Trump agrees to free trade talks with Ecuador, Feds seize dubious natural health products, Carnaval at El Vado, Symphony plays Friday

Miércoles, 12/2/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Concierto – The Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca will perform its 3rd concert in a series with the 3d symphonies of Ecuadorian composers Luis Humberto Salgado and Ludwig Van Beethoven este viernes a las 20:00 in the Teatro Pumapongo.

Teatro – The Argentinean company A Trote y Muche will present “Rodeo y Julepa,” which is less Shakespearian and more fun with a production using puppets, clown and music. The performances will be Thursday a las 20:00 in the Sala Alfonso Carrasco of the CCE. Cost: $5.00 for presales and $7.00. The show will be repeated el viernes, 21/2 in Break.

President Lenin Moreno met Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

Exposición – There will be a show and sale of art from 17 artists este sábado from 10-18:00 in Saladentro (Paseo 3 Noviembre y Bajada de Todos Santos).

Improv – The Imprudencias group will have an evening of improv with audience interaction tonight a las 21:00 at La Patrona (av. 10 de Agosto 3-107). Call 099 978 0032 for reservations.

Del cuerpo del periodico –

Carnaval at El Vado and more – A group of residents of El Vado are reviving Carnaval of the past with a Festival de Dulces y del Pan el sábado 15/2 next to the cross of El Vado. They will be selling locally made traditional bread and puchero and chicha.
20/2 – Jueves de Compadres.
22/2 – Desfile A la Voz del Carnaval – this parade will start at San Blas.
22/2 – Festival de la Espuma in Parque Paraíso.
23/2 – Festival gastronómico in the Plaza Artesanal.

Otras cosas –

Titular – ARCSA decomisa 600 productos naturales (ARCSA seizes 600 natural products) – In an operation of the Agencia de Regulación y Control Sanitario (ARCSA – Agency for Sanitary Regulation and Control) around the mercado 10 de Agosto, 600 natural products of doubtful precedence were detected. Health professionals warned that taking these products without a medical recommendation could mask serious illnesses or lead to health problems. The products seized had adulterated and falsified registrations, were imported without a customs guide or were missing information about how and where they were fabricated.

The inspectors found products that promised to cure allergies, eliminate kidney stones, improve sexual performance <Might be more expensive, but that blue pill won’t give you a heart attack.>, and even cure cancer.

Elections – Diana Atamaint, president of the Consejo Nacional Electoral, announced that the situation with the technical platform of the electoral system is critical. She warned that it’s not that elections on 7/2/2021 are at risk, but they can’t be held at all unless new equipment is bought to replace obsolete and old equipment. She said that 158 of the 162 servers are more than 8 years old and have passed their useful life. <Is she a techie crying wolf because anything electronic older than 6 months is ancient? I ask because I’m still wearing clothing that’s 30 and 40 years old.>

Canasta popular – The Canasta Popular (Popular or Peoples’ Basket) is a project that was launched by the Provincial government and its AgroKawsay business el martes to promote agricultural production in the province. Each basket costing $15.00 contains a set of 20 products in including 3 types of dried and fresh grains, 8 types of vegetables, cheese, eggs, plantain, yuca, quinoa, yogurt, panela (brown sugar), and cracked barley that were selected to provide a balanced diet. Azuay has about 100,000 agricultural producers of which 90,000 are small. In the 3 weeks of the pilot project, 600 baskets have been sold and the goal is to sell 5,000 weekly. You can also customize your basket with 200 products including meats (duck, chicken, pork and beef), dairy products, grains, vegetables, tubers and more. The baskets are being sold at calle Jorge Issac y av. Pumapungo behind Empresa Eléctrica.

Trade agreement – Presidents Moreno and Trump met yesterday to talk about a possible trade agreement with the T-MEC agreement negotiated between México and Canada as a model. Afterward, Trump said talks woud begin soon to meet that objective. Pres. Moreno asked for reductions in the high duties paid on products such as brocolli, flowers, artichokes and tuna. In return, Trump asked Moreno for help in bringing an end to the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. The two countries agreed to bolster illegal drug interdiction efforts in the Pacific Ocean and near the Colombian border and to strengthen cyber security. Also discussed was the extradition of Ecuadorians in the U.S. to face justice back home. <I hope Trump didn’t ask Pres. Moreno what part of Africa Ecuador is in or refer to Pres. Moreno as “that crip” after the meetings.>

Ferias – A resolution by the Dirección Municipal de Áreas Históricas y Patrimoniales (Municipal Directorate of Historical and Heritage Areas) prohibited ferias in 4 Centro Historico locations: La Calle del Artista, on Sucre next to the Catedral Nueva; Parque Calderón and surroundings <Where will we go for our sugar fix on Corpus Cristi?>; and the San Sebastián and San Blas parks. 8 other locations have been approved where businesses and craftspeople can apply for permission to hold ferias: Portal Artesanal de Cuenca (PRAC – Bolívar y Huaya Cápac), la Plaza Cívica, Plaza de San Francisco, El Otorongo, Plaza del Farol, plazoleta San Roque, la plaza del Herrero, and la alameda de la av. 12 de abril in the parque De La Madre sector.

Bus fare disagreement – The Cámara de Transporte de Cuenca (CTC) will finish renewing the fleet of buses next month and is waiting for the Concejo Cantonal to approve a fare increase to $.34. This is something the city is not inclined to do. The president of the CTC said that the previous administration promised that fares could be raised once the fleet was renewed, it is in one of the addendums to the ordinance, and it is needed to service the loans with which new buses were purchased. Assemblyman Xavier Barrera disagreed and said there is no plan to debate a fare increase. In any case, any new fares would need new studies that would integrate the Tranvía and Bici Pública systems. <Asking for a fare increase a few days after a passenger was killed when a bus took off too soon isn’t the best timing.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.