(May 19, 2006) Former Dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was questioned in his Santiago mansion Tuesday for the third time about his role in the murders of a group of left-wing political activists. The former dictator is being investigated for the murders of 47 people who were killed in Operation Colombo, a joint operation between the… Read More PINOCHET INTERRORGATED IN OPERATION COLOMBO CASE
(May 18, 2006) Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela’s state oil company plans to open new offices in Chile in 2006. The oil company would like to supply Chile with crude oil and natural gas as well as use Chile as a regional base to distribute diesel. The announcement follows on the heels of Argentina’s statement… Read More VENEZUELA EXPLORES ENERGY MARKETS IN CHILE
El Mercurio: About to turn 80 years old, but she looks a lot younger. Agile, sharp, those that know her use adjectives like: intelligent discreet, humble, reserved and a lot of personality as well. Straightforward and sure of herself, we asked her for an enterview for Mother’s Day, she responded: Ángela Jeria de Bachelet: ¡Me… Read More INTERVIEW WITH FIRST MOTHER OF CHILE
(May 18 2006) Judge Víctor Montiglio closed the case against six retired military member in the Caravan of Death case Wednesday deciding to apply Chile’s controversial 1978 Amnesty law instead of prosecuting. The ruling goes against the stated policy of the Chile’s Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court as well as the Geneva conventions on… Read More CARAVAN OF DEATH: JUDGES SENTENCE DRAWS CRITICISM
(May 17, 2006) Investigators have accused Gen. Ramírez Rurange with giving the order to take Col. Gerardo Huber out of the country in 1992 shortly after Huber was called to testify about an illegal arms sale to Croatia. The investigative Judge Claudio Pavez suspects that Col. Huber was shot when he refused to leave the… Read More NEW INDICTMENTS LINK TWO CHILEAN HUMAN RIGHTS CASES
(May 17, 2006) Judge Carlos Cerda has authorized a team of Chilean State prosecutors (CDE) to travel to the U.S. to investigate multiple bank accounts held by Chile’s former Dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and his family at Barclays Bank PLC and Lehman Brothers. The authorization comes on the heels of new findings in the Riggs… Read More RIGGS BANK CASE: JUDGE CERDA SENDS TEAM TO U.S. TO TRACK BRIBES
Door May Open Revealing Dictator’s Complicity In Other Human Rights Violations, Including The Death Of President Frei Montalva (May 12, 2006) The investigation into the death of former secret police chemist Eugenio Berríos has allegedly linked Chile’s former dictator General Augusto Pinochet to the murder as well as the mysterious death of former President Eduardo… Read More PINOCHET CHARGED IN CHILE FOR MURDER OF SECRET POLICE CHEMIST EUGENIO BERRIOS
A newly released market analysis by Chile’s Production and Trade Confederation (CPC) predicts that Chile’s economy will grow by 5.5 percent in 2006. The report highlights internal demand as the continued driving force behind Chile’s economic expansion. Strong gains are expected in the banking sector with a predicted growth rate of 13 percent in 2006.… Read More CHILE’S COMMERCIAL SECTOR PREDICTS GROWTH IN 2006
General Alejando Medina, president of the Chilean Circle of Retired Admirals and Generals was arrested Monday for the murder of seven paratroopers immediately following the 1973 military coup. Thirty-two years after the paratroopers were executed by members from their own unit, Gen. Medina, then director of the military’s school of paratroopers, as well as six… Read More HIGH RANKING MEMBER OF DICTATORSHIP CHARGED WITH MURDER
(Nov. 30 ,2005) As Chile celebrates the 25th anniversary of its private pension funds, the first generation of workers prepares to cash in on the promise of a retirement free of the haunting specter of poverty. Sadly, many Chileans are finding that this promise was just more empty rhetoric from a corrupt and discredited regime.… Read More CHILEAN PRIVATE PENSION PLANS CAN’T KEEP PROMISE
(Nov. 21, 2005) Sixteen former chiefs and agents of DINA, the Pinochet-era secret police, were charged last September by Judge Juan Guzmán in connection with the deaths of 34 of the disappeared (ST, Sept. 6, 2004). The 34 victims named on the indictment were those identified as having been abducted by the regime. Among the… Read More FORMER SECRET POLICE CHIEF CHARGED WITH DISAPEARENCES
The United States announced it has placed Venezuela on the list of countries not cooperating with counter-terrorism efforts and would ban future weapons sales to the country. “This focuses on concerns that [the U.S.] has in terms of the relationship [Venezuela] has built up with states like Iran and Cuba, state sponsors of terror,” said… Read More U.S. HALTS WEAPON SALES TO VENEZUELA
(Oct. 7, 2005) President Ricardo Lagos criticized Chile’s national television station (TVN) yesterday for airing sensationalist news stories. The president questioned why 48 percent of TVN’s news coverage on Tuesday evening dealt with crime and delinquency. “The first five and most important stories [on TVN] were about delinquency” said Lagos, “this is absolutely inadequate.” This… Read More LAGOS CRITICIZES CHILE’S NATIONAL TV
Judge Links Huber’s Death To Pinochet’s Arms Trafficking (Oct. 6, 2005) Investigations into illegal weapons sales to Croatia and the mysterious death of Colonel Gerardo Huber have surged forward as new discoveries from the Riggs Bank case shed light on the motives behind decades of arms purchases, bribes, and murders. Judge Claudio Pavez, lead investigator… Read More CHILE AT CORNER OF HUBER AND RIGGS
