Cuenca Area Traffic Accidents Civil transit agents verified an accident on the road to Challuabamba—Llactón. One person was slightly hurt. The driver of one of the cars scored over the legal limit on a Breathalyzer test. He was taken to the detention center for traffic offenders and both cars were transported to the EMOV yards. The injured person was treated at the scene by an ambulance of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security, IESS. Another accident took place on Thursday afternoon at Avenida de las Américas, in which three cars were involved, two of them public transport buses. Data from the […]
Unconnected in the country
Now that Codie and I are living in Yunguilla, we like to think of ourselves as living a remote lifestyle with little need for the conveniences of the modern world. We are starting to grow our own vegetables (our tomatoes are amazing) and now get free farm fresh eggs from one of our neighbors. The most yellow yolks you’ll ever see. In fact, we were discussing today the idea of buying him a cow so that he (and we) can get fresh milk every day. That may be taking it all a little too far, but who knows with the […]
Informal “hostel” businesses must now be registered
All property owners that rent housing or even rooms to tourists must now be registered and acquire the ‘Unique Annual Functioning License’ to continue to exercise this business. The Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) has already drafted the ‘Accommodation Regulation for Properties with Tourism Purposes,’ that will rule over these types of rental contracts. Once the regulation is published, owners will have a three-month period to proceed with the official registration and other processes. This new process provides rights and obligations, as well as prohibitions for both owners and clients. For example, all guests will have the right to a ‘factura’ […]
Ecuador private sector to build plant to make fuel out of plastic
On Wednesday, August 7, Gustavo Ruiz, President of the Chamber of Small and Medium Companies of Pichincha (Capeipi), announced that the private sector is working on building the first South American plastic treatment plant to turn plastic into fuel. The project is called Plastikgas. The plastic industry provides around 140,000 jobs, directly and indirectly in Ecuador. The recent announcements by different branches of government to seek prohibiting one-use plastics, has pushed the industry to look for a way to transform this material and provide other uses for it. With today’s technologies, processing of plastics can provide new products like paraffin, […]
8 places to go in Cuenca when dealing with domestic violence against women
If you’re living a situation where you’re being attacked at home or work, or if you are witness to these kinds of situations, there are multiple public and private institutions you can go to for help. However, take into account that when encountering one of these situations first-hand, you should quickly ask for help from a friend or neighbor, and then call ECU911. If the attacker goes away from the vicinity, request help and protection from local police. Once the situation has settled, you can go to: The Cantonal Rights Protection Board or Council (two different offices), Casa Maria Amor, […]
Former Minister avoids censorship
This past Tuesday, the National Assembly (Parliament) of Ecuador voted against censoring former Health Minister Verónica Espinosa, who was accused of alleged irregularities, such as the acquisition of a dubious test for the early diagnosis of the HIV virus. The motion of censure, according to the Ecuadorian legislative regulation, had to have 91 votes to be effective, but in the final vote it only obtained 89, with 27 abstentions filed. In the vote on Tuesday, 116 assembly members of the 137 who make up the unicameral Ecuadorian Parliament were present. Espinosa, who left office on June 25th, again defended her administration […]
Pollution on a downward trend in the city
Vehicle traffic in Cuenca, with about 150,000 vehicles registered in 2018, is the main source of pollution in the city; however, the air in 2018 was 10 percent less polluted than in 2017. Claudia Espinoza, a technician of the Mobility Monitoring Network (EMOV), said that one of the strategies that has helped to improve air quality are the controls on the roads that the company carries out to measure the emissions on vehicles. According to latest emissions results for Cuenca, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are the main pollutants that come from vehicular traffic. Espinoza indicated that they constantly monitor 20 areas […]
Ecuador adding to police force nationwide
This past Monday, the National Police reported through the governor of Azuay, Xavier Martínez, that they are recruiting for 2,000 new police officers in the country (200 for the Superior Police School and 1,800 for training centers). Applicants can register through the National Police recruitment platform until August 23, 2019. The training process will take eight months, during which time the applicant must pass different stages of training, validate his or her requirements and provide required documentation. “Psychological, medical-dental, physical, academic evaluations are developed, among others,” Martínez said. The requirements for new police recruits are: – Must be between 18 years to 25 […]
Coopera crimes come to light with release of documents
After six years of being kept under cover, the financial analyzes and investigations into the Coopera case are declassified and they open a door to the investigations of the people implicated in the fraud. Three people will go on the list of the country’s most wanted, and two former officials will be investigated for the plot that includes cases of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering. Ecuador’s Anticorruption secretary, Iván Granda, announced that Claudio Alvarado, who was Coopera’s general accountant, Luis Carmona, an alleged accomplice of the former manager of the financial institution Rodrigo Aucay in the crime of money laundering, and Marcelo […]
Construction sector shrinks heavily all around Ecuador
Carlos Repetto and Silvio Duran, Presidents of the National Federation of Construction Chambers and of the Chamber of the Construction Industry, both agree that the reduction in public works has highly affected the sector during the first part of this year. Public investment has dropped to $2.4 billion, which is the lowest in 10 years. Plus, only 43% of the budget has been executed so far, this year. “If the Government has no money, then they should use the private sector’s leverage,” said Mr. Duran. He said that the construction sector has submitted multiple proposals for its reactivation, especially by […]
