Soldiers to fight prison mafias; Government forces private hospitals to accept Covid patients; High court blocks tax plan; 911 calls jump

Miércoles, 12/8/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Ingapirca – A project of the US Embassy would preserve and fix deterioration at the site with $198,000 to be paid out over 2 years. <My Spanish isn’t good enough to tell if this is a grant or a loan.> The site has been damaged by the weather and water leaks. The objective is to preserve this cultural structure and to bring more visitors to the site.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Militares, en cárceles (Military, in prisons) – The Gobierno Nacional ordered a state of emergency in the prisons so that the Fuerzas Armadas (FFAA – Armed Forces) can control the mafias which are creating chaos in the prisons. 2 prisoners died during a brawl in the Sierra Centro Norte (Cotopaxi) yesterday; a fight between two gangs in the Litoral prison left 11 inmates dead from gunshots and stabbings last week; and Israeli Shy Daham was assassinated el sábado. <Sounds as if it’s as easy to get arms into prison as it is to send water thru a sieve. Must be people who don’t know “people” who are throwing stuff over the walls into Turi.>

911 calls increase – Compared to previous years, 911 calls in Zone 6 took a jump this year with 3,771 calls made between jueves, 6/8 and lunes, 10/8. The calls were up 71% in Azuay and 29% in Cañar. <Morona Santiago must have been too peaceful to need 911.> In 2019, there were 2,297 calls in Azuay while there have been 3,928 so far in 2020.

The government is forcing some private hospitals to accept Covid-19 patients but is not providing compensation. (El Mercurio)

Drug seizure – La Policía Nacional seized 885 packages of marihuana, and broke up a drug trafficking group. The organization had a warehouse in the Calvas canton, Loja where drugs from Colombia were stored before being shipped to Perú and Chile where the priceof the drugs triples.

Court overturns advance payment of income tax – The Corte Constitucional overturned Decreto 1109 which would have established advance payment of income tax and generated $280 million for the Government. The court ruled that the economic crisis was not caused by the pandemic, but bad management by the Government. The decree did not conform as an emergency measure, and it was presented as a way to get money from businesses to help other businesses in crisis, but that was not clear in the decree.

Slaughterhouse workers ask for Covid tests – Workers at Emurplag EP (Empresa Municipal de Servicios de Rastro y Plazas de Ganado – Municipal Company of Slaughterhouse Services and Livestock Markets) conducted a mini walkout el lunes to ask for Covid tests at least once a week. From marzo to now, 7 of the 56 workers have been identified with Covid and quarantined. Emurplag has a procedure where their doctor will order a PCR tests based on the worker’s symptoms. An alternate would be to reduce the number of people in the facility.

Hospitals caught in a ‘desesperante’ (maddening) situation – There is a law that patients referred from the public system to the private system can not be denied treatment. Practically speaking, this is a problem since ICU beds in the public hospitals are full, referrals are being made, but not paid for. Private clinics are having a hard time assuming the costs of treating patients referred by the public system. An estimated amount in the dozens of millions is owed the private hospitals. Daily costs to treat a patient is about $2,500 with a course of treatment costing up to $40,000. <Up to, because you could die before you got cured.> Without getting payment from the Government, the private hospitals don’t have the money to expand their facilities to treat more Covid patients.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne