new fares. Fare schedules are required to be posted in the bus ticket offices and on buses. If transporters try to “round” <the “up” is unspoken – why would they round fares down?> the fares, sanctions can be as severe as revoking operating permits.

Sample fares are below, preferential fares (for seniors, the disabled and students) are 50%.
Interprovincial routes to and from Cuenca:
Quito: $13.80
Guayaquil: 9.20
Machala: 6.90
Loja: 8.63
Azogues: .86
Cañar: 2.47
La Troncal: 5.00
Macas: 12.59
Méndez: 9.20

Intercantonal routes to and from Cuenca:
Gualaceo: 1.27
Paute: 1.44
Sígsig 2.07
Girón: 1.21
Nabón: 2.24
Santa Isabel: 2.42
San Fernando: 1.90
Oña 3.34:
Sevilla de Oro: 1.90

El IESS se suma hoy al proceso de vacunación (The IESS joins the vaccination process today) – IESS joined the vaccination process starting today. Its objective is to guarantee coverage for retirees, pensioners and affiliates over 65. Nationally, IESS has set up 24 vaccination points in different provinces at medical and senior centers. If you are in one of those groups in IESS and have not had your first dose, you can look up the place and date of your vaccination on their web site – vacunación.iess.gob.ec.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne