Motorists complain about windshield washers at stop lights; Zika birth defects

Cuenca’s municipal police, Guardia Ciudadana, say are receiving an increasing number of complaints about young men who offer to wash car windshields at stop lights. The problem, according to Guardia commander Guillermo Cobo, is that there is no city ordinance regulating the practice. “The municipal council must legislate action to control these people before we can act,” Cobo says.

Many of the complaints claim that the washers become aggressive when motorist refuse the service of the washers. “I’ve had them slam their fist on the hood of my car and splash soap on my windshield, making it hard to see, when I told them to go away,” said driver Julio Bermeo. “Another problem is that they create a traffic hazard by moving between cars even when cars are moving.”

Windshield washer on Av. Unidad Nacional. (El Tiempo)

Cobo says that the windshield washers arrived in Cuenca about a year ago, most coming from the coast. “Before that, they weren’t in the city. This is why there are not rules governing their actions.”

Students accuse government of ‘media lynching’

Two University of Guayaquil law students have filed a complaint with Ecuador’s Superintendency of Communication (Supercom), accusing the government-owned newspaper El Telégrafo of “media lynching.” The students, Pamela Guerrero and Paolo Vega, claim the newspaper unfairly targeted presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso in articles associating him with Ecuador’s 1999 banking crisis.

The students say that El Telégrafo, as well as other government-owned media. devoted more than 90% of their news coverage during the presidential election campaign supporting Lenin Moreno, who belongs to the government party Alianza Pais, and attacking Lasso.

“Taxpayer money should not be used to support one candidate over another,” said Vega. “It is a violation of the basic principles of democracy.”

Ecuador reports first cases of zika birth defects

Ecuador joins nine other countries Latin American countries reporting birth defects from the mosquito-borne zika virus

The Health Minister, Veronica Espinosa said Thursday that three babies born in recent weeks Manta suffer from microcephaly. In total, she says that the ministry has determined that 400 pregnant women in eight provinces have contracted zika. Of the 185 who have given birth, all but the three of the babies were healthy.