(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
(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
Florencia Mallon’s 2005 book, Courage Tastes of Blood: The Mapuche Community of Nicolás Ailío and the Chilean State, 1906-2001, examines the history of a Mapuche indigenous community in southern Chile, focusing on their defense of land and culture in the face of State colonization from 1906 to 2001. Her monograph places archival documents in dialogue… Read More Courage Tastes of Blood: Florencia Mallon
James Lockhart’s Spanish Peru (1968) looks at the first three decades of Spanish conquest in the colonial Andes. One of the first Latin American historians to mine notarial records as a window into social life in the sixteenth century, Lockhart provides a survey of Peru’s major socioeconomic and demographic categories via a series of life… Read More Spanish Peru, 1532-1560: James Lockhart
