Punta Arenas, as the capital of the Chilean Magallanes Region and Chilean Antarctica, will finally have its International Antarctic Center making the city the logistic hub and gate of access to Western Antarctica, following on the regional council's decision to support and finance the 88 million dollars project as part of the development program for Extreme Zones.
Punta Arenas, the extreme south of Chile will be hosting Silversea Cruises as its base of operations, having decided to abandon Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. Silversea announced a release in which it makes official its Antarctic cruise operations during the 2021/22 season, following an agreement with Chilean officials.
LATAM and Jetsmar will be resuming their flights to Punta Arenas from Santiago on November 2 and 4 respectively. The announcement by Magallanes Region officials followed the arrival of Sky airlines to Puerto Natales and the confirmation of two weekly flights, Tuesday and Thursdays until the end of the year.
The biding conditions and process for the construction the International Antarctic Center in Punta Arenas, should be ready before the end of the current government of president Sebastián Piñera, according to Magallanes governor Jorge Flies and Jennifer Rogers, presidential delegate for the region.
The Delta variant of Covid-19 has reached Magallanes Region, extreme south of Chile. Three cases were confirmed on Wednesday by the regional Health Care office and the labs from the University of Magallanes.
Punta Arenas extreme south of Chile was hit on Thursday by hurricane-force winds that left a trail of blown roofs, half the city without power, the collapse of several walls, and uprooted trees in city streets.
Argentina's attempt, mistaken or in purpose to describe in official policy to its Armed Forces the Magellan Strait and areas of the Drake Passage, as “shared spaces”, have triggered a strong reaction from the Chilean media and nationalist groups.
Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile will host the International Antarctic Center, CAI, a long-time project several times delayed but which finally was given the green light, and should begin to be built in the near future with an investment demanding some 75 million US dollars.
Gabriel Boric, 35, born and raised in Punta Arenas, could be the next Chilean president according to the latest CADEM public opinion poll, particularly since in the primary of the alliance of parties to which he belongs, he clearly beat a Marxist candidate sponsored by the Chilean communist party.
Next Thursday Magallanes Region will be living a historic event, for the first time an elected governor will be taking office in Punta Arenas. Until now it was the central government, Santiago that appointed the official, but since the political and social reforms that emerged from the 2019/20 upheavals including the current assembly to draft a new constitution, things have changed in Chile particularly exposing the fragility of the so-called Chilean model. And in Magallanes, an issue outstands, salmon farming in maritime spaces.