Latest news with #southernChile
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Horrifying Research Finds Melting Glaciers Could Activate Deadly Volcanoes
Scientists are warning that glaciers melting due to global warming could trigger explosive — and potentially deadly — volcanic eruptions around the world. As detailed in a new study presented at the Goldschmidt international geochemistry conference this week and due to be peer-reviewed later this year, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed six volcanoes in southern Chile to study how retreating ice sheets may have influenced past volcanic behavior. Using advanced argon dating and crystal analysis methods, they found that around the peak of the last ice age, around 20,000 years ago, a thick ice cover subdued volcanic activity, allowing a huge reservoir of magma to accumulate six to nine miles below the surface. However, the end of the ice age led the ice sheets to retreat rapidly. The sudden loss of ice weight allowed gases in the magma to expand, setting the stage for explosive eruptions from newly formed volcanoes. Now, scientists are warning that a similar scenario could unfold thanks to global warming. "Glaciers tend to suppress the volume of eruptions from the volcanoes beneath them," said University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and lead author Pablo Moreno-Yaeger in a statement. "But as glaciers retreat due to climate change, our findings suggest these volcanoes go on to erupt more frequently and more explosively." Scientists previously found that melting glaciers could increase volcanic activity by observing the phenomenon in Iceland. However, other places in the world could also be at risk. "Our study suggests this phenomenon isn't limited to Iceland, where increased volcanicity has been observed, but could also occur in Antarctica," Moreno-Yaeger explained. "The key requirement for increased explosivity is initially having a very thick glacial coverage over a magma chamber, and the trigger point is when these glaciers start to retreat, releasing pressure — which is currently happening in places like Antarctica." "Other continental regions, like parts of North America, New Zealand and Russia, also now warrant closer scientific attention," he added. Worse, in the long term eruptions themselves could contribute to "long-term global warming because of a buildup of greenhouse gases," as Moreno-Yaeger explained. "This creates a positive feedback loop, where melting glaciers trigger eruptions, and the eruptions in turn could contribute to further warming and melting," he said. More on volcanoes: Scientists Say Something Is Corking the Yellowstone Supervolcano
Japan Times
22-05-2025
- Japan Times
Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past
With its pristine swimming pool, manicured lawns and lush forest backdrop, Villa Baviera, a German-themed settlement of 122 souls in southern Chile, looks like the perfect holiday getaway. But Colonia Dignidad, as it was previously known, is a byword for horror, as the former home of a brutal cult that was used for torturing and killing dissidents under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Twenty years after the cult leader, former Nazi German soldier Paul Schaefer, was jailed for the sexual abuse and torture of children at the colony, the Chilean state wants to turn it into a memorial for the victims of the country's 1973-1990 dictatorship. In June last year, President Gabriel Boric ordered that 116 hectares of the 4,800-hectare site, an area including the residents' homes, a hotel, a restaurant and several food processing factories, be expropriated to make way for a center of remembrance. But some of the inhabitants, who were separated from their families as children, subjected to forced labor, and in some cases sexually abused, say they are being victimized all over again. 'Heavy burden' Schaefer founded Colonia Dignidad in 1961 as an idyllic German family village — but instead abused, drugged and indoctrinated the few hundred residents and kept them as virtual slaves. The boundaries between abuser and abused were blurred, with the children of Schaefer's sidekicks counting themselves among his victims. Anna Schnellenkamp, the 48-year-old manager of the colony's hotel and restaurant, said she "worked completely free of charge until 2005," the year of Schaefer's arrest. "So much work I broke my back." Several years ago, Schnellenkamp, whose late father, Kurt Schnellenkamp, was jailed for five years for being an accomplice to Schaefer's abuse, finally found happiness. She got married, had a daughter and started to create new, happier memories in the colony, where everyone still communicates in German despite being conversant in Spanish. But she still views the settlement as part of her birthright. "The settlers know every detail, every building, every tree, including where they once suffered and were forced to work," she explained. Potato shed torture cell Around 3,200 people were killed and more than 38,000 people tortured during Chile's brutal dictatorship. An estimated 26 people disappeared in Colonia Dignidad, where a potato shed, now a national monument, was used to torture dozens of kidnapped regime opponents. But on the inside too, abuse was rife. Schaefer was captured in 2005 on charges of sexually abusing dozens of minors over nearly half a century. He died in prison five years later while in preventive custody. His arrest, and those of 20 other accomplices, marked a turning point for the colony, which had been rebranded Villa Baviera a decade previously. Suddenly, residents were free to marry, live with their children, send them to school and earn a paycheck. Some of the settlers returned to Germany. Others remained behind and built a thriving agribusiness and resort, where tourists can sample traditional German fare such as sauerkraut. Some residents feel that Chile, which for decades turned a blind eye to the fate of the enclave's children, now wants to make them pay for the sins of their fathers. "One feels a kind of revenge against us," said Markus Blanck, one of the colony's business directors, whose father was charged as an accomplice of Schaefer's abuse but died before being sentenced. The government argues the expropriations are in the public interest. "There is a national interest here in preserving our country's historical heritage," said Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo, assuring that those expropriated would be properly compensated. European-style memorial While several sites of torture under the Chilean dictatorship have been turned into memorial sites, Gajardo said the memorial at Villa Baviera would be the biggest yet, similar to those created at former Nazi concentration camps in Europe. It is not yet clear whether it will take the form solely of a museum or whether visitors will also be able to roam the site, including Schaefer's house and the infamous potato shed. The clock is ticking down for Boric to make the memorial a reality before his term runs out in March 2026. His government wants to proceed quickly, for fear the project could be buried by a future rightwing government loathe to dwell on the abuses of the Pinochet era.
Arab News
19-05-2025
- Arab News
Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past
VILLA BAVIERA: With its pristine swimming pool, manicured lawns and lush forest backdrop, Villa Baviera, a German-themed settlement of 122 souls in southern Chile, looks like the perfect holiday getaway. But Colonia Dignidad, as it was previously known, is a byword for horror, as the former home of a brutal cult that was used for torturing and killing dissidents under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Twenty years after the cult leader, former Wehrmacht soldier Paul Schaefer, was jailed for the sexual abuse and torture of children at the colony, the Chilean state wants to turn it into a memorial for the victims of the country's 1973-1990 dictatorship. In June last year, President Gabriel Boric ordered that 116 hectares (287 acres) of the 4,800-hectare site, an area including the residents' homes, a hotel, a restaurant, and several food processing factories, be expropriated to make way for a center of remembrance. But some of the inhabitants, who were separated from their families as children, subjected to forced labor, and in some cases, sexually abused, say they are being victimized all over again. Colonia Dignidad Schaefer founded Colonia Dignidad in 1961 as an idyllic German family village — but instead abused, drugged and indoctrinated the few hundred residents and kept them as virtual slaves. The boundaries between abuser and abused were blurred, with the children of Schaefer's sidekicks counting themselves among his victims. Anna Schnellenkamp, the 48-year-old manager of the colony's hotel and restaurant, said she 'worked completely free of charge until 2005,' the year of Schaefer's arrest. 'So much work I broke my back.' Several years ago Schnellenkamp, whose late father Kurt Schnellenkamp was jailed for five years for being an accomplice to Schaefer's abuse, finally found happiness. She got married, had a daughter and started to create new, happier memories in the colony, where everyone still communicates in German despite being conversant in Spanish. But she still views the settlement as part of her birthright. 'The settlers know every detail, every building, every tree, including where they once suffered and were forced to work,' she explained. Chile's dictatorship Around 3,200 people were killed and more than 38,000 people tortured during Chile's brutal dictatorship. An estimated 26 people disappeared in Colonia Dignidad, where a potato shed, now a national monument, was used to torture dozens of kidnapped regime opponents. But on the inside too, abuse was rife. Schaefer was captured in 2005 on charges of sexually abusing dozens of minors over nearly half a century. He died in prison five years later while in preventive custody. His arrest, and those of 20 other accomplices, marked a turning point for the colony, which had been rebranded Villa Baviera a decade previously. Suddenly, residents were free to marry, live with their children, send them to school and earn a paycheck. Some of the settlers returned to Germany. Others remained behind and built a thriving agribusiness and resort, where tourists can sample traditional German fare, such as sauerkraut. Some residents feel that Chile, which for decades turned a blind eye to the fate of the enclave's children, now wants to make them pay for the sins of their fathers. 'One feels a kind of revenge against us,' said Markus Blanck, one of the colony's business directors, whose father was charged as an accomplice of Schaefer's abuse but died before being sentenced. The government argues that the expropriations are in the public interest. 'There is a national interest here in preserving our country's historical heritage,' Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo told AFP, assuring that those expropriated would be properly compensated. Memorial site While several sites of torture under the Chilean dictatorship have been turned into memorial sites, Gajardo said the memorial at Villa Baviera would be the biggest yet, similar to those created at former Nazi concentration camps in Europe. It is not yet clear whether it will take the form solely of a museum or whether visitors will also be able to roam the site, including Schaefer's house and the infamous potato shed. The clock is ticking down for Boric to make the memorial a reality before his term runs out in March 2026. His government wants to proceed quickly, for fear that the project be buried by a future right-wing government loathe to dwell on the abuses of the Pinochet era.
