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Headlines:
Summer-winter in one week; Cattle theft in Magallanes; Thames Water interest in Punta Arenas system;
Unemployment increase; Juvenile delinquency; Women in the Chilean Navy; Hindu temple; Rapid changes in ice caps
Summer-winter in one week
In just seven days temperatures in the River Plate area plummeted from a suffocating heat of above 30 degrees Celsius to zero and freezing conditions. On Sunday August 25th., in Uruguay, Montevideo, beaches received swimmers and tight bikinis basking in the sun, and in Buenos Aires people literally invaded parks and green spaces looking for a breeze and taking refuge from the heat.
The Indian summer continued until Wednesday when the traditional big wind and rain storm of the end of August was forecasted, but on this occasion proved a false alarm.
However the heat wave began to dissipate and the rest of the week, particularly Friday and Saturday recorded below zero temperatures with the wind factor.
A dramatic drop of 30 degrees in a week with other records, the highest minimum temperature for this time of the year in a hundred years, 20,9 Celsius at 07:40 in the morning, with 32 Celsius at 15:10 in the afternoon.
Instead of the feared Santa Rosa storm, a cold air front advancing from west, south-west Argentina forced thermometers down.
And while this was happened this side of the Andes, in Chile in the northern and middle regions, wind, rain and sea storms left two people dead, 820 homeless and another 19,000 directly suffering from the intensity of the extraordinary climatic phenomena.
A yellow alert, recommending people to stay at home, avoid water courses, keep away from the proximity of the sea and banning all mountain trekking was still on over the weekend in Chile's northern regions.
In southern Chile, Magallanes Region, local authorities over flew the area of Laguna Blanca where several days of snow have left 40,000 livestock mainly sheep in precarious feeding conditions and with land access severely limited. Cattle theft in Magallanes
Cattle theft is one of the main problems facing farmers in the Magallanes Region, according to a former president of the Magallanes Farmers Association.
Mr. Rodolfo Concha said that an estimated 8 to 10% of the total two million flock is stolen or "simply vanish" annually.
"It's an ongoing problem, but is spite of all our efforts and requests to Carabineros, no effective solution have been found", said Mr. Concha.
Magallanes farmers believe much of what is stolen could find its way across the border, or is the action of depredators, "but both options are very hard to prove and we have no significant evidence".
"We even tried a pilot scheme in 1999 that included software with all the Río Verde Council livestock brands, but apparently Carabineros are too busy with urban crime and not much was advanced", admitted Mr. Concha.
Carabineros argue that they are short of staff in rural areas because they have been ordered to large urban areas, and in some places "we're down to 16 men for a rural community of 24,000 or just 7 in a community of 16,000". Thames Water interest in Punta Arenas system
Nine out of a total presentation of 25 companies have been pre qualified to participate in the Punta Arenas water works and sewage system privatization process, among which Thames Water from England.
According to Mr. Carlos Mladinic, president of Chile Public Utilities the nine companies that now have access to the bidding process are, Inversiones Cascal S.A. (Chilean); Aguas Nuevo Sur (Thames Water); Consorcio Aguas Patagonia de Magallanes (Chilean); Aquamundo (German); Inima Servicios Europeos de Medio Ambiente (French); Consorcio de Aguas Magallanes (Chilean); Servicios Sanitarios Larapinta (Chilean), Consorcio Aucci-Agua (Spanish) and Larraín Vial (Chilean).
Mr. Mladinic said that the next step is the "question and answer" process, following the companies' purchase of the conditions for the bid, "when they are entitled to ask on specific issues".
"We respond to all inquiries, and if necessary the contract can be modified since it's basically a draft", indicated Mr. Mladinic.
Privatization of the water works in Magallanes has become a controversial issue given the experience with the electrical system and local complaints of dearer rates and labour redundancies. Unemployment increase
Unemployment in Magallanes Region increased to 8,6% in the May-July quarter, the highest since 1994, according to the latest Chilean Statistics Office release.
Bernardo Troncoso, head of the Regional Economic Office said that the 1,3 increase over the previous quarter and 1,2 increase over a year ago was above original estimates, and anticipated that the tendency "has yet to peak in the coming quarter, because these are the months of greatest unemployment".
However Mr. Troncoso pointed out that part of the increase could be attributed to a greater percentage of women in the labour force, plus a drop in the job promotion programs sponsored by Punta Arenas municipality.
The sectors that recorded an increase in the number of jobs are construction, trade and retailing, transport and telecommunications.
The official Statistics Office figures show that the labour force in Magallanes reached 65,410 people, with a 1,060 increase over a year ago.
Trade and retailing augmented 830; transport and communications 660, construction 570. Community and social services experienced a drop of 1,870 and agriculture and fisheries 570. Juvenile delinquency
Two more outbreaks of juvenile delinquency were reported this week in Punta Arenas when a father of five was stabbed to death by a gang and a 19 year old lies in comma following a vicious beating when he was leaving a Saturday ball.
The 47 year old worker was attacked with a knive when he defended his property and nephew from a gang of at least six minors, between the age of 14 and 16, including two girls and an 18 year old.
The stabber is in prison but the rest, because of their age were returned to their homes. Apparently they belong to a gang that was terrorizing the neighbourhood.
In the second incident the 19 year old boy was assaulted by another gang when leaving a ball in the former Engineering School of Magallanes University, and experienced serious injuries in the head after he was repeatedly kicked in the ground.
The teenager is in a ICU connected to an artificial respirator and with a 20% chance of surviving according to the medical forensic report.
Given the public opinion impact of both incidents, Magallanes Governor Jaime Jelincic appealed to local retailers to stop selling minors knives, cutting instruments and other artefacts with edges that can be used as weapons.
"This should help us confront the juvenile problems of our community. It's intolerable that our teenagers go around armed with hidden knives, it's irrational", said Mr. Jelincic in a public appeal to families and retailers.
Mr. Jelincic also anticipated he would appeal to the Citizens Security Office of Chile's Ministry of Interior to make it once again illegal "to carry knives or cutting instruments".
Carabineros statistics indicate that Punta Arenas reports an average seven killing annually, which is considered "inside normal parameters for a population of 120,000". In the first eight months of 2002, five killings have taken place, four in public places and three of them involving minors.
However Punta Arenas Councillor Carlos Bianchi who presides over the Public Security Committee, said that "as long as we're compared with national (Chilean) statistics, we'll always be short of resources. The fact is we have Carabineros on the beat for 17 hours and in the night shift we only have seven Carabineros for the whole city".
Punta Arenas Emergency Service of the regional Hospital also seems to indicate a greater "aggressiveness" in the community. In the first six months of 2002, Emergency treated 1,003 cases of aggression, 117 of beatings and 376 of injuries. For the whole of last year similar numbers were, 1,515, 254 and 662.
"Aggressions increase significantly over long week ends, holidays, and that's when we reinforce staff", said Patricia Vázquez, Emergency head nurse, adding that given the importance of knives related incidents, a "special aggression subsection will be started this September". Women in the Chilean Navy
The Chilean Navy has finally decided to open its doors to women wanting to pursue naval careers. However belonging to the most sexist of Chile's services, does not mean women will be allowed to serve on warships.
"By the end of 2003 there will be female officers in the legal and health departments of the Navy, and there will also be women sailors working aboard ship in health occupations", said Admiral Miguel Angel Vergara, Chile's Navy Commander, adding that with time "we'll gradually incorporate women into other areas".
The Chilean Air Force, pioneer in female incorporation, last year admitted women to fighter pilot training school and even acknowledged that "one day a woman officer could very well be appointed to Commander of the force".
Chile's current Defence Minister is a woman Michelle Bachelet, daughter of a former Air Force Commander.
Eager not to be left behind this year the Chilean Army said that from now on female recruits will be able to compete alongside their male comrades in reaching the highest ranks in the service.
Carabineros, Chile's militarized police force, already boasts a woman general, Mireya Perez. Hindu temple
Five hundred guests were invited this week to the inauguration of Punta Arenas first Hindu temple. The inauguration was in coincidence with the arrival a hundred years ago, in 1902, of Mr. Bhojraj Hotchand Nandwani, who was to become an outstanding member of the local community.
Mr. Nandwani married Haribini and had several children, one of them named Dwarkadas who with time became one of the richest men in Punta Arenas.
His success attracted other Hindu families to Punta Arenas establishing a small but prominent Hindu community.
The opening of the temple with the 500 local guests including Punta Arenas Mayor took place the day of the birth of Krishna, India's God of Love and was the occasion for the marriage of the descendants of two of the original Hindu families.
The temple was designed by a Chilean architect following the outlay of similar Indian constructions. Rapid changes in ice caps
Ice caps both in Greenland and Antarctica are changing faster than expected with unknown consequences for the sea level and the globe's climate according to the latest report from American scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, in Pasadena, California.
The report follows a review of satellite data on the thickness of ice caps in Greenland, Amundsen Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula.
"Polar caps are changing in time scales relatively short, that is decades instead of thousands of years", writes Eric Rignot from JPL.
Apparently the Greenland coast is eroding at a rate of 50 cubic kilometres of ice annually, enough to raise sea level by 13 millimetres. West Antarctica ice is increasing in the west and melting towards the north at a 65 cubic kilometres rate per year, equivalent to a 16 millimetres increase in ocean level.
The ice covering Amundsen Sea is also rapidly thinning, because of the influx of warm currents, "meaning there's an interaction between ice and ocean on the ice cap".
"The Antarctic Peninsula is a unique laboratory to determine if the contraction of ice caps could induce a rapid melting of snow and an increase in sea levels, a hypothesis formulated several decades ago, but still controversial", adds Mr. Rignot.
The American scientist also points out that there seems to be acceleration in the melting of glaciers as direct response to the collapse of ice caps, "with a future impact in sea level that could be greater than was originally estimated".
According to the report to measure ice cap density Rignot and Robert Thomas compared the loss of mass by melting and ice unloading to the sea with snow accumulation net increase. Most of the data was collected from American and European satellites.
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