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Chile

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

Chile grapples with transnational criminal organizations targeting migrants and locals

Migration
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
Fields of pata de guanaco flowers bloom across the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

Chile tries to protect its ‘flowering desert’ from climate change, tourists

Environment
Chile's President Gabriel Boric speaks during a ceremony introducing new cabinet members, at La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile

Chileans categorically reject a new, progressive constitution

Elections

Two days after a national referendum on a new draft constitution, Chilean President Gabriel Boric shook up his Cabinet in an attempt to reboot the government.

Avocado plantations in Petorca, Chile

Chileans have long struggled with a water crisis. Management practices are partly to blame, study says.

Environment

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.

Protests in Chile

Protesters’ victory: A chance to change Chile’s constitution

Protesters in Chile have forced the government of President Sebastián Piñera to agree to a referendum on possible changes to the nation’s constitution next April.

Isabel Allende

Arts, Culture & Media

No one would say today that a woman can’t be a writer. But when the Chilean-born novelist Isabel Allende was growing up, “writer” was not on the career menu. Kurt talks with Allende about how she became a novelist, and why she just can’t write an erotic novel.

Daniela Vega as Marina

The fantastic woman who plays ‘A Fantastic Woman’

Arts

In the face of bigotry, Chilean actress Daniela Vega looks toward a more hopeful future.