International

Chilean television advertising slots close ahead of the plebiscite

Photo: EFE

December 15 |

On Thursday ended in Chile the period conceived to display electoral propaganda regarding the constitutional proposal that will be submitted to plebiscite next Sunday, December 17, when Chileans will decide the future of the text drafted by the Constitutional Council.

On December 17, voters will receive a ballot with the following question: Are you for or against the text of the New Constitution? Two options will then appear, in favor of the proposal or against it, for voters to choose the one they prefer.

If the constitutional project is not accepted, the Law of Laws that came into force in 1980, conceived under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), will remain in force.

In October 2022, a plebiscite was held on the proposed Magna Carta prepared by the Constitutional Convention, at which time the “Rejection” option won.

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The process is organized by the Electoral Service of Chile (Servel). According to a pre-electoral report made public by the entity, the electoral roll is made up of 15,262,012 people at national level and 127,546 residents abroad.

The agency also detailed that 676,028 foreigners residing in Chile (with at least five years of residence, 18 years of age and without crimes) registered to participate.

On Saturday, December 16, the polling stations will be constituted and their spokespersons will be trained. The following day, the polling stations will open from 08H00 to 18H00 local time. These may be constituted with at least three members and, if they are to remain open beyond 18H00, they will do so until there are no voters left in line who wish to vote.

Voters only need their identity card to vote. This document must be valid, although ID cards that have expired after January 1, 2020 will be accepted. Voters with any type of disability will be able to access the assisted voting option.

According to the current law, voting is mandatory for those who are registered in the electoral roll and reside in Chile. For those who vote from abroad, it is voluntary.

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Chileans who are more than 200 km away from their electoral domicile, are absent from the country or suffer from an illness are excluded from the obligation to vote. Those who are far from their electoral district must -among other requirements- go to the nearest Carabineros Police Station, obtain a certificate and then submit it to a judge when summoned.

Any other impediment for not voting can also be certified, but the seriousness of this cause will be certified by a judge according to the evidence presented by the citizen.

Those who do not vote may be fined from 0.5 to 3 monthly tax units (UTM), that is, from 32,108 pesos to 192,648 pesos (US$36-215).

Chile applies a dry law period. This will start on December 17 at 05H00 and will last until 20H00 local time (two hours after the electoral closing time).

In addition, those commercial establishments that are not attended by their owners will be closed, since election days are declared holidays for workers in this sector. Those who work providing essential services and do not have time off, will receive a two-hour leave to vote.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.