Tag Archive for: Chile’s

Chile’s new constitution reflects current ethos; here’s what it promises


The proposed constitution centres around social rights for marginalised groups, women, the indigenous and the disabled; it also guarantees rights around free speech, abortion, environment, health, water and housing

Chile President
Chilean President Gabriel Boric holding the final draft of the country’s new constitution. Pic: Twitter

On the 4th of July, as the US was having its Independence Day celebrations, a South American democracy witnessed a landmark moment. Chile prepared the grounds for a brand new constitution that would, if and when it comes into force, truly represent the times we live in.

Chile’s assembly handed a completed constitutional draft to President Gabriel Boric, before making it available to the public. The citizens will now review the document over two months before deciding its fate in an obligatory referendum on September 4.

The making of the document

In May 2021, Chilean voters elected dozens of delegates to redraft their constitution. The set constitutional convention was split equally between men and women. Seventeen seats were reserved for the nation’s indigenous populations. This came after the 2019 spring protests, when citizens took to streets demanding social reform. 

Elisa Loncón, Mapuche linguist and indigenous rights activist, was elected president of the constitutional assembly, the body charged with writing the new constitution. The constitutional assembly took the assistance of the UN Human Rights Regional Office for South America project, Chile. 

“Never before have the indigenous communities of Chile been invited to help draft a new constitution,” remarked Loncón.

World’s longest constitution

The proposed constitution is the world’s longest, with 388 articles. It centres around social rights for marginalised groups, women, the indigenous and the disabled. It also guarantees rights around free speech, abortion, environment, health, water, housing, and publicly-funded national health service. The rights already present in the current constitution have been amplified in the new one.

The biggest difference from the existing constitution is that it will give official recognition to the indigenous peoples living in the country,…

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Lithium giants feud over competition, brine in Chile’s Atacama Desert

Salt flats in South America

Enlarge / A general view of Laguna Colorada located near the border with Chile, in the Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia. The Uyuni salt flats are estimated to contain 100 million tons of lithium, making it one of the largest global reserves of this mineral, according to state officials at the Bolivian Mining Corporation. (credit: MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images)

Two of the world’s biggest lithium producers, Albemarle Corporation and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (otherwise known as SQM), are tangled in two disputes: the first over water rights in Chile’s Atacama desert, and the second over ownership of SQM.

Both Albemarle and and SQM have significant operations in the Atacama desert, where some of the world’s best lithium resources exist. As electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries become more popular, lithium resources are becoming more valuable. That has created some conflict in an industry that has long remained relatively quiet.

Who’s drinking whom’s milkshake?

This week, Reuters reported that both Albemarle and SQM have accused each other of overdrawing brine from the Atacama’s underground aquifers. Both companies have operations in the Atacama’s Salar, and their operations are just three miles apart from each other. The brine water that has been accumulating for millennia under the Atacama is lithium-rich, and companies pump it out and send the brine to evaporation ponds where heat extracts the water and leaves the reactive alkali metal behind.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica