Latest Santiago Stories

By Fiona Ortiz SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Socialist Michelle Bachelet, who aims to be Chile's first woman president, will face a united right wing in a January 15 runoff after failing to win more than 50 percent of the vote in an election on Sunday. With 82 percent of the votes counted, Bachelet had 45.8 percent and opposition candidate Sebastian Pinera, a billionaire from the moderate wing of Chile's conservatives, was second with 25.7 percent. "I would have liked to have won in a...

By Fiona Ortiz SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chile's Supreme Court denied bail to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Tuesday as Peru worked to extradite him to face human rights and corruption charges. Fujimori was arrested on Monday after arriving in Santiago on a surprise visit from Japan. He planned to use Chile as a base to relaunch his political career and return to Peru to run for president next year. Peru has accused Fujimori, who was living as a fugitive in Japan for...

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chile arrested early on Monday Peru's disgraced ex-President Alberto Fujimori, wanted in Peru on human rights abuse and corruption charges, police said. Fujimori was arrested at the Marriott Hotel in Santiago after arriving on Sunday afternoon on a surprise visit from Japan, saying he would return to Peru to launch a presidential campaign. "He did not resist the arrest, on the contrary," said Marianela Gomez, the head of Interpol in Chile. "He is completely...

By Fiona Ortiz and Robin Emmott SANTIAGO/LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's disgraced ex-President Alberto Fujimori, wanted there on human rights abuse and corruption charges, was arrested during a surprise visit to Chile, Peru's foreign minister said late on Sunday. Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, has been a fugitive in his ancestral homeland Japan since he fled there in November 2000, when a corruption scandal toppled his government. He flew from Japan to Chile on Sunday to try to...

By Fiona Ortiz SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Peru's ex-President Alberto Fujimori, wanted in Peru on an international arrest warrant on human rights abuse and corruption charges, made a surprise visit to Chile on Sunday. In a statement received by Reuters, Fujimori said he left the Japanese capital, Tokyo, on Sunday and flew to Santiago. Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, has been a fugitive in Japan since he fled there in November 2000, when a corruption scandal toppled his...

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Peru's ex-President Alberto Fujimori, who is wanted in Peru on an international arrest warrant on human rights abuse and corruption charges, made a surprise arrival in Chile on Sunday, the former leader said in a statement. Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, has been a fugitive in Japan since he fled there in November 2000 when a corruption scandal toppled his government. In a statement received by Reuters, Fujimori said he left the Japanese capital,...

By Eduardo Garcia PANABAJ, Guatemala (Reuters) - Doctors fear that overcrowding and septic water could lead to a rash of illness among survivors of a landslide that swept away their Maya Indian village this month. Thousands of people from Panabaj have crammed into churches and houses in the nearby village of Santiago and other towns while the government races to build temporary shelters. "The worst problem now is the risk of epidemics," Alfonso Verdu, coordinator of Doctors Without...

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A majority of South Americans in four of the region's capitals have a negative opinion of U.S. President George W. Bush, according to an opinion survey released on Monday. Fifty-three percent of South Americans described their perception of the U.S. leader as "bad" or "very bad," according to a poll conducted by the Santiago-based think-tank Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Many of the 2,362 people polled disagree with the Bush...

By Adrian Croft MADRID (Reuters) - Spain blamed radical groups seeking the independence of the Galicia region for a bomb that exploded in the busy pilgrimage center of Santiago de Compostela on Saturday, causing minor damage but no injuries. Police arrested two people they believe planted the bomb that exploded outside the main office of regional savings bank Caixa Galicia, officials said. "The police link those responsible with radical independence groups," a government statement said. City...

MADRID (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in the Spanish pilgrimage center of Santiago de Compostela on Saturday, but caused no injuries, radio station Cadena Ser said. Police had cordoned off the area minutes earlier, the report said. Other reports said the bomb had been placed in an underground car park in the center of the town in northwestern Spain. Police and Interior Ministry officials could not immediately confirm the report. Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA regularly sets off bombs in...