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Stories of trafficking of immigrants are common in Quilicura, home of the largest Haitian community in the country

[Translation of an article from Opera Mundi of São Paulo, Brazil, for March 2. See original here.]

By Víctor Farinelli

Fewer than 20 ten years ago, Haitians now number almost 4,000 in Chile as a whole. The majority come through the Dominican Republic, drawn by promises of jobs and prosperity, but are then abandoned to their own fate in a country with a cold climate and a scant welcome for new inhabitants.

Between 2009 and 2011, 2,600 new Haitians came into the South American country, compared with the little more than 700 who left. In 2011 alone, of the 1,369 who arrived, 1,056 managed to stay in Andean lands.

There are many reasons for the phenomenon, but one of the main ones is the work of immigrant trafficking gangs. Although many Haitians who live in South America have passed through countries like Peru, Argentina and Brazil, the bulk of the flow into Chile comes directly through the Dominican Republic. There are at least two gangs operating there who take them directly to Santiago. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Clarín of Santiago, Chile, for January 30. See original here and related articles here and here.]

By Ricardo Candia Cares

There is nothing new about the militarization of Mapuche lands. The army was in charge of the first version of these pacification efforts in the 1860s, when the state decided that the lands deserved other owners and that the Indians were a nuisance that had to be gotten rid of.

The minister of war at the time, Federico Errázuriz, instructed General Pinto, the hero who led the operation, “Use your weapons and harass them in whatever way you find most prudent in order to punish their rebellion, to strip them of their resources and to weaken them to the point of leaving them powerless…” (more…)

((Demonstrators in Santiago, June 22 — photo by Mario Ruiz))

[Translation of an article from Opera Mundi of São Paulo for August 12. See original here and related article here.]

by Victor Farinelli

Faced with the prospect that 30 years from now its copper deposits will not produce the same as they are producing now, Chile is seeking alternatives to one of the pillars of its economy. Sale of ore is the principal force behind the Chilean GDP and accounts for more than half the country’s exports.

Among the several options, one in particular has the potential of replacing copper in its importance in the Chilean economy: the mining of lithium. The few reserves of lithium already being exploited in Chile represent 41 percent of world production of the mineral and the demand is growing exponentially.

Beyond that, the country is part of the region termed the Lithium Triangle, a name given the triple border between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, which accounts for close to 85 percent of the known reserves of the material. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for August 8. See original here.]

by Mauricio Weibel Barahona

Deceased General Augusto Pinochet’s secret police led an espionage network within and outside Chile that crossed paths with the Vatican, the FBI, Latin American dictatorships and the world press, according to thousands of previously unpublished secret files to which the German Press Agency (dpa — Deutsche Presse-Agentur) has gained access.

The documents, classified for decades, verify that Chilean repressive bodies, first DINA (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional) and later CNI (Centro Nacional de Información), carried on almost daily correspondence with ministers and other authorities to coordinate operations throughout the world. (more…)

Establishment of military bases in Chile and Peru reveals United States’ intention to increase influence in the region

[Translation of an article from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for July 5. See original here and related articles here and here.]

by Patrícia Benvenuti

The hope for new relations between the United States and Latin America continues to be ever more distant. Recent activity, in particular the establishment of new military bases, reveals an attempt by the United States to increase its influence in the region.

On April 5, work on the Personnel Training Center for Peace Operations in Urban Zones was completed in Chile. Located at Fort Aguayo, in Concón, in the Valparaíso Region, the base was constructed in 60 days, considered a record time for this kind of project.

The structure consists of eight buildings, which simulate a small city. The cost of the base, financed by the Southern Command of the United States armed forces, was almost 500,000 dollars. The Center will be used for training the so-called Peace Forces of Latin American nations that are part of United Nations missions. (more…)

((El Mostrador photo))

[Translations of two articles, the first from El Clarín for June 13, the second from El Mostrador for June 14. See originals here and here and related articles here and here. Copper mining in Chile, nationalized in 1971, is under the control of CODELCO, Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the National Copper Corporation of Chile.]

Government plans to hand lithium mining over to private corporations

The government yesterday opened domestic and international public bidding for the exploitation of the country’s lithium mines, which has until now been in the hands of two state enterprises. The winning bidders will be able to extract as much as 100,000 tons of the metal for a period 20 years and will have to pay the state seven percent of the monthly profits as royalties.

Lithium, also known as “white gold,” is used in automobile, cell-phone and computer batteries but also in glass making and medicines. (more…)

((El Clarín photo))

[Translations of two articles, the first by the Spanish news agency Efe as published in El Mostrador on June 9, the second from El Clarín for June 12. See originals here and here.]

Homage to Pinochet uncovers support for the dictatorship among influential groups

The homage to Augusto Pinochet planned for this Sunday reveals the support that a minority in Chilean society, but a significant and influential group, continues giving the dictatorship, whose crimes they minimize in favor of an institutional and economic structure that continues in effect.

Just five years after the death of the dictator, under whose rule, from 1973 to 1990, 3,200 people were killed and 38,000 suffered torture or political prison, two little known organizations have organized this event in a theater in the capital. (more…)

((Pascua Lama - El Mostrador photo))

The Cerro Casale mine, the next Pascua Lama

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for April 9. See original here. Like the Cerro Casale project, Pascua Lama is an open-pit gold, silver and copper mine being developed by Barrick Gold of Canada. High in the Andes, on the border between Chile and Argentina, it has sparked considerable protest, in part because of its proximity to glaciers.]

by Alejandra Carmona

Rosa Ahumada says everything was different at one time. That at least the first 35 of her 46 years were different.

“I know a farmer who had an 80-meter well to water his vegetables, but it went dry. He had lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. He used to plant more than 50 hectares. Now he has only enough for 18,” says Rosa as she rushes through the story because, she warns, this is only one of the stories that burden a region that is going dry. (more…)

((La Tercera photo))

[Translation of an article from La Tercera of Santiago for March 16. See original here and related articles here and here.]

by L. Ferraro y S. Labrín

After one of the coldest days in Aysén, following the breakdown of negotiations between the government and the Social Movement, La Moneda [the presidency] decided yesterday to invoke the State Security Law and to bring charges against some 20 participants in the violent incidents that have taken place in the region. These include the burning of a bus and a water cannon belonging to the Carabineros [the militarized national police], as well as the stoning of a police airplane that was to transport agents injured during the protests. (more…)

((El Mostrador photo))

Lorena Fríes says they were aimed directly at demonstrators

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago for March 8. See original here and related article here.]

The director of the National Human Rights Institute has submitted to the Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies a report drawn up by professionals in the Institute who were in the Aysén region between February 22 and February 25 as part of the organization’s Police Violence Observation Program.

Fríes stated that, in drawing up the report, “We were able to confirm a disproportionate use of anti-riot shotguns, which apparently are not used to warn but are used directly on the bodies of the demonstrators, which is reflected in the large proportion of persons wounded; more than 50 percent of those arrested have superficial wounds from the pellets that are fired with these shotguns.” (more…)

((El Clarín photo))

[Translation of an article from El Clarín for Feburary 24. See original here and related article here. Aysén, in southern Chile, is one of the 15 administrative subdivisions, or regions, into which Chile is divided. Each region is headed by an intendant appointed by the president. Regions are further divided into provinces, of which there are 54, which are headed by governors, also appointed by the president. Puerto Aysén, the site of recent demonstrations, is a city in the region of Aysén. The sparsely inhabited region is physically isolated from the rest of the country, making the cost of living high and resulting in neglect by the national government and poorly developed infrastructure. Plans to build hydroelectric plants and transmission lines in the pristine region have in recent times met determined opposition from environmentalists and residents of the area.]

New confrontations were seen Wednesday evening at the  Ibáñez bridge in [Puerto] Aysén, where demonstrators are demanding better living conditions in the region. The confrontations are in addition to barricades set up by people in several other towns in favor of the demands of the citizen movement. (more…)

((Clarín photo))

Police attack after fire in Araucanía

[Translation of an article from the Venezuelan website TeleSur for January 8. See original here and related articles here, here, here and here.]

The Chilean carabineros [militarized national police] early Sunday morning raided the Cacique José Guiñón community, in the commune of Ercilla, province of Malleco (in the Araucanía region), after a fire in a rural parcel of land that is considered a Mapuche conflict zone.

“We are in the commune of Ercilla, 100 kilometers north of Temuco, where close to 100 members of the Carabineros de Chile proceeded to raid the Cacique José Guiñón community early this morning,” reported César Parra, the TeleSur correspondent in the commune. (more…)