Full Coverage: Chile

03.07.2008 The man who did much of Pinochet's dirty work is given two 25-year sentences for blowing up an exiled Chilean general and his wife in Buenos Aires. Hugh O'Shaughnessy reports.

28.04.2008 Hundreds of Chileans have announced their intention to leave the Catholic Church following the Vatican's involvement in a local constitutional ruling to ban free contraception.

29.09.2007 Anna is a self-confident nine-year-old Parisian girl whose comfortable life is turned upside down in 1970 when her parents get politics – Chilean, pro-Allende politics.

25.09.2007 Chile's Supreme Court ordered the extradition of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori on charges of gross human rights abuses Friday, in a step that observers say marks a "huge step forward" for Chile, which has had a spotty human rights record itself.
From: Human Rights Watch

23.08.2007 BUENOS AIRES, Aug 23 (IPS) - Shocked by the release on parole of former Chilean secret police agent Enrique Arancibia, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1974 murders of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife, the attorney representing the Chilean state in that trial told IPS he was considering legal action to get the measure overturned.

14.06.2007 SANTIAGO, Jun 14 (IPS) - Human rights groups in Chile described General Raul Iturriaga Neumann as "cowardly" for fleeing the justice system, which sentenced him to five years in prison for the 1974 forced disappearance of a leftwing activist.

14.01.2007 Upset about the slow pace of legal proceedings brought against late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, local human rights activists hope Chilean courts will act more swiftly in bringing justice to Alberto Fujimori, the authoritarian former president of Peru who is in exile in Chile.

13.12.2006 SANTIAGO, Dec 12 (IPS) - In Chile, transgenic seeds may only be planted to produce crops for export. However, imported transgenic foods can be eaten here.

12.12.2006 One of the 20th century's most brutal dictators died on Human Rights Day Sunday. Roger Burbach, an American who fled Chile after the 1973 coup, recounts the United States' involvement in Pinochet's ascendance.

11.12.2006 In Santiago on September 11, 1973 I watched as Chilean air force jets flew overhead. Moments later I heard explosions and saw fireballs of smoke fill the sky as the presidential palace went up in flames. Salvador Allende, the elected Socialist president of Chile died in the palace.

30.10.2006 Chile's president Michelle Bachelet has presented a comprehensive new initiative to promote national equality by ensuring access to early childhood education for all, providing subsidies to the poorest families, and more.
From: Chilean Government

13.10.2006 Interview with lawyer Jaime Madariaga de la Barra.
In the mid-1990s, members of southern Chile’s Mapuche community began a process of recovering their ancestral lands by occupying lots — mainly owned by lumber companies — to convert them into farmlands.

18.07.2006 from Water Conserve:
As if melting glaciers weren't enough, a proposed gold mine at Pascua Lama, a remote Chilean valley, will destroy regional water supplies and devastate local sustainable agricultural practices. You can voice your concerns to President Bachelet (scroll down page).

20.06.2006 As four Mapuche activists imprisoned under draconian anti-terrorist laws spend over two months on hunger-strike, journalist Justin Vogler looks at the troubled relationship between the Chilean state and "the oldest of Chileans".

06.06.2006 Des organisations de droits humains, des collectifs qui appuient la cause mapuche, et des personnes dans le monde, sont en train d’entreprendre des actions pour dénoncer le traitement inhumain et répressif de la part du gouvernement chilien envers une dizaine de prisonnier-e-s politiques Mapuche dans ce pays.

30.03.2006 Over 20,000 people from all over the world have joined the international campaign to ensure that the case against former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori - currently detained in Chile - is resolved promptly, it was announced at a public meeting today.

29.03.2006 Le CAPMA, Collectif pour l'Autonomie du peuple Mapuche (capmamtl@riseup.net), veut informer qu'actuellement 13 prisonnierEs politiques MAPUCHE sont incarcérées en permanence dans différentes prisons du Chili, accuséEs injustement par différentes lois, principalement par la loi anti-terroriste (18.314), une loi au service de l’oppression et de répression de l'État chilien.

22.02.2006 SANTIAGO, Feb 22 (IPS) - They dream of becoming doctors, lawyers or reporters, but they are more likely to face a future of working as chauffeurs or domestics. Raised in poverty, Aymara and Mapuche indigenous children from the northern and southern regions of Chile tend to drop out of school to go to work.

01.02.2006 Chile's first female president has appointed ten men and ten women to the cabinet, including some political novices, making it the first of its kind in the western hemisphere and one of only a handful in the world. While there was little public uproar over her selections, some analysts are concerned that Bachelet's "new style of government" may sacrifice competence for image.

24.01.2006 The resounding victory of Michelle Bachelet as Chile’s first woman president represents an important social advance in a country where women are often treated as second class citizens. But few observers see the Chilean elections as reflective of the leftward trend taking place in much of Latin America.