New law excuses taxes and fines, freezes some rents; Kidnappings drop but remain a major concern; Police target home, student robberies; VAT will remain 15%

Domingo, 8/12/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Titular –
Something about sports.

Cuenca –

Two more Turkish power barges are headed to Ecuador, according to the Energy Ministry. They could arrive as soon as next week. (El Mercurio)

The next two items are your civics class about the elections.
Votos nulos (Null and void votes) – The law known as the Código de la Democracia determined what will be considered a null vote. These ballots contain a mark for more than one candidate or pair of candidates. They can also have “nulo, anulado,” or similar words written on them, or strikeouts what clearly show the intent to cancel that vote. Votos en blanco are blank votes and are turned in without any marks at all. <Kind of like none of the above. None of them is worth wasting ink on.>

Policías y militares (Police and military) – Active members of the Armed Forces and Police who are billeted with their units have the option to vote in the polling stations where their units are based. <As opposed to the polling station where they live and are registered.> They are not allowed to carry arms to the polls when they vote.

De El Mercurio del sábado, 7/12 (1 article):
Entradas a la venta para la obra “El Cascanueces” (Tickets on sale for the play “The Nutcracker”) – The Compañia de Danza, the Orquesta Sinfónica and the Coro Polifónico of the U. of Cuenca are ready to present the Christmas classis “El Cascanueces” under the title “Un Sueño de Navidad” (A Christmas Dream) with more than 150 performers. The performances will be on los 19, 20, & 21/12 in the Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz. Tickets are available in La Victoria (Stadium & Mall del Río), the Asociación de Profesores de la UCuenca, and the theater box office. Cost: $10:00.

De El Mercurio del viernes, 6/12 (1 article):
Usuarios de Nero pasan a ETAPA (Nero users switch to ETAPA) – The process of switching customers to ETAPA from the Nero water system will start with 355 customers in sectors such as San Juan Loma <If San Juan Hill sounds familiar, it was a battle in Cuba during the Spanish-American war. Odd that I’d remember that from history classes almost 70 years ago when I can’t remember if I’ve just added the 4th or 5th scoop of coffee to the coffee machine.>, Cuatro Esquinas and San Miguel in El Valle. Currently Project Nero has 8,350 customers and serves 54 communities in El Valle, Turi & Baños. Nero customers were interviewed and Liliana Tapia who lives in San Miguel de El Valle has not had water since el 16/11. She has had to buy water from tankers.

The cost of the switch to ETAPA is about $700 and she is hoping that it can be discounted since it is an emergency. Manuel Reyes who lives in the Señor del Cuativo barrio hasn’t had water for over 25 days. He joined his brother and an uncle who are neighbors to buy a reserve tank which is filled by tankers that charge $80-$100 per trip. <I guess you wind up getting used to sponge baths. I wonder at what point you’d build an outhouse. Or buy a chemical toilet.>

Actualidad –

De El Mercurio del sábado, 7/12 (1 article):
Ley de Alivio Financiero ‘frena’ alza de arriendos (Financial Relief Law ‘curbs’ rent increases) – The Asamblea Nacional approved the Ley Orgánica para el Alivio Financiero (Organic Law for Financial Relief) to help Ecuadorians overcome the economic crisis generated by power rationing. Pres. Noboa immediately sent the law to the Registro Oficial. The law includes the cancellation of taxes; of fines and surcharges on productive credit; of fines and surcharges on productive credit; and of interest on debts to the Agencia Nacional de Tránsito (ANT). The law also contemplates the suspension of procesos coativos (coactive or coercive processes — a quick search doesn’t give me any information I understand); restructuring mortgage credit; extinction of debts to the SRI; tax credit for employers; and benefits to debtors of a closed bank. The law established that rents not be increased temporarily while the declaration of emergency in the national electrical sector is in effect. This lid on rent increases applies on the renewal of a contract with the same renter as well as on a new contract with a new renter for the same property.

Workers who were dismissed in nov. & dec. of 2024, and enero and febrero of 2025 can access unemployment insurance immediately. Currently the application can only be submitted 60 days after the dismissal. For employers, failure to pay contributions for the months of noviembre y deciembre of 2024 will not generate employer liability with the IESS, as long as they are paid within 90 days of being in arrears. There are conditions for employers to receive this benefit. <And I’m not the one to translate what I don’t understand, filtered through a reporter whose education probably isn’t in labor or tax law either.>

100% of interest, fines, surcharges and costs derived from taxes to the Gobiernos Autónomos Descentralizados (GAD – Decentralized Autonomous Governments) will be pardoned if the taxpayer pays these obligations either partially or totally by el 30/6/25. This benefit also applies to debtors to the Agencia Nacional de Tránsito (ANT) and the Servicio Público para Accidentes de Tránsito (SPPAT – Public Service for Traffic Accidents) as long as the contributors pay 30% of their obligations by el 30/6/2024.

