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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 26th 2026 - 02:50 UTC

Chile

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 01:39 UTC

    Chile: Security and Spokesperson ministers fall in first cabinet reshuffle of Kast's government

    “I did not expect to carry out this cabinet reshuffle, it was not what I had planned for this stage,” Kast said

    Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Tuesday carried out the first cabinet reshuffle of his administration and removed from their posts the Security Minister, Trinidad Steinert, and the Government Spokesperson, Mara Sedini, in a reorganization that amounts to the fastest ministerial adjustment in Chile since the return to democracy in 1990. The decision comes just over two months after the inauguration of the far-right president, against a backdrop of falling presidential approval to around 40% and an increase in public disapproval to 60%.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 01:42 UTC

    Chilean executive detained in Brazil for racist and homophobic insults to Latam flight attendant

    The executive refers to the cabin crew member as “mono” (monkey) and makes gestures imitating a primate

    Chilean executive Germán Naranjo Maldini has been held since Friday 15 May at the Guarulhos prison on the outskirts of São Paulo, charged with racial slur after directing racist and homophobic insults at a flight attendant of the airline Latam during a flight between São Paulo and Frankfurt on 10 May. The Chilean fishing company Landes, where he served as commercial manager, formally and preventively removed the executive from his position following the circulation over the weekend of a video showing the verbal attacks.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 13:27 UTC

    Chilean former president defends “people-centered” multilateralism in Montevideo against authoritarian projects

    Bachelet linked the regional democratic erosion to the “profound disconnect between institutions and people”

    Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, currently a candidate for the United Nations Secretary General, defended on Thursday in Montevideo the need for “a more representative, inclusive, and people-centered multilateralism” in the face of advancing “authoritarian projects” in the international order, during the keynote of the seminar “Geopolitics, Multilateralism, and Risks to Gender-Parity Democracy in the New International Order.” The event, organized by IDEA Internacional, is taking place at Uruguay's Legislative Palace as part of the Latin American Women in Politics Meeting, which brings together regional political leaders until Friday.

  • Tuesday, May 5th 2026 - 18:28 UTC

    Bullrich vows that Argentina's government will capture former guerrilla Apablaza for extradition to Chile

    Apablaza, a former member of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front, is identified by Chilean justice as the mastermind of the assassination of Senator Jaime Guzmán, architect of the 1980 Constitution

    Argentine senator and former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said in Santiago on Tuesday that Javier Milei's government maintains “the firm determination” to locate Chilean former guerrilla Galvarino Sergio Apablaza, on the run since April 1 in Argentine territory, in order to extradite him to Chile. “If he is in Argentina, we are going to find him. That is the commitment of the Argentine president, it is the commitment of the government,” Bullrich told local media during her visit to the Andean country, where she will meet with Chilean President José Antonio Kast.

  • Wednesday, April 29th 2026 - 15:11 UTC

    Chile's labor market hits 38 months of unemployment above 8% as growth forecast is revised down

    INE attributed the increase to a 0.7% rise in the labor force, above the 0.5% registered by the employed population, which translated into a 3.3% increase in the total number of unemployed persons

    Chile's unemployment rate stood at 8.9% during the moving quarter from January to March 2026, a 0.2 percentage point increase over twelve months, according to data released on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The figure exceeded market expectations, which projected 8.6% according to the Bloomberg consensus, and completes 38 consecutive months with the indicator above 8%, confirming a structural weakness in the Chilean labor market that remains one of the main concerns of President José Antonio Kast's administration, in office since March 11.

  • Friday, April 24th 2026 - 19:49 UTC

    Kast–Paz rapprochement opens door to potential restoration of Bolivia–Chile relations

    The diplomatic shift responds to a direct “mandate” from the presidents of both countries — far-right José Antonio Kast, who took office in Chile on March 11, and center-right Rodrigo Paz

    The foreign ministers of Bolivia, Fernando Aramayo, and Chile, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, agreed on Friday to deepen bilateral ties and advance a joint economic agenda, amid a decisive diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries after nearly five decades without ambassador-level relations. The meeting, held at an event organized by the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services, and Tourism (Cainco) in Santa Cruz, concluded a two-day official visit by the Chilean minister.

  • Thursday, April 23rd 2026 - 22:58 UTC

    LATAM and Aerolíneas Argentinas aircraft collide on the ground at Santiago airport with no injuries reported

    Chile's Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) reported that both aircraft were immediately stopped and subjected to technical assessment in line with operational safety protocols

    Two commercial aircraft collided on the ground at Santiago's Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport on Wednesday evening in an incident that left no injuries but forced the rescheduling of both affected flights. The collision occurred at around 8:00 p.m. local time, when a LATAM Airlines Airbus A321 struck a stationary Aerolíneas Argentinas Boeing 737 that was holding on the apron awaiting clearance for take-off.

  • Wednesday, April 22nd 2026 - 10:57 UTC

    Chile closes ranks on Strait of Magellan sovereignty a week after Argentine admiral's remarks

    The head of Argentina’s Naval Hydrography Service had stated that “the mouth of the Strait of Magellan is Argentine,” a claim that Chile’s foreign minister described as “unfounded.”

    A week after remarks by Argentine Rear Admiral Hernán Montero on the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan went viral, the Chilean government has consolidated a unified stance in defense of its sovereignty, while internal debate has shifted toward the executive's handling of the communications response.

  • Monday, April 20th 2026 - 18:02 UTC

    Irregular Venezuelans in Chile want to leave but can't: no papers, no consulate, no return mechanism

    Of the more than 336,000 migrants in irregular status in Chile, 75% are Venezuelan

    As President José Antonio Kast's government ramps up its campaign against irregular immigration with deportation flights and promises of mass expulsions, thousands of undocumented Venezuelans in Chile face a paradox: they want to leave but cannot do so legally. Without valid passports, without Venezuelan consular services in the country and without a formal voluntary return mechanism, they are trapped between a government that does not want them and a homeland they cannot reach.

  • Friday, April 17th 2026 - 11:06 UTC

    Chile launches deportation flights under Kast with 40 migrants expelled to Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia

    The operation is not unprecedented in Chile. Under the government of Gabriel Boric (2022-2026), more than 20 deportation flights were carried out and roughly 4,500 people were expelled

    The government of Chilean President José Antonio Kast carried out its first deportation flight of irregular migrants on Thursday, expelling 40 people on a Chilean Air Force (FACh) Boeing 737 that made stops in Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. The 19 Colombians, the last group to disembark, arrived in Bogotá shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time. The 17 Bolivians and four Ecuadorians were dropped off previously in La Paz and Guayaquil, respectively. Each deportee traveled accompanied by an officer from Chile's Investigative Police (PDI).