Chile’s Bachelet Urges Return Of Looted Goods

Housing activist says current government finally admits ‘housing crisis’

President-elect Sebastian Piñera promised his incoming government will rid Chile of its remaining campamentos. Outgoing Housing Minister Patricia Poblete doubts this will be possible.

Campamentos are Chile’s shantytowns — settlements where some of the poorest residents build houses from salvaged material on unused land.

Anti-whaling activists described last weekend how a Japanese whaling ship circled their protest vessel “like sharks” before ramming it off Antarctica.

Strife in the Antartica: a Japanese vessel rams enviro vessel “Bob Barker”.
Photo source:  MERCOPRESS

The incident happened about 300 kilometers off Cape Darnley, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, about 3pm (AEDT) on Saturday. No-one was injured in the incident.

An estimated 1.8 million elementary and high school students began their school year on Monday, including 1.1 million students in the Metropolitan Region and 283,000 students in Region V (Valparaiso), 120,000 in Region VI (Rancagua) and 50,000 in Region X (Puerto Montt).

Schools in the earthquake devastated Regions VII and VIII are opening on a case-by-case basis, depending on the structural soundness of each school. Authorities estimate that about 40 percent of students from these two regions will attend school this week.