Sucesos –

Asaltos a estudiantes en Los Cerezos (Assaults on students in Los Cerezos) – In the past few days, at least 4 students from the U. of Cuenca Balzay Campus and the Ciudad de Cuenca High School have been victims of armed assaults. Most of them were on Paseo Tres de Noviembre y Los Cerezos. Students said that the robbers were on motorcycles, had pistols or bladed weapons, and foreign accents. One victim was on his way to class walking from Ordóñez Lasso, and was stopped at Paseo Tres de Noviembre by an armed subject who stole his phone and fled with an accomplice. He said that this type of crime is frequent in that zone and thought the robbers were the same ones who stole from other students. Another student was walking by the river when he was surprised by a robber and threatened with a knife. The thief took money and a phone and also fled on a motorcycle. He thought that the thieves followed a safe distance behind and acted when they had the opportunity. Students said that the thieves prowl around the area and there are cardboard and plastic shacks along the river where they hang out. EMAC has been asked to clean out these structures to avoid the presence of the thieves.

Policía Judicial investiga a banda de roba casas (Judicial Police investigating home robbery gang) – The Policía Nacional, through its Policía Judicial unit in Azuay is on the trail of a gang of men and women who are robbing homes in different sectors of Cuenca. Preliminary investigation shows the delinquents are taking advantage of the blackouts. Their method is to have a woman case out the properties to see what the security systems are, that no one is home, and that there is no electricity <A barking dog works just fine when the electricity is off.>. She alerts her accomplices who force their way in, all the time talking on the phone. It is thought that they are talking to lookouts who tell the burglars if the homeowners are coming.

The robberies have been in El Cebollar, Ricaurte and San José de Balzay. Security cameras have also caught them trying to enter houses in Santa María de Sayausí and Racar.

Nacional –

Ecuador espera 220 megavatios a través de dos barcazas más (Ecuador expects 220 megawatts from two more barges) – Inés Manzano, the ministra de Energía y Minas, confirmed that the contracting for 2 more power barges is finished, and they are outside the Panama Canal waiting for tugboats. She is hoping or expecting that the barges or energy will be here or flowing at the end of next week. She said that the contracting process was improved since the first barge which is now supplying 100 kw to the system. Karpowership has barges available for the regional market from Mexico to Ecuador since the drought is not exclusive to Ecuador. <I’m hoping that this is a once in a lifetime and not a once a year business opportunity for Karpowership.>

De El Mercurio del sábado, 7/12 (1 article):
IVA bajará al 8% por el asueto (VAT will be reduced to 8% for the holidays) – The National Government will implement a temporary reduction of the IVA from 15% to 8% during the holidays from miércoles 1/1 to el domingo 5/1/2025. <Just in time to take advantage of the after Christmas sales, assuming there are any.> This was announced by the Ministerio de Turismo to boost internal consumption, help businesses, and strengthen the tourism sector. The decision was made after Pres. Noboa declared jueves, 2/1 and viernes 3/1/2025 as a national holiday. However, the Government indicated that basic and essential services such as health, fire departments, transportation terminals, and banks would continue.

De El Mercurio del viernes, 6/12 (2 articles):

El IVA seguirá al 15% hasta el próximo año (VAT will continue at 15% until next year) – <Or maybe until a new president decides to lower it back to 12%? Wishful thinking on my part – what politician would lower taxes paid by ordinary people like me?> With the goal of guaranteeing income that contributes to the sustainability of public finances, fiscal stability and to confront the internal armed conflict, the Government decided to maintain the IVA tax at 15% for 2025. This is the maximum amount allowed by the Ley para Enfrentar el Conflicto Armado Interno (Law to Address the Internal Armed Conflict) which said that the IVA could vary between 13 & 15% depending on the conditions of the public finances and the balance of payments. In order to issue an Executive Decree to maintain the tax, the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF), by law, had to issue a positive pronouncement which it did el miércoles. After that, Noboa issued the Executive Decree 470. Between the date of the the publication of the Ley para Enfentar el Conflicto Armado Interno and 11/2024, the Government collected an additional $2 billion compared with the same period in 2023.

2,108 denuncias de secuestros de enero a octubre (2,108 reports of kidnappings from January to October) – The kidnapping of soccer player Pedro Pablo Perlaza and his friend Juan Carlos Morales put the frequency and violence of this crime into the public arena. This type of crime has increased exponentially in the last few years. According to National Police data, up to octubre, 2024, there were 2,108 reports of kidnappings although this number hasn’t reached the 8,300 reported in 2023. While in 2020, kidnapping reports barely passed 1,000.

Rescues by the Policía Nacional shows the increase in kidnappings and how the criminals have no limits at the time of the crime. For example, a video was made public in which there was an attempt on a disabled child and her family when the adults caring for the child were attacked. On el 24/10/2024, there was an operation in which 39 people specializing in kidnapping and extortión were arrested in Manabí, Guayas, Santa Elena, Los Riós, El Oro, and the Azuayan canton of Ponce Enríquez.

On miércoles of this week, the Policía Nacional freed 2 victims of kidnapping for ransom who were intercepted on a trip from Cuenca towards El Empalme. Besides kidnapping for ransom, the largest gangs have “express” kidnappings in which the victim is taken to ATMs to withdraw money. These gangs include the Choneros, Lobos, Tiguerones, Latin King, Las Águilas, Los Fatales and others. <So how do you make yourself look poor and not worth the trouble of kidnapping?>

Information from the Attorney General’s office said the most reports came from Guayas with 2,630 since 2022, and 568 so far this year. This was followed by Pichincha with 630 since 2022 and 81 in 2024. Azuay had 144 since 2022 and 24 in 2024. The Azuayan canton with the most reports was Cuenca with 114 since 2022 and 21 in 2024.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne