Chile

Preserving the world’s earliest mummies in Chile

Lifestyle & Belief

The first mummies in the world were created by the Chinchorro people along the coast of what is today northern Chile. In 2021, UNESCO listed the mummies and the Chinchorro settlement as a World Heritage site. Many of these remains are still out there and are increasingly becoming uncovered by development and the elements. Michael Fox reports from the Chilean province of Arica.

Chile’s pet cemeteries are beloved. But they raise environmental and health concerns.

Lifestyle & Belief

Chile’s Indigenous carnival kicks off in the city of Arica

Arts, Culture & Media

Mapuche sports help Indigenous Chileans revive culture

Sacred Spaces

Chileans grapple with legacy of 2019 protests 5 years later 

Protest
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‘She transcends’: French Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux finds hope and meaning in ‘Vida’

Music

After a 10-year break, Ana Tijoux, who became famous abroad in 2010 with her album, “1977,” has just released new songs inspired by motherhood, war, pollution and the end of the world.

candlelight vigil

What the 1973 coup means for Chileans today — 50 years later

Conflict & Justice

Five decades after the 1973 coup in Chile that toppled the government of Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power with help from the US, people in Chile are deeply divided about what the coup anniversary means today.

Evaporation ponds in the Atacama salt flat

Global demand for lithium is changing Chile’s Atacama Desert

Energy

In the past 10 years, the global demand for lithium has skyrocketed, and the production increase of electric vehicles is expected to raise this demand by at least 300% in the next 10 years. Chile meets about a third of the lithium demands, and plans to boost its production in the next few years.

Migrants from Venezuela cross into Chile from the Bolivian border near Colchane, Chile

Chile grapples with transnational criminal organizations targeting migrants and locals

Migration

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.

A store displays packages of unwanted clothing for ready for selling, Iquique, Chile.

Fast fashion is causing an environmental disaster in Chile’s Atacama Desert

Environment

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.

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