Chile

SANTIAGO, Jan 18 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — At least three communes in central Bio Bio region are now on red alert due to forest fires that have already destroyed five homes and more than 600 hectares.

The fires, started on Thursday, have affected the Cabrero, Nacimiento and Santa Juana communes, where authorities ordered the preventive evacuation of hundreds of people from inhabited areas that were threatened by the flames, Radio Bio Bio station reported.

ANTIAGO, Jan 11 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — The Communist Youth of Chile (JJCC) described OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro as an accomplice to serious human rights violations in Chile.

The youth branch of the Communist Party of Chile (PC) argued that Almagro defended President Sebastian Piñera’s actions against the widepread popular demonstrations in the country, even ignoring the denunciations from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHRC), which is attached to the Organization of American States (OAS).

28 December 2019; AFP: Thousands of protesters clashed with police Friday in Santiago in a fresh round of anti-government demonstrations that erupted more than two months ago in Chile.

The rally took place in the Plaza Italia, which has since October 18 become the epicenter of massive citizen protests against President Sebastian Pinera's right-wing government.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - More than 245 homes have been destroyed and 700 people left destitute after a forest fire tore through a low-income area of the Chilean seaside city of Valparaiso on Christmas Eve.

President Sebastian Pinera said on Thursday during a tour of the affected zone that there was evidence the fire had been started deliberately.

“I deeply regret that what should have been a good night, a night of peace, should have been so profoundly altered by this tragedy,” he said.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air Force has warned that the struggle to recover the remains of a Hercules that crashed en route to the Antarctic two weeks ago could make it difficult to ever determine what happened to the plane.

The Hercules C-130 cargo plane, which was carrying 17 crew members and 21 passengers, disappeared shortly after taking off on Dec. 9 from the southern city of Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia.

PUNTA ARENAS (Chile), Dec 17 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The Royal Navy vessel HMS Scott arrived to provide support to the Chilean military in their response to the loss of a C130 military plane that went missing earlier in the week in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.

British Forces’ South Atlantic Islands, based in the Falklands Islands and Falkland Island Governement have provided assistance to the search effort working with regional neighbors.

SANTIAGO, Dec 14 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — A total of 56 Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Colombian citizens were expelled from Chile for having committed offenses or broken immigration laws, the authorities said.

The migrants, who left the country by plane, include ten Peruvians, five Colombians, and 41 Venezuelans, who will be taken to the capitals of their respective countries as part of a new expulsion process that finalized on Friday.

13 December 2019; AFP: Chile confirmed Thursday that a military plane with 38 people aboard crashed in the sea, with no hope of finding survivors.

"The condition of the plane wreckage that was found makes it practically impossible that there are survivors from this air accident," Air Force chief Arturo Merino told a news conference in the southern port of Punta Arenas.

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (AP) — Debris believed to be from a military transport plane carrying 38 people that vanished two days ago en route to the Antarctic has been discovered in the frigid, treacherous waters between the icy continent and South America, Chile’s Air Force said Wednesday.

Air Force Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira said “sponge” material, possibly from the plane’s fuel tank, was found floating roughly 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the place the C-130 Hercules last had radio contact.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s air force lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to the country’s base in Antarctica, and authorities indicated several hours later that they were not optimistic about the aircraft’s fate.

The military said earlier that it had declared an alert and activated search and rescue teams.

The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew members and 21 passengers, including three civilians. The personnel were to check on a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the Chilean base.