Chile
Mapuche sports help Indigenous Chileans revive culture
Chile’s Indigenous Mapuche people have long fought the government over land claims. They’ve faced discrimination and assimilation in Chilean society. But some Mapuche communities are now turning the page. And they’re using an ancestral sport to help protect and revive their culture, customs and language.
Chile grapples with transnational criminal organizations targeting migrants and locals
More than 7 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 amid ongoing economic and political crises in their country. And with ineffective border security, criminal gangs are increasing their efforts to take advantage of the migrants.
Fast fashion is causing an environmental disaster in Chile’s Atacama Desert
Some 59,000 tons of unwanted clothing arrive in Chile each year from places like Europe, Asia and the United States. But because it is illegal to dump them in landfills, they often end up in places like the Atacama Desert in the north of the country, where they harm the environment.
Chile tries to protect its ‘flowering desert’ from climate change, tourists
Parts of the Atacama Desert have turned into a blooming carpet of flowers — an incredible sight that only happens a couple of times every decade. To protect the phenomenon, Chile’s president has announced the creation of a new national park.
Chileans have long struggled with a water crisis. Management practices are partly to blame, study says.
For years, people believed that climate change was to blame for the water shortage. But a recent study published in the Switzerland-based journal Water found that this shortage was not only due to the megadrought, but has also been caused by water misuse and management practices established under the country’s current legislation.