Conservationist groups from Chile and Argentina have undertaken a project to transfer 15 Patagonian rheas (also known as choiques) from Argentina’s Patagonia Park in Santa Cruz to Chile’s Patagonia National Park in the Aysén Region, in an initiative led by Rewilding organizations of both countries and supported by the Tompkins Conservation Foundation.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest will hold the 2025 Annual Meetings of their Boards of Governors in Chile on March 26-30. Economic and financial leaders from the Bank’s 48 member countries and the private sector will address key development challenges and opportunities in the Latin America and Caribbean region, including combating poverty and hunger and harnessing innovation to foster growth and sustainability.
Chile's Central Bank unanimously decided Friday to keep the monetary policy interest rate at 5%, thus responding to market expectations. It was the second consecutive month the rate has been held steady, reflecting caution amid heightened global economic uncertainty driven by geopolitical risks and US tariff announcements under President Donald Trump. These factors have impacted US growth prospects and inflation expectations, prompting the Federal Reserve to pause its rate cuts.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Thursday signed into law the new pensions reform introducing changes to the retirement mechanism in force since Augusto Pinochet Ugarte's military dictatorship (1973-1990). The new law will become effective starting in September 2025 and be fully implemented by 2035. It provides for a mixed system with contributions from workers (10%), employers (8.5%), and a new state-backed social security component, in a move to boost pensions by 14% to 35% for 2.8 million senior citizens, thus addressing the low payouts from privately-managed Pension Fund Administrators (AFPs) currently giving about half the country's retirees about US$ 350 monthly when the minimum wage stands at US$ 500.
A lorry carrying crude oil from Chile to Bolivia for refining overturned in Lauca National Park, Arica, Chile, spilling approximately 10,000 liters of oil, thus causing significant environmental contamination. Firefighters initially contained the spill, but damage to flora and fauna is still being assessed by Chile's National Forestry Corporation (Conaf).
Chilean Congresswoman Karol Cariola, who is on maternity leave, turned in her resignation as Speaker of the Lower House after private chats in which she criticized President Gabriel Boric Font were leaked. Cariola is also under investigation for alleged influence peddling after she asked former Santiago Mayor and fellow Communist Irací Hassler to help a Chinese businessman friend, as other private conversations would have proven. She was also quoted as saying that Boric was a shitty human being and the current government, the worst thing that has happened to us.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font appointed Adriana Delpiano to replace the resigning Maya Fernández, who left her position after being involved in the scandal regarding the Government's failed attempt to purchase the house of her grandfather, former President Salvador Allende.
Carolina Tohá Tuesday turned in her resignation as Chile's Minister of the Interior to focus on her presidential bid, she announced.
As Chile's electricity supply gradually went back to normal Wednesday, one death and an armed robbery were reported following Tuesday's 10-hour blackout resulting in a nationwide curfew.
About 98% of Chile's population was left Tuesday without electricity, prompting President Gabriel Boric Font to decree a curfew between 10 pm to 6 am Wednesday with 3,000 troops deployed nationwide. The outage began at 3.16 pm after a failure in an ISA InterChile transmission line between Vallenar and Coquimbo, causing a chain reaction that disconnected key parts of the national grid. Boric said the incident was “intolerable,” and vowed to hold the subsidiary of Colombia’s ISA accountable.