Preventive detention urged for Quito mayor in Covid tests case; Rural seniors vaccinated at home; Nabón brewers get free barley; 100,000 trees for the Amazon

Miércoles, 28/7/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

De la pagina cultural –

Préstamo de libros en la CCE (Book loan at the CCE) – The CCE has set up a virtual library to borrow books from the biblioteca Manuel Muñoz Cueva. If you are interested, go to https://www.cceazuay.gob.ec/biblioteca-manuel-munoz-cueva/. There is a catalogue of 35,000 books and an hemeroteca (newspaper library) with 107,000 articles from magazines and newspapers. Once you have made your selection, you can reserve it by calling 099 857 6641. You can pick up your books los miércoles from 8-16:30 from the CCE (Pres. Córdova y Luis Cordero). <Who knows, you might get lucky and find a book in a language in which you are proficient even if you have to ask your facilitator to reserve it for you.>

Saladentro presenta “Transitar” (Saladentro presents “Transitar”) – Saladentro is presenting a 12 part program of “Transitar, el Ecuador a través de la cámara de Marcel García.” The program will share part of the artist’s photographic archives. The second session will be this 1/5 and will cover the peoples’ markets in Ecuador. It wil be transmitted a las 19:00 on Facebook Live de Saladentro and by Zoom (ID8289088055). <You don’t need to get lucky to understand pictures.>

Diego Zamora dedica a Jesús Fichamba una canción por su muerte (Diego Zamora dedicates a song to Jesús Fichamba for his death) – The Cuencan artist, Diego Zamora, has recorded a video of the song “La pinta, La niña y La Santa María” <Does that take you back to 3d grade history?> in memory of singer Jesús Fichamba who died recently. You can see it at https://www.facebook.com/DiegoZamoraOficial/.

Otras cosas –

Quito Mayor Jorge Yunda of accused of a scheme to resell Chinese Covid-19 test kits. (La Hora)

Titular – Fiscalía pide prisión para Yunda (Prosecutor’s Office asks for prison for Yunda) – The Pichincha prosecutor has asked for preventative prison for Quito Mayor Jorge Yunda. He and 13 others are being investigated for alleged speculation and irregularities in the purchase of 100,000 Covid tests. The prosecutor asked for preventive prison because he is considered a flight risk. <Another Ecuadorian headed for Miami?> Investigators found that his son and other family members were operating a parallel city administration through which they contracted for goods and services from Chinese businesses and received bribes. $4,226,880 of PCR tests were purchased, but the tests did not meet specifications, were ineffective, and gave false results.

Hay cantones donde se vacuna a adultos mayores en su casa (There are cantons where older adults are vaccinated at home) – The municipalities of Gualaceo and Santa Isabel have developed a program with the MSP (Ministerio de Salud Público) to vaccinate the elderly in their homes. 1,000 seniors have been vaccinated in Gualaceo. In Santa Isabel, MSP employees and vaccines are being transported with the help of mixtos and taxis. In Guachapala, city workers have identified seniors who have difficulty getting around, and are taking these seniors to the vaccination centers. Valentina Moscoso, a doctor specializing in epidemiology, highlighted the importance of vaccinating seniors in their homes since they have the highest risk of dying from Covid. She called it indignante (outrageous – your word for the day) to see seniors amontonados (piled up) in long lines in bad weather waiting for a vaccine. She said local authorities should help the MSP in vaccinating seniors at home.

Currently the MSP is vaccinating people who are more than 50% disabled in the colegio Manuel Garaicoa. In Cuenca this week, the MSP started vaccinating people over 85 without the need for an appointment. The National COE has suspended the fees for filing death certificates in those provinces where there is a state of emergency so that people will not have to go to an office and risk infections when they apply for and then pick up the certificates.

Cuencana tendrá dura misión: “femicidio cero” (Cuencana will have a hard mission: “zero femicide”) – Cuencana Bernarda Ordóñez, the new 30 year old Secretary for Human Rights, founded the Aequitas organization in 2012. It is dedicated to fighting for gender equity. The self identified feminist and researcher into human rights and in particular the rights of women and children, said her functions will center on erradicating femicide and violence against women which are preventable crimes with adequate application of public policies. Some of her other challenges are the fight against teen pregnancies, intrafamily violence, suicides by teens, and sexual abuse of minors.

Mediante correos el BIESS da atención (Through emails, BIESS serves the public) – The Banco del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (BIESS) will start serving the public via emails in Azuay, Cañar, Loja, Morona Santiago y Zamora Chinchipe. The new email addresses are informacion.cuenca@biesss.fin.ec. For the other provinces, substitute .cuenca@ with azogues, loja, maca, and zamora. There is also a web page at www.biess.fin.ec and a call center at 1800-Biess7 (1800-243-777). }

Nabón es el primer proveeedor de Azuay para la Cervecería Nacional (Nabón is Azuay’s first supplier for the National Brewery) – The Cervecería Nacional has a program called “Siembra por Contrato” in which 14 producers in Nabón received barley seeds to plant. The barley will be used mostly for the “Nuestra Siembra” beer. <A a bonus for reading this article, go to the Nuestra Siembra site and sign up to win a month of free beer.> The producers, who have to have a RUC, a bank account, and proof of ownership of the land, each got 3 quintals of seeds for each hectar of land and will also receive technical assistance.

Arranca campaña para plantar 100,000 árboles en Amazonía (Campaign to plant 100,000 trees in the Amazon starts) – This tree planting campaign will be in the provinces of Napo, Pastaza, Sucumbíos y Orellana and include species such as cedro, balsa, chonta, morete, guadua, batea, guanábana, ajo de monte y caoba (cedar, balsa, chonta, morete, guadua, batea, soursop, wild garlic and mahogany). This “Juntos por la Tierra” initiative is part of a government forest conservation and restoration program of PROAmazonía, the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, and with the support of the Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD -United Nations Development Program). The program seeks to make people aware of the importance of preserving forests for their contributions to the environment, health, and in mitigating the effects of climate change. <This in contrast to the burning and destruction of the Amazon that’s occuring in Brazil with the full support of its Trumpish president.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne