Lunes, 22/5/2017: IVA tax to be reduced, Blood drive, Labor law, Arts university

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s header event –

Exposición – “El arte desde la mirada infantil” (Art from the child’s eye) will open on jueves, 25/5 at 18:30 in la Quinta Bolívar.

Articles about –

Universidad de las Artes – The Conservatorio Superior “José María Rodríguez” will become the University of the Arts in Cuenca, with a new campus in the ex Colegio Borja in Pumapungo.  It will start functioning in septiembre of 2017 and is part of a new national university system of former public conservatories, headquartered in Guayaquil.  There are also campuses in Quito and Loja.

Festival de la Lira – There will be a press conference Tues., 23/5 at 9:30 in the auditorio Juan Eljuri Chica in the main branch of the Banco del Austro (Sucre y Borrero) about the poetry festival.

Talk – There will be a talk, “Indicadores Culturales” (Cultural Indicators), on jueves, 25/5 at 18:00 in the Casa de Chaguarchimbana about the importance and the pluridimensional function of culture in development.  The talk will be given by Enrique Glockner, a Mexican sociologist.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Ni turismo ni ventas por cierre de la vía (Neither tourism nor sales due to road closure) – Vendors in the stretch of El Descanso-Puente Europa are without customers.  They rely heavily on weekend tourist traffic, but there was a rockfall and the road was closed.  It is scheduled to reopen domingo, 28/5. Meanwhile, the alternate route for light vehicles is through Pastopamba.  Buses and heavy vehicles will go through San Cristóbal for Paute and Cuenca-El Valle-La Unión for Gualaceo. <I wouldn’t sign up for one of those artisan village tours right now unless you want to see a lot of scenery before you get to Gualaceo or Paute.  Or do sign up – the road trip should be interesting.>

White House website – A private company is developing an unofficial version of the White House website in Spanish to fill in a gap left when that version was eliminated by the White House. The Transfluent translation company said it would translate the main messages and notifications from the President,  and in “un correcto español.” You can find the translation at the lacasablanca.com page.  <The correcto Español kind of implies that the previous version was lacking linguistically.  Do they hire interns with a semester of Spanish under their belts as translators?>

Blood drive – The Ecuadorian Red Cross will hold a blood drive on 10/6 starting at 10:00 in parque De La Madre.  Donations will also be accepted at the Banco de Sangre de la Cruz Roja (Red Cross Blood Bank) in the hospital Del Río.  <Restrictions apply.>

Taxes – The IVA will be reduced from 14% back to 12% on 24/5.  <Inauguration day. So Moreno can say taxes went down during his administration.>  The salvaguardias (the extra duties) will be phased out completely starting 1/6 and will be 0% at the end of junio.  <So are we hoping for a flood of cheaper imported goods? Cars, cheese, TVs, size 14 shoes?>

Business page – Articles about

Labor Law – The labor laws allow for sanctions and fines for not meeting the labor obligations.  Inspectors look for child labor, security and health on the job.  <To read more, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec.>

Boundary – About 8,500 hectares of Cañar would be awarded to Guayas by Decree 1395.  This represents 50% of the area of the Colonia Agrícola Amazonas.  People in the area are unhappy. <Understandable.  You wouldn’t be happy if you lived in Manhattan and someone decreed that you were now part of New Jersey.>

Internacional –

Brazil – Protesters took to the streets in cities in at least 15 of the 27 Brazilian states to call for the resignation of Pres. Michel Temer.  The Lower Chamber has received about a dozen requests, the latest from the Brazilian Bar Association, to open impeachment proceedings.  Temer, who took office on 31/8/2016, is looking for political allies who are waiting for the “nuevos espisodios del culebrón político” (new episodes of the political soap opera  <your Spanish snark for the day>) being directed by Joesley Batista.  <Say Joesley out loud in Spanish and doesn’t it sound like Wesley?>  Batista, an owner of a major meat company, confessed to paying bribes to Temer since 2010, and submitted a tape as proof.  According to the Prosecutor, in the tape, the Pres. “da luz verde” (gives the green light) to buy the silence of Eduardo Cunha, former president of the Cámara de los Diputados who is now in prison for corruption.  <So what do the bookmakers have to say about the odds of Temer hanging onto his office for a full year?  Same as Trump’s?>

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne