Chilean appeal court overturns convictions for Pinochet-era murder of ex-president Reuters 1/25/2021
By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda
SANTIAGO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Chile s Appeals Court on Monday overturned the convictions of six people for the murder of former president Eduardo Frei Montalva in the 1980s during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
The ex-president’s doctors, his chauffeur, an army officer and a former intelligence agent were sentenced to between three and 10 years in jail in January 2019 for the poisoning of 71-year-old Frei in a Santiago clinic in 1982.
Investigating Judge Alejandro Madrid determined that Frei died from an infection induced by toxins administered by Pinochet’s agents as he recovered from hernia surgery, while the doctors treating him covered up the poisoning.
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile on Thursday exceeded 154,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 2,600 deaths, one hundred days after the outbreak began and with the health service straining under massive admissions numbers.
“It has been a very hard 100 days,” health minister Jaime Mañalich told reporters in the capital Santiago on Thursday. “June is going to be the toughest month in the fight against the disease.”
Health authorities reported 154,092 cases and 2,648 deaths so far.
Chile reported its first case of coronavirus on March 3, brought by citizens returning from trips to Asia and Europe. By mid-month the government had declared a State of Catastrophe for three months, closed its borders, suspended classes and introduced rolling quarantines for the worst-hit areas.
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - When Chile voted in October to scrap its constitution written during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, residents of the South American nation’s “sacrifice zones” were among the strongest supporters of change.
People enjoy the beach in front of a thermoelectric plant at Las Ventanas area, Valparaiso, Chile, February 16, 2020. Picture taken February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza
In those five heavily industrialized areas, established from the 1950s to help drive Chile’s economic development and home to some 200,000 people, support for a new charter exceeded 90% in some cases compared to 78% nationwide.
Residents, activist groups and academics who have studied pollution in these areas believe a new constitution could help reduce emissions, shutter coal-fired power stations and improve healthcare for those left sickened.
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has wrapped up recruitment for its COVID-19 vaccine trial in Chile with 2,000 volunteers signed up, the university running the study confirmed on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: Vials with a sticker reading, COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The University of Chile, which runs two of three trial sites for the vaccine, co-developed with the University of Oxford, said in a statement that it had been informed of the trial’s closure to new recruits by AstraZeneca on Tuesday.
Chilean company SQM, the world's second largest lithium producer, has a priority commitment to the indigenous communities surrounding the Atacama salt flat, the firm's General Manager Ricardo Ramos said in an interview.