Without rain, water rationing is imminent; Azuay firefighters work five blazes; Streets closed for Ibero-American summit; Man dies waiting for euthanasia
Martes, 12/11/2024
Hola, Todos –
Actividades –
Titular –
Controversia por Vicepresidencia (Controversy over Vice-Presidency) – See article in today’s (martes) CHL for story.
Cuenca –
Among the security measures being taken for the Ibero-American Summit are multiple street closures near summit events. (El Mercurio)
<Now here’s the story to scare the dickens out of you>
Si no llueve esta semana habrá racionamientos (If it does not rain this week, there will be rationing) – <Have you figured out from the headline that it’s not talking about electricity; it’s talking about water?> Conditions have gotten worse for lack of rain in the water recharging zones. River flows are too low, putting potable water service at risk again. ETAPA announced ayer that if conditions don’t change, water service cut-offs could start next week. However, there is the hope that if rains reappear according to the forecasts, and if the population complies with the plea to save as much water as it can, that that outcome can be avoided. <You know what to do – just start doing it. Just because other people waste water doesn’t mean you should do what they do. How about a rationing system with normal prices for a “lifeline” quantity of water escalating steeply as ratepayers use more water. So that people who wash their cars or water their lawns could do it a lot more cheaply if they washed their cars with Evian or O Amazon at $139 per liter.>
The El Cebollar system supplies over 30% of the population and of the 3 plants that ETAPA runs, it is most at risk. The amount of water entering the intakes from the rÃo Tomebamba has been reduced to 1.13 cu. m./sec., and is constantly being monitored. Fabián Cazar, manager of potable water and sanitation, said to maintain operability at the plant it will be fed water from the Tixán system in the Machángara River watershed. This will allow keeping this system in service this week in the hopes of rain. El Cebollar serves barrios and sectors on the perifery bounded by De Las Américas on the north, 24 de Mayo on the south, the from east to west, by the Gapal sector and Isauro RodrÃguez. The first cutoffs will affect 10% of the population in this zone, and that could increase if the conditions get worse.
For the other 2 systems, Tixán which is fed by the rio Machangara and Sústag which is fed by the rio Yanuncay, plans to cut off service have been ruled out for now. The Tixán plant, in the Chiquintad parish area, serves 60% of the population, and Sústag in San JoaquÃn, serves about 10%. The city has now had 123 days of drought, exceeding the 118 days of the previous year. Rigoberto Guerrero, administrator of Monitoreo de ETAPA, said the situation is seen more in the Tomebamba and Tarqui which have flows in a state of estiaje (extremely low) than in the Machángara and Yanuncay which have low flows. <I wonder if my plan B is even feasible? If there’s enough water in the river to collect and run through a filter.>
ETAPA is collaborating with community water systems and in some cases is bringing water in tankers. It is also planning on serving some zones in the El Valle Parish which are in the Nero community system.
Azuay azotada por fuego forestal y contaminación (Azuay hit by forest fires and pollution) – Forest fires affected different sectors of Cuenca and Azuay. The Fire Department responded to at least 5 fires that consumed extensive areas of vegetation. In Chaucha parish, an Armed Forces “bambi bucket” was used, making 15 runs to dump 11,300 liters of water. Environmental experts said that this fire was devastating in its effect on the biodiversity due to the animals in the zone such as the spectacled bear. In the ChanChán sector of Baños parish, another fire created a lot of ash that covered nearby zones. Wilson Jácome, president of the Junta Parroquial de Baños, said that if the fire continues to spread, it will put the water sources for the community systems at risk. There were also fires in the Cumbe and El Valle parishes as well as the Pichanillas sector in Girón canton.
Cierres viales por Cumbre Iberoamericana (Road closures for Ibero-American Summit) – Following are road closures:
From mi̩rcoles, 13/11 to viernes, 15/11 from 17:00 to 24:00 Рcalle La Castellana, between av. Espa̱a & calles Granada and Valencia in the airport sector, will be closed.
Mi̩rcoles, 13/11 from 18:00 to 23:00 РLuis Cordero y Mariscal Sucre for a welcoming ceremony for the summit attendees.
Jueves, 14/11 to viernes, 15/11 from 6:00 to 10:00 – streets will be closed to form a security enclosure – Honorato Vásquez, Viracochabamba, Av. Paseo de los Cañaris, av. 12 de abril, Bajada de Todos Santos, call Alfonso Jerves in the zone of the Pumapungo where the summit will be held.
Viernes, 15/11 from 12:00 to 15:00 – a security enclosure with Gran Colombia, Hermano Miguel, Pres. Córdova, and General Torres. Access to Parque Calderón will be closed with no one allowed in or out.
Jueves, 14/11 from 6:00 to viernes, 15/11 to 20:00 – calle Larga from Todos Santos to Huayna Cápac and Huayna Cápac from av. 12 de Abril to calle Larga will be closed.
There will be detours for public transport <not the TranvÃa of course>. There will also be control and restriction on mobility and access for residents of these zones. Residents will have access to their homes, but only on foot and subject to restrictions the police and armed forces impose. <At least they’re keeping the lights on so you won’t be under “house arrest” in the dark with no TV or computer.>
Eutanasia: lucha contra el tiempo (Euthanasia: a fight against time) – Iván Cajamarca Déleg, the first Cuencano to make his wish for an assisted death public, lost his fight against cancer el pasado domingo. His health deteriorated rapidly, and he was not able to finish the paperwork to the SecretarÃa Técnica del Comité Interdisciplinario para la Aplicación de la Eutanasia before his death. His daughter said that her father was in unbearable pain while trying to get medical appointments to comply with the requirements for euthanasia. She said people with terminal illnesses should have priority to get the documentation needed for the euthanasia. Her father was waiting 2-3 weeks for appointments to evaluate his request.
Doctor Lauro López, a pain therapy specialist at Monte Sinai Hospital, said the problem is in the lack of clear and applicable legislation. Although the Corte Constitucional has recognized the right to euthanasia, currently there is only a preliminary regulation issued by the Ministerio de Salud with no definite timeframes or steps. This means hospitals and health professionals are not prepared to implement the procedure. He said that in a terminal case such as Iván’s, the process should not take more than 30 days.
EconomÃa –
Violencia regional reduce el PIB en más de un 3% (Regional violence reduces GDP by over 3%) – The IMF and the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) warned yesterday that violent crime and insecurity are important barriers to the prosperity of Latin America and the Caribbean, generating losses over 3% of the Producto Interior Bruto (PIB – Gross Domestic Product) in the region. The IMF said that crime brings with it direct costs such as loss of life, reduction in the quality of life, increases in public expenditures for prevention and control services, and security expenses in the private sector. The sum of these direct costs which represent only a fraction of the real burden of crime is estimated at 3.44% of the PIB.
The IMF calculated that a 10% increase in homicides reduces economic activity by about 4%. If the homicide rate is halved, it boosts the economy by an average of 30%. The two institutions said that Latin America and the Caribbean produce 1/3 of the homicides in the world while having only 8% of the population. The direct costs of violent crime are the equivalent of 78% of the regional budget for education, twice the expenditures for social assistance programs, and 2 times the investment in research and development. <So how does Latin America eliminate the demand for drugs in the US and Europe that fuels much of the crime? I wonder how much government corruption affects the PIB?>
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 (please don’t ask her for them). If information is incorrect, it is the responsibility of El Mercurio. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.