Celco chiefs met with European Union (EU) members of Parliament in Santiago on Wednesday after Chile’s government decided no to let them visit the environmentally hazardous pulp and paper plant in Valdivia. At the meeting, Celco presented the EU officials with their plans to minimize the environmental impact the plant would have on the area.… Read More EUROPEAN UNION ENVIRONMENTAL COMISSION ARRIVES IN CHILE
Government Expected Contentious Debate Over Rights To Loot (Oct. 5, 2005) A new twist in the story of buried treasure on Robinson Crusoe Island that has kept Chile and the world in suspense for the last three weeks surfaced Monday after Wagner Technologies renounced all claims to the treasure supposedly worth US$10 billion. Wagner Technologies,… Read More WAGNER RENOUNCES CLAIMS TO CHILE’S BURIED TREASURE
(Sept. 29, 2005) Barrick Gold Corporation’s attempt to buy citizen support for the development of its US$1.5 billion Pascua Lama gold mine has not satisfied government officials in charge of reviewing environmental legislation. Paulina Saball, director of the Region III National Environmental Commission is still concerned about the proposed mine project even though Barrick has… Read More CONAMA Raises Qyestions About Barrick Gold Deal
(Sept. 28, 2005) President Ricardo Lagos met with the Assembly of Human Rights on Monday announcing that human rights violators would not be eligible for amnesty. The move was greeted with enthusiasm by the Assembly after waiting two years for an audience with the president and a recent series of set backs on the human… Read More LAGOS WILL NOT SUPPORT AMNESTY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS
(Sept. 27, 2005) Wine producers breathed a sigh of relief as Aníbal Ariztía, President of the Chilean Wine Association, announced a historic grape harvest this year – up 25 percent over 2004. Wine producers have had a hard time over the last few years because of the high cost of primary materials needed to make… Read More HISTORIC GRAPE HARVEST IN CHILE
(Sept. 26, 2005) The island home of Alexander Selkirk, the man whose true story inspired the famous novel “Robinson Crusoe,” has finally been uncovered on Robinson Crusoe Island, 645 kilometers off the coast of Chile in the Juan Fernández Archipelago. Although the island has long been known as the place where Selkirk was cast away… Read More ROBINSON CRUSOE SITE DISCOVERED IN CHILE
(Sept 26, 2005) Myth became reality last Wednesday when astonished explorers discovered what could be US$10 billion worth of gold, silver, and jewels buried on Robinson Crusoe Island. Using robot technology, a team from Wagner Technologies claims they have found the lost treasure of Spanish Conquistador Juan Esteban Ubilla y Echeverría. According to legend, the… Read More GOLD FOUND ON ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND
A team of engineers was run off by fishermen Monday after pulp and paper manufacturer Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (Celco) announced plans to dump industrial waste in their fishing grounds. The team was surveying potential dump sites near the coast of Corral in southern Chile when they were confronted by the concerned fishers and forced… Read More FISHERMAN STOP CELCO SCIENTISTS
(Sept. 23, 2005) If you are looking for that distinctive taste of Chile, Carmenenère may be what you’ve been waiting for. Ten years after Chilean vineyards invested heavily in the distinctive wine, connoisseurs around the world are ready to taste the fruits of their labors. There was a “rediscovery” of Carmenenère wines in Chile in… Read More Chilean Vineyards Bet of Carmenere
Tax Exemptions And Military Pension Fund Cost Chile Over US$5 Billion In 2005 (Sept 22, 2005) In an effort to reduce government spending, government officials reopened two controversial debates in Congress this past week: tax shelters for business development in the extreme regions of the country and the apparent insolvency of the military pension plan.… Read More CHILE’S FINANCE MINISTER CALLS FOR SPENDING REFORMS
(Sept. 20, 2005) Chilean and Argentinean officials announced an agreement on wheat tariffs Friday. Following more than five years of tense negotiations, the agreement was greeted with mixed emotions around the country. Chile agreed to suspend protective tariffs on 10,000 metric tons of Argentinean wheat – representing 0.8 percent of national wheat production – in… Read More CHILE SIGNS WHEAT AGREEMENT WITH ARGENTINA
(Sept 14, 2005) Ex-Colonia Dignidad doctor Harmut Hopp was released on bail last week after denying charges of human rights violations. Pointing the finger at Paul Schafer, leader of the right-wing paramilitary group of Germans in the south of Chile, Hopp denied any knowledge of illegal activities at the Colony compound. Colonia Dignidad was a… Read More COURT RELEASES COLONIA DIGNIDAD DOCTOR
Citation Whitten, Norman E., ed. Millennial Ecuador: Critical Essays on Cultural Transformations and Social Dynamics. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003.
Lucio Gutiérrez, an army colonel who helped overthrow two previous governments, was elected president in a second-round runoff vote against banana-export magnate Álvaro Noboa. Leader of the “Partido Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero” party and allied with the Indigenous Pachakutik and populist revolutionary party Movimineto Popular Democrático, Gutiérrez ran on a reform and anti-corruption platform amid an ongoing political crisis that has seen the collapse of the South American nation’s financial system and dollarization of the economy.… Read More Ecuador Elects Army Colonel President in Runoff Vote Against Banana Magnate
