Trouble on the highways; Credit card use increases; Airport runway to be repaved; Weekend of cultural events includes African comics at Alianza Francesa

Viernes, 10/3/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Cómics africanos, de lucha social hasta futuristas (African comics, from social struggle to futuristic comics) – The Alianza Francesa de Cuenca has an exhibit of comics from Africa to change the idea that comics are about North American superheroes. This exhibit with 40 artists was shown in Paris in 2021 and translated to be shown in Latin America with Cuenca as the first stop. The exhibit includes the first comics from between 1910 to 1920 with work by Ibrahim Njoya with his stories from Cameroon; then the golden age of comics from 1990 to 2010 which were influenced by French, Belgian, and US comics; and finally digital comics from the last few years with futuristic stories such as Wakanda. The exhibit will run through marzo and include workshops and conferences. On el 23/3 a las 19:00, there will be a virtual meeting with artist Carine Bahanag on Facebook Live. Sábado a las 10:00 there will be a workshop on how to how to make a comic. Cost: $5.00.

An exhibition of African comics, from 1910 to the present, is on display at Cuenca’s Alianza Francesa. This exhibit with 40 artists was shown in Paris in 2021 and was translated to be shown in Latin America with Cuenca as the first stop. (El Mercurio)

De El Mercurio del jueves, 9/3 (3 articles):
Una exposición de artesanías en el CIDAP (An exhibition of crafts at CIDAP) – CIDAP has a new show and sale of crafts titled “Mujer, voces poderosas en la artesanía.” It will open el 13/3. As part of the closing ceremony of the Inter-American course “Entre fibras” on el 25/3 a las 10:00, there will be a guided tour of the show. The exhibit is open from M-F, from 8-17:00.

Fiesta de las Artes Escénicas (Performing Arts Festival) – The Colectivo Artístico Barojo is organizing a Scenic Arts Festival that will include dance, circus, music, theater and puppetry. It will start in Cuenca and then go to Sígsig and Gualaceo. The inaugural will be in the Parque Calderón and San Luis Seminary sábado a las 19:00. On el 11/3 a las 19:00, there wil be a guitar and laúd (lute – our word for the day) concert. From el 20-24/3 there will be a puppet show in CIDAP by artists from Cuenca. On el 25/3 in the Teatro Pumapungo there will be a show by Gotas Mágicas in honor of the Día el Teatro. There will also be activities in abril. On the 22 there will be a dance gala, with a meeting for oral heritage storytelling starting a few days afterwards. A complete schedule of events is on the collective’s social network pages.

Sandra Argudo abrirá el concierto del mexicano Alejandro Fernández (Sandra Argudo to open the concert of Mexican Alejandro Fernández) – Sandra Argudo who also sings with the mariachi group “Sol de América,” will open for the Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández. <You’ve probably seen the posters around town. He’s the spooky looking guy who looks like he should be a magician or someone who conducts seances rather than a singer.> The concert will be el sábado, 11/3 a las 20:00 in the Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar. Tickets are for sale at Ticket Show in the Mall del Río at 8 price points from $20 to $185. You can get a 10% discount with purchases using a JEP or Visa credit card.

Titular –

Ecuador siente el impacto de ‘Yaku’ (Ecuador feels the impact of ‘Yaku’) – See today’s (viernes) article CHL for story.

Actualidad –

De El Mercurio del jueves, 9/3 (1 article):
Repavimentatión de pista del aeropuerto, a licitación (Airport runway repaving out for bid) – The City of Cuenca put out an international request for bids to repave the airport runway. The work will guarantee the operationality of the airport for 10 years and should prolong the useful life of the take-off and landing area. It is 1,900 m. long and 36 m. wide and the estimated cost is $8,324,472 before IVA. The time for construction is 210 days and it will be financed with funds from a loan from the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF). The contract is expected to be awarded el 16/5.

