John Bartlett

Mar 4, 2025 | theguardian.com | John Bartlett

In the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, the sky shines when the sun sets. Up in the arid hills 130km south of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, comets burn brightly and flawless trails of stars and nebula streak the night sky. So complete is the darkness in this part of the world, that Indigenous peoples staring up at these skies saw past the stars to contemplate dark spots in between – finding the forms of animals and ancestors in the perfect darkness beyond.

Feb 11, 2025 | es-us.noticias.yahoo.com | Jack Nicas |Pascale Bonnefoy |John Bartlett

El descubrimiento del cadáver de Ronald Ojeda en Chile ha suscitado nuevos temores sobre hasta dónde llegará el presidente Nicolás Maduro para mantener su dominio sobre Venezuela. Poco después de las 3 a. m., un ariete abrió de golpe la puerta de un apartamento en el piso 14 y tres hombres vestidos con el equipo táctico negro de la policía chilena entraron precipitadamente.

Nov 20, 2024 | theguardian.com | John Bartlett

On a recent afternoon in Santiago, several thousand people gathered to mark the fifth anniversary of the vast protest movement which rocked Chile in 2019. That same day last month, Sebastián Méndez, 38, who was blinded in his right eye by a projectile fired by a police officer at a demonstration that year, took his own life. According to organisations working with the victims of eye injuries, Méndez is the fifth to have taken their life as desperation mounts and state support remains insufficient.

Aug 14, 2024 | theguardian.com | John Bartlett

In Chile, walls and public buildings are blank canvases to express dissent, frustration and hope. Bridges across dry riverbeds in the Atacama desert are daubed with slogans demanding the equitable distribution of Chile’s water, and graffiti on rural bus stops demand the restitution of Indigenous lands from forestry companies. Every inch of the bohemian port city Valparaíso is plastered with paint and posters.

Dec 17, 2023 | theguardian.com | John Bartlett

Chileans have voted to reject a new conservative constitution to replace its current text, in a nationwide plebiscite, with the “against” option winning more than 55%. The 1980 constitution drafted during Gen Augusto Pinochet’s bloody dictatorship will now remain in place, making the result bittersweet for Chile’s progressives and its leftwing government. Sunday’s vote was the second draft constitution in as many years that voters have rejected.