Chile, South America
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Chile should tout its passage to first world
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER / The Miami Herald
By the end of this year, Chile is likely to become the first South American country to join the exclusive club of the world's 30 richest countries. Yet, amazingly, you don't see Chileans jumping for joy, nor presenting themselves to their neighbors as a model nation.
According to officials from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based institution that groups the world's wealthiest democracies, Chile may be officially accepted as a full member at its Dec. 18 meeting.
The OECD is waiting for the Chilean Congress to pass three pending measures to fully adhere to the organization's tax information exchange and corporate governance standards. Chilean officials hope the pending measures will be passed by December.
Chile has been pretty coy about its economic achievements. Unlike any other Latin American country, Chile's economy has grown steadily for the past two decades, and it leads Latin America in virtually all competitiveness rankings. More importantly, Chile has reduced its poverty rate from 39 percent of the population in 1990 to 13 percent nowadays. Yet, unlike Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who goes around the world claiming that his country's oil-driven growth is a "revolutionary model," Chile's President Michelle Bachelet has abstained from political evangelism abroad. >>>>Go to Full Story >>>
In search of poetry in Chile
By Oliver Balch / The Financial Times
The bucolic Elqui Valley inspired Gabriela Mistral in equal measure. Born in 1889 to a seamstress mother and a soon-to-be absent father, Mistral overcame her start in life to become Chile’s foremost female poet. She was also South America’s first female Nobel Prize-winner, an accomplished diplomat, a life-long educator and a passionate defender of women’s rights. The writer never forgot the gravelly mountains and lush vales of her childhood, referring back to them continually in her work. When she died in 1957, the country pulled its curtains closed and went into three days of official mourning....Foreign tourists tend to skip over this picturesque corner of rural Chile. The Elqui Valley lacks the drama of the Atacama Desert in the north or the cobalt-blue glaciers of the south. Picturing Chile as a snake (which it resembles when looked at sideways on an inverted map), then it’s the country’s bulging eye and swishing tail that attract the visitor. Mistral’s birthplace is more like the field mouse trapped in its belly.... >>>Go to Full Story >>>