2022

Chilean president-elect Gabriel Boric urges citizens to back constitution rewrite

Boric wasted no time in delivering his full backing to the constitutional process as president-elect (The Guardian)

Mining of Lithium, Key to the Climate Fight, Faces New Scrutiny in Chile

Lithium became a strategic bargaining tool as the Boric government prepared to take the reins (The New York Times)

Chile’s president-elect names progressive, majority-women cabinet

Boric chose 14 women and 10 men to make up his cabinet - the first female-majority government anywhere in the Americas (The Guardian)

2021

Widow of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies age 98

The dictator’s widow died on the eve of the second-round vote (The Guardian)

Lucía Hiriart, Powerful Wife of Chile's Dictator, Dies at 98

An obituary of General Pinochet’s widow (New York Times)

The Croatian roots of Chile’s leftist president Gabriel Boric

Who is Gabriel Boric? The radical student leader who will be Chile’s next president

A quick profile of Boric’s rise from student protests to the presidential palace (The Guardian)

Former student activist wins Chile’s presidential election

Boric’s victory was announced swiftly, sparking wild celebrations in the centre of Santiago (The Washington Post)

Leftwinger to become Chile’s youngest president after beating far-right rival

A quick look at Boric’s historic win (The Guardian)

Chile: candidates battle for moderate votes as presidential race nears end

Kast went to the US and took to YouTube to secure votes, Boric’s campaign spilled out across Chile to reach those they hadn’t before (The Guardian)

‘Very worrying’: is a far-right radical about to take over in Chile?

The echoes of Brazil 2017 and other far-right populists were alarming (The Guardian)

Chilean election offers stark choice: a leftist or an admirer of Pinochet

A look at the division that remained after the first round’s results (The Guardian)

Chileans face stark choice in vote for president after two years of unrest

An explanation of what was at stake in Chile’s elections (The Guardian)

Far-right populist, ex-protest leader set for runoff vote in Chile’s presidential election

A look at the results (The Guardian)

Chile’s right rejoices after pro-Pinochet candidate wins presidential first round

And some initial impressions (The Guardian)

‘A fairer Chile’: protest generation aims to reshape country in divisive election

An interview with former student leader Gabriel Boric about how his generation have risen to prominence (The Guardian)

Shaken by protests, battered by the coronavirus, a divided Chile picks a new president

Some voters’ impressions ahead of the vote (Washington Post)

Rightwing Chilean newspaper accused of ‘apology for Nazism’ over Göring article

El Mercurio sparked controversy with its article commemorating Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring (The Guardian)

Chile far-right candidate rides anti-migrant wave in presidential poll

José Antonio Kast’s rise had its roots in anti-illegal migration marches in Iquique, northern Chile (The Guardian)

Chile protest leader reveals he lied about having cancer

Rodrigo Rojas Vade’s story unraveled dramatically, and he has since stepped back from the constitutional convention (The Guardian)

Why Haitians are fleeing Chile for the US border

A report from Quilicura, which Haitian migrants have left en masse having given up on ever being documented by Chile (The Washington Post, with photographs by Tamara Merino)

Chile president Piñera faces impeachment after Pandora papers leak

Chile’s president faces impeachment, a criminal investigation and international pressure as his turbulent four-year term comes to an end (The Guardian)

Gabriel Boric wins Chile presidential primary as protest generation takes centre stage

Gabriel Boric’s historic primary victory came a decade after the 2011 student protests which catapulted his generation of young leaders into the spotlight (The Guardian)

Indigenous Americans demand a reckoning with brutal colonial history

Following the horrifying discovery of unmarked graves of indigenous children in Canada, this piece looks at a region-wide reckoning with colonialism (The Guardian, with Natalie Alcoba in Buenos Aires and Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá)

Meet the Candidates Who Might Write Chile’s New Constitution

Interviews with three candidates for Chile’s constitutional assembly - machi Francisca Linconao, Cristina Dorador and Bárbara Sepúlveda (all three were elected) (Foreign Policy)

Chile imposes lockdowns to fight new Covid wave despite vaccination success

Chile was forced to announce strict new lockdowns as it plunged deeper into a severe second wave of cases after the summer (The Guardian)

Chile emerges as global leader in Covid inoculations with 'pragmatic strategy'

Chile’s vaccination programme started out quick and efficient, drawing on a long history of successful immunisations (The Guardian)

A new Chile: political elite rejected in vote for constitutional assembly

Established political parties were roundly rejected across four separate votes, with leftist and independent candidates making gains across the country (The Guardian)

Chile leads the Western Hemisphere in vaccinations. The virus is still surging.

Reasons included fatigue with strict lockdowns, vacation travel, the arrival of new and more transmissible variants and reliance on the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine (Washington Post)

Chile streaks ahead of Latin America with one of fastest vaccination rates in the world

Dr Izkia Siches said that while the campaign was going well, opening up too soon would be a mistake (The Telegraph)

2020

A Year After Protests Began, Chile’s Constitutional Referendum Goes Ahead

I spoke to Eugenio García, a key figure in the ‘NO’ campaign against Pinochet in Chile’s 1988 referendum, about how the country has changed in the 30 years since democracy returned (Foreign Policy)

Chileans vote for new constitution, leaving behind relic of Pinochet's brutal legacy

Luís Cifuentes was tortured at Santiago’s Estadio Nacional in the spring of 1973, and he returned there to vote on 25 October 2020, closing a bloody chapter in Chile’s history (NBC Latino, byline shared with Liam Miller)

Pinochet’s ghost haunts Chile referendum on his legacy

(The Times, byline shared with Stephen Gibbs)

Chileans draw line under Pinochet era after referendum backs change

(The Times, byline shared with Lucinda Elliot)

Chile braces for constitutional referendum in the wake of violent clashes

(The Washington Post, byline shared with Rick Noarke)

Chilean police throw boy, 16, off bridge during protests

During protests on 2 October, a boy was bundled over the railings of Pío Nono bridge in Santiago by a police officer (The Guardian)

Calls grow for radical reform of Chile's national police force

With concerns growing as to a culture of brutality and impunity within the Carabineros, calls for profound reform have been renewed (The Guardian)

Chile’s Largest Indigenous Group Sees Opportunity in a New Constitution

Amid heightened tensions in La Araucanía, Chile’s indigenous communities are targeting constitutional recognition (New York Times - in Spanish here; Gerela Ramírez Lepin photographed by Víctor Ruíz Caballero)

Chile’s indigenous communities face new challenges amid pandemiC

A look at Chile’s monocultural approach to the coronavirus pandemic - and how the country’s indigenous populations have coped with quarantine measures (The Guardian)

Chile celebrated success against the coronavirus — and began to open up. Infections have soared.

Analysis of Chile’s troubling descent from premature triumphalism to one of the world’s highest daily infection rates (Washington Post - in Spanish here)

In harm’s way

A series of profiles of the frontline doctors battling the coronavirus pandemic around the world. I interviewed Josefina Opazo in Santiago and Charline Kass (photographed by Glenn Arcos) in Antofagasta (New York Times - in Spanish here)

'This Government Is Lucky': Coronavirus Quiets Global Protest Movements

With the tensions of 2019’s social movement unresolved, the pandemic has pushed protestors off the streets and delayed Chile’s plebiscite until October (New York Times, contributed reporting)

Naming of Pinochet's great-niece as Chile women's minister sparks outrage

Chile’s vociferous feminist movement was outraged by the appointment of an open supporter of the country’s dictatorship to lead the women’s ministry (The Guardian)

Chile: pandemic highlights health crisis as lockdown halts inequality protests

The pandemic might have paused the protest movement, but the inequalities that sparked the demonstrations are being highlighted by the spread of the virus (The Guardian)

Outcry as Chile seeks to include Pinochet human rights abusers in jail release

A controversial ruling sought to free prisoners from the infamous Punta Peuco jail (The Guardian)

The beat goes on: Demonstrators in Chile are looking to the past for their soundtrack

I spoke to some of the musicians who defined the resistance to Chile’s dictatorship - whose protagonism has been renewed amid the country’s current protest movement (The Economist)

'The salt they pump back in kills everything': is the cost of Chile's fresh water too high?

On a trip to Antofagasta, I found out about the environmental impact of desalinising seawater for human consumption (Guardian Cities, photographs by Glenn Arcos)

2019

'Mentally, we're in crisis mode': protests leave Chileans living on their nerves

I spoke to small business owners, a protestor on the front lines of Chile’s social upheaval and a psychoanalyst about how the crisis is affecting people (The Guardian)

Amid unrest and rights abuses, Chile protesters say 'there's no turning back'

“Maipú is a place of contrasts… a microcosm of the problems facing Chile. There are parts of the district where people have nothing and fight to survive, but in other areas they have swimming pools and gardens.” - Frank Araneda (PRI’s The World)

'The constitution of the dictatorship has died': Chile agrees deal on reform vote

I spoke to protestors, politicians and analysts about an accord that aimed to bring peace to Chile - as well as setting out the path towards constitutional reform (The Guardian)

Neighbours meet to plot path out of Chile crisis amid exasperation at elite

Chile’s civil society took matters into its own hands by organising meetings in parks and community buildings, with attendees outlining their vision for a fairer future (The Guardian)

Chile: was a young woman murdered for photographing anti-government protests?

The murder of Albertina Martínez posed questions about the safety of those covering Chile’s protest movement (The Guardian, byline shared with Charis McGowan)

Civil unrest forces Chile to cancel Apec summit

President Sebastián Piñera cancelled two high-profile international summits after two weeks of civil unrest left at least 20 people dead (The Times)

Chile students' mass fare-dodging expands into city-wide protest

Students jumped turnstiles in protest at a 4% rise in the rush hour metro fare, but this snowballed into a nationwide protest movement (The Guardian)

Chile protests: state of emergency declared in Santiago as violence escalates

A state of emergency was declared and the military called onto the streets (The Guardian/Observer)

Chile protests: UN to investigate claims of human rights abuses after 18 deaths

As the demonstrations escalated, the repression intensified and many deaths were confirmed (The Guardian)

The Chilean tycoon who is wanted by the US

Carlos Cardoen’s weapons manufacturing business brought him wealth and notoriety in the 1980s, but he also ran into confrontation with the US (BBC Online)

2018

Chile: four police officers arrested over fatal shooting of indigenous man

Camilo Catrillanca, an unarmed Mapuche civilian, was murdered by agents of an elite police squadron in La Araucanía, southern Chile. His death sent shockwaves through the country’s establishment (The Guardian)

'Stolen friend': Rapa Nui seek return of moai statue

The Rapanui made their first tentative steps towards recovering Hoa Hakananai’a in November 2018. I met the delegation travelling to visit their ancestor - many doing so for the first time - at a hotel in downtown Santiago (BBC Online)

'Moai are family': Easter Island people to head to London to request statue back

I wrote my first story about Rapa Nui for the Guardian in 2018, looking ahead to a delegation’s visit to London to start talks about returning Hoa Hakananai’a (The Guardian)

Chile's #MeToo moment: students protest against sexual harassment

A wave of feminist sit-ins and takeovers swept university campuses in the winter of 2018 (The Guardian)