News stories by Daniela Estrada, page 2

'This country has to understand that changes must be made,' said Mario Sepúlveda, the second Chilean miner -- of the group of 33 trapped 700 metres underground for over two months -- rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

As concern grows for the health and lives of 38 Mapuche prisoners on a hunger strike in different prisons in southern Chile, IPS consulted academics about the problems underlying the conflict.

Chile is celebrating 200 years of independence as one of the Latin American countries with the lowest proportion of poor people, but also one of the most unequal.

Eleven members of the Chilean armed forces and three Uruguayan military officers were found guilty of the kidnap-murder of Chilean biochemist Eugenio Berríos, an intelligence agent of the 1973-1990 regime of Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

The Chilean government is pushing through legal reforms in an attempt to bring to an end a nearly two month hunger strike by 34 Mapuche indigenous prisoners. But it is failing to address two critical aspects of the conflict: the lack of effective dialogue and a failure to recognise it as a political problem.

Exports from Latin America and the Caribbean will grow again this year, driven largely by demand from China. But the high proportion of commodities may increase dependency on China, and Asia as a region, warns a new report by ECLAC, the regional United Nations agency.

Exports from Latin America and the Caribbean will grow again this year, driven largely by demand from China. But the high proportion of commodities may increase dependency on China, and Asia as a region, warns a new report by ECLAC, the regional United Nations agency.

While efforts get underway to try to rescue the 33 miners who are trapped 700 metres underground in a mine in northern Chile, trade unions are calling on the country's political leaders to tackle the underlying problems of worker safety.

Controversial plans to build the Barrancones thermoelectric plant near a protected area in the northern Chilean region of Coquimbo were cancelled Friday, but not before reopening debate on other projects for polluting coal-fired power stations.

The poverty rate in the districts of southern Chile where the logging industry is the main economic activity is nearly twice the national average, a new study shows.