Travel resumed to Easter Island last week after COVID-19 restrictions. Last weekend, the second regular flight was performed, thus reopening one of the most iconic tourist routes after sanitary measures halted all commercial airline services.
New genetic research shows that there was mingling between ancient native peoples from Polynesia and South America, revealing a single episode of interbreeding roughly 800 years ago after an epic transoceanic journey.
A delegation from the Chilean Easter Island early this week has asked the British Museum in London for the return of an iconic statue believed to date from around 1200 AD and even offered to replace it with a replica carved from stone by a contemporary artist.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet officially created a 740,000-square kilometer marine reserve around remote Easter Island, a move that will protect dozens of species found nowhere else. The move follows five years of efforts by environmental organizations and the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, famous for its extreme isolation and mysterious stone statues known as Moai.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet announced this week the creation of the Nazca-Desaventuradas Marine Park, giving Chile claim to the largest marine reserve in the Americas -- as well as the Easter Island Marine Park, which will be the third-largest fully protected marine area in the world.
A new international campaign to promote Chile as a tourism destination was launched by the Under Secretariat for Tourism, the institution responsible for the promotion of Chile in overseas markets. The campaign was presented in parallel in Sao Paulo as part of the events at World Travel Market (WTM) Latin America.
The United States congressman representing the territory of American Samoa has announced he will be traveling to Easter Island during the Congressional recess to assess recent developments between the legitimate representatives of the Rapa Nui clans and the Chilean government.
The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), a body within the Organization of American States, has issued Precautionary Measures to protect the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island.
More than 100 Police Special Forces violently evicted Rapa Nui indigenous groups from the Government Plaza in the center of Hanga Roa over the holidays, causing injuries to at least nine people, three of them serious.