Empresarial –

54.3% de consumos con tarjetas se difiere (54.3% of card payments are deferred) – In 2022, there were $18.639 billion in credit card transactions in Ecuador, $3.743 billion more than in 2021. Of that, 54.3% was deferred and paid in monthly installments. 39.4% of the purchases were paid for with the minimum monthly payment, and 6.3% paid off when billed. A study was presented ayer by the Asociación de Bancos Privados (Asobanca) and Aval Buró which said there were 2 million clients with credit cards in 2022 with half of them under 25 years old. <That’s over $9,000 in annual transactions per credit card. And I bet the users under 25 account for a good chunk of those making minimum payments.>

De El Mercurio del jueves, 9/3 (1 article):
A tiempo para declarar el Impuesto a la Renta (Time to file income tax returns) – If your business fits into the Régimen Impositivo Simplificado (Rimpe) or if you’re an individual, you need to declare and pay income taxes for 2022. Inside the Rimpe are 2 classes of taxpayers – Those with gross receipts of up to $20,000 and those with sales between $20,001 and $300,000. Natural persons who are in the Régimen General and whose incomes exceed the untaxed basic fraction which is $11,310.00 in 2022 also need to declare. <Would rhat include those of you have CD’s here that are earning more than that amount?> You can declare on line at www.gov.ec with your RUC or cedula and password. Your filing deadline depends on the 9th number of your cedula. For cedulas with 1 as the 9th number, the filing date is 10 & 11/3. For #2 – 12 & 13/3. For #3 – 14 & 15/3 and so on and so forth until #0 – 28 & 29/3. <Might be better to find yourself an accountant.>

Region –

De El Mercurio del jueves, 9/3 (2 articles):

Derrumbe causa colapso en el acceso Uzhcurrumi-Quera (Landslide causes collapse in Uzhcurrumi-Quera access road) – The Uzhcurrumi-Quera bypass was closed to vehicular transit <What did I tell you the other day – only good for motos, horses, and pedestrians?> due to the collapse of a section in the Porotillos sector. This leaves people in that area isolated from the cantons in El Oro. When the section crumbled about 4 pm ayer, it included part of the structure of the bypass that had a storm sewer and its foundations. The affected bypass was built last year to go around a washout of the main road. One vehicle was dragged by the water, but the occupants were uninjured. <Probably scared, but unhurt. I wouldn’t want to be the one washing their underwear after that accident.>

Al transporte y a comercio afecta el cierre total de vía (Total road closure affects transportation and commerce) – The only option between Azuay and El Oro is a long trip through Molleturo or Cañar to get to the Ponce Enríquez canton and then to Machala. The problem started el 2/3 with the total closure of km. 112 at Gramalote on the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasase. It was aggravated ayer, when the Uzhcurrumi-Quera access used by light vehicles was closed because a bypass in the Porotillos sector collapsed. This is worrying for different business sectors in Cuenca. Vendors at the Feria Libre who travel to get seafood from Puerto Bolívar and lemons from Huaquillas are fearing price increases in their products. So far they have not raised their prices, but believe that it could happen. Industrial businesses that need natural gas, appliance and plastics manufacturers, ceramics, pig farmers, and milk producers are feeling the strains.

The 3 interprovincial cooperatives based at the terminal terrestre that serve the Cuenca-El Oro route have registered financial losses. Currently, the Azuay cooperative is travelling via Molleturo to get to Ponce Enríquez and then to Machala. The Cuenca Express cooperative has opted to transfer its passengers at km. 112. <The foto shows a group of people straggling along a rock and dirt path with grocery store plastic bags tied to their feet. Maybe the bags hold up just long enough to get to the other side of the closure?> Ruta Orenses has stopped running and will wait for a solution to the road damage. The president of the Cooperativa Azuay is looking at increasing the fare from $7 to $8. The business has decreased the number of runs due to the decrease in passengers. The time for rthe trip has increased from 4 to 5.5 hours. MTOP announced that the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje will be repaired in 12 days at most.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne