 |
| Subscriber Access |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| FREE
User Content |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Search
Our Archives |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
IN
BRIEF: COLONIA DIGNIDAD, ISLAND IN DANGER, SANHATTAN
ART
(July 25, 2006) Also in the news on
Monday…
Source: LA TERCERA, LA NACIÓN, EL MOSTRADOR
By
Nathan Crooks (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
BODIES OF
DISAPPEARED CHEMICALLY BURNT IN COLONIA DIGNIDAD
La Nación
reported this weekend that the bodies of over 22 people disappeared
during the Pinochet military regime were burnt using phosphorous at
the Colonia Dignidad, a bizarre cult-colony founded in 1961 by
German nazi and pedophile Paul Schaefer 380 km south of
Santiago.
The new accusations were made by Gerhard Mucke, a
colleague of Schaefer, to Jorge Zepeda, the judge in charge of
investigating the various human rights violations that occurred in
the colony.
According to Mucke, at least 22 political
prisoners were executed at the compound where their bodies were then
buried.
La Nación confirmed that the number of deaths
reported by Mucke coincides with 22 political prisoners who
disappeared from the nearby Parral military prison.
In 1978,
the Pinochet regime attempted to destroy evidence of the over 1,000
people who had been disappeared, and a similar effort was made at
the Colonia Dignidad.
Mucke testified that the bodies were
exhumed, placed in bags, and then chemically burnt using
phosphorous. The ashes were loaded into a truck and dumped into the
Perquilauquén River.
Mucke’s testimony marks another strange
twist in the story of the Colonia Dignidad. The Santiago Time’s
online archives cover revelations from the German colony and
Pinochet torture center in depth.
JUAN FERNÁNDEZ
ARCHIPELAGO IN DANGER
The Worldwide Union for Nature (UICN)
this week added Chile’s Juan Fernández National Park to its “Red
List,” declaring the park one of the 12 most threatened sites on the
planet. The park covers 96 percent of the Juan Fernández
archipelago, located 650 km west of Valparaíso.
The UICN has
members in 81 countries and over 10,000 specialists who evaluate
nature conservation all over the world. The “Red List” is released
every year and calls attention to the most at risk nature preserves
on Earth.
According to the UICN, the Juan Fernández National
Park is home to 15 native species of birds as well as eight other
rare species. Two of the species are near extinct, six are in danger
of becoming extinct, and three other species are
“vulnerable.”
The island also is home to rare flora. Of the
218 native species and 136 other rare species that exist on the
island, eight species have disappeared, 25 species are near
extinction, 81 species are in danger of extinction, and 62 other
species have been identified as being vulnerable.
The native
plant species are especially at risk because of the over 433
non-native species that have been introduced on the island. 75
percent of the island has suffered erosion as well.
The
“Two-Haired” wolf is the most at-risk mammal on the
island.
The archipelago, whose most famous island is Robinson
Crusoe Island, has recently experienced a rise in offshore fishing
(ST, July 4).
“SANTATTAN” ART EXHIBIT
Chilean
artist Patrick Hamilton will launch a new art exhibit in Santiago
next week, drawing attention to the many ironies that exist in
Chile.
“Objectos en Transito” (objects in transit) will
contrast the luxurious neighbored known as “Sanhattan” with the
poorer parts of the city.
The term “Sanhattan” is often used
to compare the area of Las Condes home to the glistening skyscrapers
of the foreign multi-nationals and Chilean conglomerates to
Manhattan.
Hamilton’s main work, a ten by five meter mural,
will be visible from the street. The mural will consist of small
pictures of kitchen knives, whose blades have been covered with
postcards from the glistening Santiago neighborhood.
Two
large tricycles, which are often used by the city’s poor to
transport goods, will be placed in front of the mural to parody
urban transportation.
The tricycles are frequently used in
poorer neighborhoods when temporal rains make flooded streets
impossible to maneuver with cars. Las Condes, or Sanhattan, never
floods.
Hamilton uses the ironic tricycles placed in
Santiago’s most upscale neighborhood to send a political message,
highlighting the dual worlds of Santiago – one world for the booming
economy, and another full of delusion and injustice.
The
exhibit opens August 2 at the Sala Gasco (Santo Domingo 1061).
| |
|
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
