Tranvía concerns, Moreno status check, Cuenca seeks special tourism status, Ex-priest arrested

Jueves, 24/8/2017

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Concierto – Paulo Freire will perform Friday a las 20:30 in the Sucre Salé Café. Cost: $5.00.

Taller de Mandalas – The “Kinto Ñan por Suramérica” project will hold a stretched thread mandala workshop el sábado from 9:30-13:00 in La Vitrina (Pres. Córdova y Borrero). Cost: $9.00, including materials.

Música en vivo (Live music) – Jaime Martínez will present “Solo y Eléctrico” (Alone and Electric) Friday a las 18:00 in the Rizoma Plataforma Disidente (Cordero y Pres. Córdova in the CCE). He will be singing original work. Cost: $3.00.

Articles about –

Museo Remigio Crespo – The article reviewed the visit by the Azuay Special Olympics team to the museum.

Fotografía – The 3d International Bienal of Digital Art Photography will be opened on 5/9 in Quito in the Museo Camilo Egas of the Ministry of Culture and Patrimony.

Aquiles Jimbo – The author, retired from the military, presented his novel, “Más acá de la frontera” (More here from the border/Closer than the border), in Cuenca last month. The author said that it’s easy to write, but it’s hard to publish. He called his work quixotic – to make books in the midst of a society that doesn’t read or reads very little. <Just think if you all learned Spanish and started buying books in Spanish. You could do for local literature what you do for the Symphony and local artists. Consume.>

Otras cosas –

Titular – La vinculación de Glas al caso Odebrecht es casi segura (Glas’s link to the Odebrecht case is almost certain) – See Thursday’s CHL article for more info.

Pres. Moreno, 3 mo. in power – The issues in the president’s first 3 months were corruption, a political rupture, and criticism of projects he inherited. <Now for you numbers junkies. Are there any of you out there or am I translating numbers to a bunch of bored people?> The amount of taxes for this year is estimated to be $14.760 billion, up 7% from last year. Ecuador’s debt is $57.788 billion, 59% of the GDP. His first actions have been: 24/5 – eliminating coordinating ministries and the Secretaría del Buen Vivir; 25/5 – creating the Toda un Vida and Las Manuelas missions by decree; 5/6 – forming the Front for the fight against corruption; 1/8 – presenting the Casa para todos (House for all) program in Manabí; 7/8 – announcing the first austerity measures; 14/8 – making the Impulso Joven program in Quito official; 16/8 – making the Pact for road safety in Quito official; 19/8 – inaugurating the Minga Agropecuaria in Quevedo.

The article also has a long list of campaign promises and where he is on them. One in the area of education, is the creation of 40 technical universities and increasing scholarships.

Tranvía – A civil engineer who also wrote “Ilusiones, una ciudad para el tranvía,” Eduardo Cardoso Martínez, has expressed uneasiness with the new process to finish the Tranvía. He pointed out the big difference between the city’s reference cost of $32.3 million and the high bid of $50.5 million which came from the French consortium that was part of the original consortium and is also the owner of the APS system that feeds electricity to the tranvía in the Centro Historicopo. He also mentioned that the bidders were told they would need to find solutions to parts of the project such as the redondel at the airport. Normally plans are complete before bidding. <Or you do a design/build contract.> Another member of the French consortium is not registered with the Superintendent of Companies which means it can’t bid for work.

Taxes – Taxes collected in the Austro (South) in the period enero – julio increased from $404,334,000 to 435,921,000 or by 8% from 2016 to 2017.

Tourism certificate – Cuenca is seeking a “Destino Turístico Sostenible” (Sustainable Tourist Destination) Certificate from Tour-Cert, a German organization which uses the certifications to promote sustainable tourism which is using natural and economic resources without overexploitation or compromising future generations. “Free Walking Tours” is a new activity. 4 travel agencies, SLT, Tierra Diversa, Apullacta y Hualambari Tours, will have professional and certified guides to take tourists around the city. The guides will be paid by tips only.

Police page – The 10th “Most wanted” was captured in Tumbaco, Quito. The ex-priest was implicated in sexual abuse and rape when he served at the iglesia Jesús Obrero in Guayaquil. Church authorities said he had been suspended.

Internacional –

Brazil – Brazil has offered asylum to Luisa Ortega, ex-A.G. of Venezuela – immediately, any time she needs it. She travelled to Brasilia ayer for a meeting of A.Gs from the Mercosur nations. Ortega said she has proof of corruption against Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, Jorge Rodríguez and others.

Brazil – Ex-pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has appealed his sentence of 9-1/2 years for corruption to the Tribunal Regional Federal, 4th district. He is free until the Tribunal decides to confirm the lower court decision.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne