Volcanos in Chile and Peru rumble to life

A volcano in South Chile began erupting last week spewing ash miles into the sky and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The Chaiten volcano, about 760 miles south of the capital of Santiago began erupting on Friday sending a plume of ash thousands of feet into the sky and affecting many cities to the east in Argentina.

On Tuesday, new eruptions sent another cloud of ash 12 miles into the air and lava began pouring out of the mountain as well. A crater about 800 meters (2,600 feet) wide was created.

Authorities ordered everyone out of the immediate region. About 8,000 of 12,000 residents have left.

There are more than 100 active volcanoes in Chile of which two dozen are capable of erupting at any time. Geologists believe Chaiten has not erupted in the last 9,000 years.

Since the eruptions began on May 2, more than 4,000 people had fled the towns of towns of Chaiten and Futaleufu in the Palena province. Government authorities, including president Michele Bachelet, were on hand throughout the weekend to oversee the efforts.

Officials said that dozens of small earthquakes have been recorded in the area since the eruptions began.

In Southern Peru, the volcano Ubinas has been erupting for the past several weeks but not in as explosive fashion as Chatien. Over the weekend two new eruptions sent a cloud of ash more than 500 meters into the sky.

The mountain roared to life in March of 2006 but later quieted enough for residents to return. As of this week the more than five thousand residents in the region are waiting to see if they need to evacuate again.

James Bond and the War of the Pacific

Filmmakers working on the upcoming entry to the James Bond canon, A Quantum of Solace, have unwittingly stepped into a contentious and long standing row between Bolivia and Chile.

The plot of the Marc Forster-directed film (set for release in November) involves an effort to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

The movie, starring Daniel Craig as the current incarnation of the classic spy hero, is currently being filmed in the Chilean coastal city of Antofagasta. The city is standing in for Bolivia and filming has included scenes featuring Bolivian flags and officials. The sight of which has angered many of the locals.

Several dozen residents held a protest at the site of the filming this week and one local paper read, "Chile is Chile. We aren't Bolivian Indians. Imperialist British out." The mayor of a nearby town even stormed the set in a vehicle and was arrested.

Bolivians, on the other hand, have relished the furor. "Agent 007, James Bond, recovers the sea for Bolivia" read the headline of one La Paz newspaper in reference to the filming.

The debate over the region reaches back to the War of the Pacific (1897-1883) which pitted Chile against an allied Bolivia and Peru. The ensuing Chilean victory led to the annexation of a huge swath of Pacific Coast previously held by the other two and which includes Antofagasta.

The outcome left Bolivia landlocked and the country has since sought to regain access to the sea but Chile (and Peru) has opposed ceding any of the territory. Tensions remain high due to the inability to do so as well as underlying ethnic concerns.

South American presidential approval ratings

The leaders of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador all saw a response in their popularity rating following an incident in early March that frayed tensions across the region. Colombian president Álvaro Uribe’s saw his already high popularity ratings have reached an all-time peak of 84 percent in the wake of the imbroglio.

Similarly, the dispute did much to solidify the approval rating of Ecuador’s leader, Rafael Correa, who already enjoyed a 55 percent approval rating. A recent poll showed that more than 80 percent of Ecuadorians approved of his efforts during the crisis.

The one leader whose involvement has suffered is Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez whose popularity rating is now at 34 percent. Many in Venezuela are concerned the fiery leftist leader needs to address pressing domestic issues such as food shortages and domestic security.

Here is a rundown of the rest:

• Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is enjoying renewed popularity due to his country’s recent economic prosperity. His 58 percent approval rating is the greatest for Lula in five years and analysts credit the recent increase in wages and drop in unemployment as the key factors behind it.


• Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez is enjoying a 56 percent approval rating, a significant uptick from just four months ago. The leader has recently reshuffled his cabinet in an effort to reinvigorate his administration.


• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who won Argentina's presidency last December, continues to enjoy positive poll numbers. Almost 58 percent of Argentines say they rate her tenure as good or very good.


• Bolivia’s Evo Morales has seen his popularity erode in the past few months particularly due to questions over his effort to re-write the country’s constitution. Just more than 46 percent of Bolivians say they want him to continue as president.


• Chilean president Michele Bachelet, who reached the one-year mark of her administration in March, continues at just more than 42 percent approval. That stability is in the face of various problems in the country faced over the last 12 months and the current looming energy crisis due in part to a massive drought.


• In Peru, Alan Garcia's popularity rating has dropped to 28 percent - less than half of where it stood six months ago. His administration has cut spending, lowered taxes and raised interest rates that has made the country attractive to foreign investment but rising food and fuel costs which has increased domestic dissatisfaction.


