Chile’s top league team Colo Colo easily defeated Rapa Nui in the first official match in Easter Island. The Chilean heavyweights won the Chilean Cup match 4-0. The locals, who didn't count with any professional footballers, but artisans, fishermen and dancers, played a decent game but were, as was expected, outplayed.
The deployment of US military personnel in Colombian bases and its implication for the region has been included in the agenda of the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, which convenes this week in Quito, Ecuador, according to the country’s Foreign Affairs minister Fander Falconi.
Bolivian president Evo Morales said he was quite concerned with the possibility that the “Pinochetistas” in Chile and the “fascist right” in Argentina could win the general elections in those countries, according to the country’s government news agency, ABI.
Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is visiting most South American countries to explain the extent of the understanding currently under discussion with Washington and which will enable an increase of US military personnel distributed in several Colombian bases, an initiative which has received strong reactions across the continent.
Two retired Chilean army officers have been charged with accepting bribes for the purchase of Dutch armoured vehicles in 1998. The men are accused of taking a 600.000 US dollars bribe over the sale of 200 Leopard tanks.
United States General Douglas Fraser, in charge of US Southern Command operations covering South America said that there are good reasons for the deployment of US military units in Colombia bases, but also stressed that no final deal had yet been struck.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez confirmed Tuesday that one of her militants Lina Ron was under arrest for having been involved in the Monday attack on the Globovision television station, an action which he also condemned.
The first boatloads of Magellan spider crabs (king crab) arrived in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, late last week, marking the commencement of the 2009 spider crab season and the end of the National Fishing Service’s six month ban on hunting the prized crustaceans.
With the challenge of strengthening international cooperation for development of Antarctic science, the XXI Annual Meeting of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) started yesterday. COMNAP is one of the most important forums of the Antarctic Treaty System.
In a nod to the luxury cruiser industry, Chile’s government says it will invest more than 180 million US dollars to improve and expand tourism infrastructure to convince foreign travellers to visit the country.