One dead, several injured and protests due to collapses on that road.
One dead in the middle of a landslide, a questioned state of emergency, a lawsuit for alleged terrorism and a contract for mitigation works. All this triggers the constant collapses on the Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme road, an artery that connects Azuay and Guayas.
The road is closed indefinitely in November 2021, by order of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, after a new accident that causes injuries.
Asking if “the road is enabled” was common among the people of Cuenca who wanted to travel to the Main Port, as there was no certainty that the weather would do a trick on this road and force a closure due to the fall of large rocks. What was something everyday became more acute in 2021, with more mishaps.
On August 30, the Minister of Transport and Public Works (MTOP), Marcelo Cabrera, announced in a press conference that this highway was declared an emergency, but he could not publicly specify where he was going to get the resources to attend it, he only expressed that the arrangements will be made.
On Sunday, October 17, the first misfortune occurred and the driver of a truck that was driving in the area was crushed to death, while the other three occupants who accompanied him were injured.
Three days later, the cantonal Emergency Operations Committee (COE) meets in Cuenca to analyze the problem.
Faced with the concern that he describe the scope of the state of emergency, the district director of the MTOP, Fausto Zaldúa, publicly declares that “the emergency was never declared at kilometer 49” and that it was rather a request like MTOP “that in this session leaves the recommendation to make the declaration ”. With that, what was announced by Cabrera in August was distorted. After 48 hours of this declaration another rock fall occurs on a car. The accident does not cause deaths.
In the midst of this, Minister Cabrera orders that from November 14 the road be definitively closed because it is considered unstable, which caused annoyance among the inhabitants of the place. Ronald Quiroz, representative of the tourist merchants on the road, regrets that due to this decision many places closed because there were no travelers or customers, which led to layoffs and the growth of debts.
To this, the president of the parish government of Molleturo, Carlos Morales, adds that there were social effects such as the non-arrival of doctors, teachers or food to meet the basic needs of the area.
Impatient because the works announced by the MTOP had not started, a group of inhabitants decided on their own to start stabilizing the slope in the hope of reopening a vehicular crossing soon. This led to a criminal complaint before the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed by the MTOP undersecretary, Luis Barzallo. He accuses them of the alleged crime of terrorism and their evidence is a video in which men are observed with a hose on a mountain and undisclosed audios in which, according to Barzallo, they were heard saying that they had placed dynamite on the mountain. The community members reject this assertion and declare Cabrera a person not pleasant.
On December 16, the MTOP awarded a contract for $ 7’301,729 to the Sudinco firm for the stabilization and mitigation of km 49. It was not until the last week of December and after protests from residents of Molleturo that it was decided to reopen the highway for hours. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