• Paraguay’s unpopular Nicanor Duarte continues to bring up the back of the pack with a woeful 17 percent approval rating. The country’s presidential elections will be held in April.

A roundup of presidential popularity polls from August 2007 can be found here.

Street protests in Bolivia and Chile

Last month, Peru was engulfed in a massive teachers strike that brought thousands of people to the streets. This week it was Chile and Bolivia's turn.

Several thousand people took to the streets of Santiago on Wednesday as part of a protest organized by the country's largest labor federation, Chilean Workers Center. The group, which represents more than 600,000 Chilean workers, opposes the country's current market-friendly "neoliberal model" and insisted President Michelle Bachelet boost social spending in the 2008 budget as high copper prices spur economic growth.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to regain order. So far, at least 740 people have been arrested and dozens injured, including a ruling coalition senator, Alejandro Navarro, who was seen bleeding from the head after he was clubbed by an officer.

Power was knocked out in some areas because protesters threw chains over electric power cables. Looting was also reported.

In Bolivia, protests against President Evo Morales' occurred on Tuesday in the wake of a national strike by the Santa Cruz Civic Committee - part of the country's conservative opposition. The work stoppage was called to protest the government's refusal to relocate the nation's capital and a controversial move to prosecute four high-court justices.

The strike was called in six of nine Bolivian provinces and The Associated Press reported that significant portions of four major cities shut down by the protest. Some violence was reported and police intervened to prevent clashes between the organizers of the work stoppage and groups who support Morales.

The protests were the latest effort by Morales' opponents to stall his effort to overhaul the constitution - a move they claim will lead to him ruling the country indefinitely.

Morales has accused the United States of backing the effort and several of his administration's highest ranking officials reiterated those allegations this week. Specifically, that the U.S. government was using foreign aid programs in Bolivia to develop the opposition's "ideological and political resistance."


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Chile, Bolivia, Protests

The Santa Maria School Massacre

A team of archaeologists have begun work in northern Chile to uncover the truth about a mass slaughter of foreign nitrate field workers almost a century ago. More than 3,600 are believed to have been killed in the 'Santa Maria School Massacre' of Dec 21, 1907 in the mining town of Iquique, was a landmark event in the history of Chilean unionism.

In the late 19th century, Sodium nitrate was in high demand as a fertilizer and a raw material for the manufacture of gunpowder. The War in the Pacific that pitted Chile, Peru and Bolivia against each other in the 1870s was primarily over control of the Atacama desert which holds the world's largest natural deposits of caliche ore or “Chilean Saltpeter.”

Following the war, Peru and Bolivia lost their holdings in the region which is now northern Chile. Many of the workers in the 102 sodium nitrate deposits then being exploited were still Bolivians and Peruvians.

The mining camps or villages were built solely for the purpose of production - they built the substandard housing, stocked the stores, paid the workers in tokens redeemable only in the company stores and held strict control over the day to day life on the camps.


In 1907 several thousand of the miners descended on the town of Iquique to demand better living and working conditions and formed a strike committee with headquarters at the Santa Maria School. The labor stoppage brought production to a halt in the nitrate fields – a key piece of the country’s economy at the time.

The government of government of Chilean President Pedro Montt acted quickly to suppress the strike sending in the army and declaring martial law. Things boiled over on December 21st at 3:45 p.m. The members of the committee were shot and then the members of the strike and their families.

Between 3,600 and 4,500 people are believed to have been killed. According to oral accounts, the murdered workers were originally thrown into a common grave near the scene of the slaughter but later exhumed and transferred to a grave close to the coroner's office in the city.

About 1,300 sets of remains have been recovered by the archaeological team ranging from newborns to the elderly. Team members say that although many of the bodies have gunshot wounds to the head, they still cannot say for certain yet if that the bodies in the grave are those of the workers.


Find out more about Chile, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Chile, nitrate fields, Santa Maria School Massacre

Peru and Chile's maritime dispute heats up

A map printed in the official newspaper of the Peruvian government has restoked a controversy concerning maritime limits between the country and neighboring Chile.

The map, published in the El Peruano newspaper, indicates that country owns a fishing-rich 38,000 square km portion of the Pacific Ocean claimed by Chile. The government of Chile responded by recalling its ambassador to Peru, Cristian Barros.

The Chilean government also filed a formal diplomatic protest over Peru's publication of the official map.

The dispute over the border has it's origin in the War of the Pacific when Chile defeated the allied forces of Peru and Bolivia and claimed substantial land and sea territory as its spoils. The Chileans say the current maritime boundary has been clearly defined by a pair of fishing treaties signed in the 1950s.

Peru says the boundary is unfair and has brought the disagreement to International Court of Justice in The Hague.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Chile, maritime border

The South American arms race

The growing arsenal of Venezuela has caused alarm among many who fear leftist revolutionary talk of the country's flamboyant leader, Hugo Chavez, is more than just bluster.

Since 2005, Venezuela has spent more than $4.3 billion on weapons, mostly purchased from Russia. These include a new fleet of 24 Sukhoi Su-30s airplanes as well as nine 636 and 677E Amur-class diesel-powered submarines. That has made Venezuela Latin America's largest weapons buyer and placing it ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran.

The stakes were raised this week when Venezuela announced that it is building two plants to make Kalashnikov assault rifles making it the first country to win a production license for the guns since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The buying spree has been matched by Chile who, since 2000, has shelled out $2.8 billion for weapons including 10 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes, 18 second-hand similar warplanes from the Netherlands, 16 frigates, two submarines and 118 Leopard IIA4 tanks from Germany.

The other big arms spender is Colombia who has been redoubling it's military purchases in recent years. Since 2000, the country has increased defense from $2.6 billion to more $4.48 billion last year. That has been bolstered by the more than $5 billion in funding from the US to finance anti-drug efforts. A situation that has helped president Alvaro Uribe make progress against leftist rebels and paramilitary groups but has rankled neighboring Venezuela.


Find out more about South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, arms race

South American presidential approval ratings

The heads of state across South America have a pretty broad range of popularity ratings. None, at the current moment, exceed two-thirds of the populace approving their leadership efforts but only two have less than a third of the citizenry supporting them.

Colombia's Alvaro Uribe leads the way with a 66 percent approval rating. This is actually an unprecedented drop in his numbers attributed to the recent scandals in his country.

Controversial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez continues to enjoy popular support with a 64.7 percent approval rating (from April, the most recent poll available). Two of Chavez' closest allies in the region Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa are enjoying approval ratings of 61 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sustained a 50 percent approval rating despite fending off scandal accusations of his own. Uruguay's Tabaré Vázquez is also fighting a recent dip with his figures holding at 51 percent.

Argentina's Néstor Kirchner is holding at 49 percent approval while his wife and Buenos Aires senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner continues to hold the lead for October's presidential election.

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet has seen her approval rating dip to 41 percent following waves of popular protest this year. Her neighbor to the north, Alan Garcia, has seen a similar whallop to his ratings following recent unrest. He's struggling to hold onto a 32 percent rating - half of what he enjoyed upon being elected one year ago.

Bringing up the rear is Paraguay's Nicanor Duarte whose 20 percent approval (from February, the most recent poll available) casts a dim light on his re-election hopes next year.


Find out more about South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, presidential approval ratings

Peru and Chile's maritime border dispute

Peru has taken a dispute with its southern neighbor Chile over the maritime boundary between the two nations to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The details of the dispute are somewhat arcane, but the control of more than 38,000 square kilometers of ocean waters is in question. Chile insists that the existing boundary which is parallel to the equator was legally established via two agreements on fishing signed in the 1950s. Peru argues that an equidistant boundary is correct.

While both sides describe the dispute in amicable terms, the disagreement has caused considerable tension in the past. Two years ago Peru cut off trade talks with Chile and refused to support its candidate to head the Organization of American States. The Peruvian legislature even went so far to pass a law that redraws the sea border.

The dispute is complicated by the calls of neighboring Bolivia to regain access to the sea. In a visit this week to Peru, Bolivian President Evo Morales made it a point to bring the topic up in discussions. Last year, Morales made similar overtures to Chile although with little progress.

The core of the disagreement goes back more than a century to the War in the Pacific when Chile decisively defeated Peru and Bolivia. The conflict was sparked over land rights in this region and one major outcome of the war was a dramatic redrawing of each country's borders.


Find out more about Peru, Chile, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Chile, Bolivia, maritime, border, Evo Morales, War of the Pacific

Fiestas Patrias - Peru's Independence Holiday

The last weekend of July is a festive period in Peru where the country takes time to celebrate it's independence from Spanish Colonial rule. Yet, unlike many other Latin American countries of the period, Peru's independence was brought to them from without.

By 1820, the Viceroyalty of Peru was the final holdout of the Spanish Dominion on the continent. And the war to achieve it was by no means decisive.

The hero of the story is an Argentinian, Jose de San Martin, who helped his native country start it's war of independence and then crossed the Andes in 1817 to do the same for Chile. He understood that the key to complete independence for South America was to smash the heart of the Spanish Viceroyalty, which meant taking Peru.

So in August of 1820 he set sail from Chile with his army and landed at the southern coastal city of Paracas. It is here he allegedly spotted a flock of (ironically) Chilean flamingos take flight and was inspired with the design for the Peruvian flag.

After a a decisive campaign carried out in conjunction with Peruvian forces, San Martin occupied Lima, on 12 July 1821. Sixteen days later, on July 28, he declared Peru's independence from Spain and was named the "Protector" of the newly independent nation.

Despite the victory, forces loyal to the Spanish king continued to hold out against the new republic and, by March of 1924, had regained considerable control of the country including the occupation of Lima. A brilliant campaign by Venezuelan liberator Simón Bolivar that year re-established independence, ending the coutnry's "War of Independence" with decisive military victories in Junín and Ayacucho.

Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Fiestas Patrias, San Martin, Simon Bolivar

The Andean Cold Crisis

It has been a cold winter in the Andes - deadly cold.

For the past few months, temperatures in the Andean highlands have plummeted to record lows leading to a crisis that aid groups and government agencies are scrambling to handle.

In many of the highland areas of Peru and Bolivia lows are reaching -13 Fahrenheit. More than 200 people, including at least 55 children under the age of five have perished and more than 6,000 cases of Pneumonia have been documented so far, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

And it promises to get worse, there are still two-and-a-half months of winter remaining to go and forecasters are fearful even more severe cold snaps are in the wings.

So far in Peru alone, more than 200,000 people have been affected – often the poorest and least prepared segment of Peru’s society. Aid groups report that the worst hit areas are in the provinces of Puno, Apurimac, Ancash, Cajamarca and Cusco.

In response, the Peruvian government has placed half of the country’s 24 departments under a state of emergency and has stepped up efforts to provide aid and provisions to the areas impacted the worst. But the country is not alone. Bolivia, in particular, has been struggling to deal with the impact of the severe weather as well.

Bolivia has been forced to shut down the La Paz airport several times due to snowfall and the country’s main highway has been closed at least once so far, the AFP reported. Its been a similar story in the Chilean Andes where the Cristo Redentor tunnel between Chile and Argentina was shut down by a blizzard in early July leaving several thousand trucks stranded on the roadside for days.

The impact of this record cold is magnified by the fact these regions have been buffeted by unusually cold winters for several years now. The frigid weather has left these area with few food reserves and tens of thousands of livestock – mostly llamas and alpacas which these communities rely on for survival – have perished.

Then things began going bad early this year. In January an unseasonable cold spell destroyed up to 60 percent of the harvest for the mountain regions. This new cold spell has effectively finished off everything. Latest assessments show agricultural losses of 134,000 acres, and another 225,000 acres affected.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Boliva, cold, freeze, crisis, temperature

Peru and Chile's Pisco war

Come to Peru and you will be obligated to try the ubiquitous Pisco Sour. Be wary, though, Pisco is actually a distilled grape brandy and has the alcohol content to prove it (as much as 96 proof).

But the drink is also at the heart of a long standing dispute between Peru and Chile for the right to produce it as an exclusive cultural commodity. Last year, after the World Intellectual Property Organization recognized the validity of Chile's manufacture of Pisco, the Chilean government proposed that the two countries conduct a joint promotional campaign for the beverage. The idea was not warmly received by Peruvians.

And those feelings were re-stirred this week (Sunday is the country's national day of Pisco) when the Peruvian Minister of External Commerce and Tourism, Mercedes Aráoz, prompted howls of protest recently when she suggested that Peru could share the the name with Chile. The outcry against the statement prompted her to retract the comments just a few hours later.

"I am a huge defender of pisco," she said. "Pisco is genuinely Peruvian. Sharing the title is not our goal."

The dispute is actually rather complicated. The first vineyards in the Viceroyalty of Peru were planted in the coastal valleys of Southern Peru shortly after the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. Peruvians claim the methodology of the process actually goes back to the Incans.

Peru has not been shy about promoting it's side of the debate as this ad campaign by the country's promotional agency, PromPeru, clearly demonstrates (the second part is available here).

Of course Chilean's point out that, when Pisco was first made, both Peru and Chile were part of the same Spanish colony. Yet the country's main argument in the debate is the blunt fact that Peru is no longer the world leader in Pisco production.

A report on the dispute by the BBC a few years ago pointed out that Chile produced 50 million liters of Pisco a year compared with the 1.5 million liters of its northern neighbor. In fact, Chileans consume more than 20 times as much their Peruvian neighbors.

And, lastly, it's worth remembering that hard feelings between these two countries goes back quite some time.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Chile, Pisco, Pisco Sour