Pedophile ‘saint’ goes unpunished; Covid-19 cases continue to decline; Mining is polluting Río Santa Bárbara; Outside acitivites needed during pandemic

Lunes, 9/11/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Del cuerpo del periodico –

Novela aborda drama de la pedofilia (Novel tackles pedophilia drama) – The novel “El Rostro” by Ernesto Arias tackles pedofilia in the Catholic clergy. It will be launched as part of the Encuentro sobre Literatura y Latinoamericana “Alfonso Carrasco Vintimilla” via Zoom el 10 de noviembre a las 20:00. There will be an in person presentation el 12/11 a las 18:00 in the Librimundi book store.

Otras cosas –

Titular – El lado oscuro de falso “santo” (The dark side of false “saint”) – Almost 20 years have passed since the Spanish priest José Luis Sánchez died without receiving sanctions for accusations of pedophilia, forced sterilizations, keeping money belonging to those in his charge, and child abuse. The priest came to Cuenca in 1988 and founded Mensajeros de la Paz, a shelter for abandoned and disabled children, in 1996. He returned to Spain in 2018 to care for his mother. José Luis Sánchez was notified of the denunciations of pedophilia against him and relieved of his position at the shelter by monseñor Marcos Pérez Caidedo, the archbishop of Cuenca, in 2018 before Sánchez’s death. Pérez learned about Sánchez’s actions through a confession so can not reveal details. There were also two other witnesses, one in the justice system, and the other an ex-employee of the Curia to whom parents and residents of the shelter came. They told her about the abuse and she took the denunciations to the Corte Distrital de Menores. <As far as I can tell, things got lost in the system.>

Carapaz dedica su logro en La Vuelta a los ecuatorianos (Carapaz dedicates his achievement in La Vuelta to the Ecuadorians) – Richard Carapaz, the “Locomotora del Carchi,” came in second in La Vuelata de España 2020 bicycle race.

More online resources are needed to guarantee transparency among Azuay governments. (El Mercurio)

En Sígsig denuncian contaminación (Contamination In Sígsig denounced) – There is worry in the canton of Sígsig, northeast of Cuenca, about possible contamination of the Río Santa Bárbara due to mining activities. The indigenous community of San Sebastian noticed changes in the color of the water and spoke with the municipal authorities in Sígsig and neighboring Chordeleg and Gualaceo for support in protecting the river which also runs through those two cantons. A march is planned for el 23/11 in central Sígsig. There are illegal mines as well as legal mines that do not comply with the parameters and are using heavy equipment to change the channel, dig deep holes and use pollutants.

Visitas al parque requieren mayor disciplina ciudadana (Visits to the park require greater citizen discipline) – Visits to city parks have increased in the past few days with El Paraíso and Tarqui-Guzho being favorites for open air family activities. Fernanda Cabrera, a psychologist talked about the importance of getting out of the house, especially for children. The WHO and UNICEF both recognized the need for time outside and physical activity while keeping in mind the presence of Covid. <Cooking and cleaning are physical activities too, but they just don’t have the same capacity to clear your mind.> The organizations recommended that when you go out, wash your hands and use the bathroom so you won’t need to use public bathrooms. Bring disinfectant and a bag to carry masks. Avoid crowds in parks or public spaces. Respect social distancing. Comply with local biosecurity measures, which in Cuenca is the mandatory use of masks. <I hope those of you inclined to disobey all of that just because WHO recommends it will curb those anti-social instincts.>

Azuay: transparencia en municipios es baja (Azuay: transparency in municipalities is low) – Compliance with the transparency laws in Ecuador by cities in Azuay ranges from 67.92% in Cuenca to 3.77% in Pucará. Infoparticipa with the support of the UPS and Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona analyzed more than 50 parameters in the municipal transparency systems. The average percentage of compliance was under 30%. For Cuenca, what was needed included the institutional agenda of the mayor, biographies and photos of officials, organigramas (organizational charts – your word for the day), information about compliance with the objectives of budget stability and financial sustainability, level of debt, job opportunities, and costs of publicity campaigns. Jorge Moscoso, municipal director of transparency said that the department is responding to the study and has added information. Currently, the municipal portal for transparency is remodeling its interface. <Kind of basic to transparency, I’d think. I hope this remodeling doesn’t take as long as SF Plaza or the Tranvía.> A spokesperson connected with the study commented that it’s good that Cuenca has public information via matrixes, but that does not guarantee interaction between authorities and the populace which is one of the deficiencies noted.

Cuenca inicia semana con 8,626 contagiados (Cuenca starts week with 8,626 infected) – The MSP weekly announcement indicates Cuenca has 8,626 cases of Covid and Azuay has 10,883 which puts it in 4th place behind Pichincha, Guayas y Manabí in number of cases. Cases at the provincial level are continuing to decrease with 145 new cases in the last week compared with 259 two weeks ago and 294 a month ago. Zone 6 health coordinators are asking people to continue with wearing masks, distancing, and washing hands.

Agenda –

Jueves, 12 de noviembre:

10:00 – Historia y disidencia: apertura de la exposición Anónimos (History and dissent: opening of the Anonymous exhibition) – Casa Patrimonial de las Posadas, Facebook Live @casaspatrimonialescuenca – limited capacity.
19:00 – Homenaje a Eudoxia Estrealla en sus 95 años (Tribute to Eudoxia Estrella for her 95th year) – Galería de la Alcaldía – limited capacity.

12 y 13 de noviembre:

17:00 Taller artistico inspirado en el bordado de la Chola Cuencana (Artistic workshop inspired by the embroidery of the Chola Cuencana) – register at ccarrillo@cuenca.gob.ec.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne