«Museum of Memory and Human Rights»

The “Museum of Memory and Human Rights” in Santiago is the first museum in Latin America – and, for the moment, the only one – dealing with the dark side of history: in this case, the Chilean military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990. This new museum will take Chile into the circle of those countries wishing to preserve upright the memory of violence and human rights violations. Similar efforts can be found in the in the United States (the Martin Luther King, Jr., Human Rights Museum), Senegal (the House of Slaves) and Russia (the Gulagmuseum).

The museum was opened in January by then-President Bachelet, and had a cost of 12,000 million Chilean Pesos (about €18 million). The museum includes a collection of historical documents, as well as audio and film material, both from and about the victims of the military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet.

The museum will serve as an important contribution to public debate in Chile, where, even twenty years after its end, the dictatorship remains controversial.

Palafito 1326 Boutique Hotel in Castro

The boutique hotel Palafito 1326 is located in Castro on the legendary island of Chiloe, 138 km south of Puerto Montt.

It has been built on wooden stilts on the coast, and thus matches perfectly with the typical architecture and construction of the island. Along with panoramic views of the sea, the hotel offers a modern interior with simple decoration, using indigenous types of wood.

From the room one can observe the fishing boats returning from the sea in the morning. The view stretches from the Gamboa Lake to the fjord of Castro.

Palafito 1326 is the ideal place to spend a few relaxing days together with family and with friends or to forget the daily routine.

Website: www.palafito1326.cl

José De Gregorio

Despite the damage that was caused by the earthquake, José De Gregorio, president of the Central Bank of Chile,is assuring that 2010 would be a good year for the chilean economy. The reason for this assessment was the first report on monetary policy in front of the Senate Finance Committee.

The central bank lowered its expectations for economic growth of 4.5% to 5.5% in December to 4.25% and 5.25%. De Gregorio assumes that the economy will recover by the end of year. According to an article in the Newspaper “La Tercera” he is convinced that the country will recover quickly from the tragedy.

Since last Sunday, March 28^th, 2010, the main terminal of the airport in Santiago de Chile is fully operating again; arrivals and departures of both national as well as international flights are handled normally in the main terminal. Shops and restaurants have also re-opened their businesses.

The airport building did not suffer any structural damages, except of a collapsed pedestrian walkway, also the large window panes remained undamaged with very few exceptions. However, most parts of the ceiling came tumbling down, and panelling as well as lights were broken. Therefore, the airport is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Construction on a new design that ought to resist much better in case of future earthquakes.

As one of the six pedestrian walkways collapsed during the earthquake, it has been decided to remove all walkways for security reasons in order to realize a sound inspection and reparation. As a temporary solution, three provisional walkways were installed.

Since there are still repair and cleaning works being done in the main terminal, only passengers and authorized personnel are allowed to enter the building so far. Persons accompanying passengers may use the infrastructure provided in the large tents next to the terminal, which previously were occupied for the flight handling. It is being estimated that the situation will return to normal by the end of April.

Last week CONAF (Chilean National Authority for Forestry) informed that they start re-opening the National parks and Nature reserves. For reasons of precaution, all parks in the region between Valparaíso and Araucanía had been closed after the earthquake in order to avoid any accidents caused by landslides or damages of the infrastructure.

Now, one month after the earthquake, most of the government protected areas were visited and evaluated, and the following parks will be re-opened completely: Nature reserve „Lago Peñuelas“ (Valparaíso region), Nature reserves „Los Queules“, „Federico Albert“ and „Los Bellotos del Melado“ (all situated in the Maule region), National parks „Villarrica“ and „Huerquehue“, the Nature reserves „Malalcahuello“, „Nalcas“ and „Villarrica“, as well as the Nature monument „Cerro Ñielol“ (all situated in the Araucanía region), and the Nature reserve „Río Clarillo“ (Metropolitan region).

At the moment just partially re-opened will be: National park „La Campana“, Nature park „Laguna El Peral“ (both situated in the Valparaíso region), Nature reserve „Río de Los Cipreses“ (O’Higgins region), Nature reserve „Altos de Lircay“ (Maule region).

All other protected areas within the region between Valparaíso and Araucanía will remain closed until further notice.

The areas of the 7^th and 8^th region of Chile (Maule and Biobío) that were most affected by the earthquake, still have to cope with daily aftershocks, but the clean-up and repair works have begun. After basic services like power and water supply have been re-established, the most important tasks are to remove debris, rebuild hospitals and schools, as well as repair the damaged infrastructure. Government, municipalities, charities, as well as private initiatives help with the reconstruction works in all areas. This week, for example, the first school built from container modules has been finished in a severely affected coastal village. Further schools of this type are to follow in other devastated areas as a temporary solution. Simple wooden houses are built in areas that were desolated by tsunami waves in order to provide people, who have lost their homes, with a provisional shelter. In another village boats were donated and temporary garages were set up, so that fishermen can repair their boats and start working again. Even tourist activities are slowly re-established again in the 7^th and 8^th region. In all other destinations of Chile, there are almost no restrictions for travellers anymore.