Ƶ

Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past

Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past
Erich Schreiber, born and works in Colonia Dignidad, poses for a picture on his bike near Parral, Maule Province, Chile, April 15, 2025. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 19 May 2025

Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past

Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past
  • Villa Baviera is the former home of a brutal cult that was used for torturing and killing dissidents under the rule of Augusto Pinochet
  • The Chilean state wants to turn it into a memorial for the victims of the country’s 1973-1990 dictatorship

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.


Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon
Updated 7 sec ago

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon

LYON: A 29-year-old man was fatally shot overnight in the eastern French city of Dijon, the local prosecutor said on Sunday, adding that a gangland killing was suspected.
The southern Chenove district where the killing occurred was known for drug trafficking, the prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch, said in a statement.
“A dozen shell casings used by an automatic weapon” were found in the street where the killing took place, he said.
Nearby vehicles and a third-floor apartment were hit by some of the shots, but there were no other casualties, he said.
The police criminal investigation unit determined the shooter had approached a group that included the victim around midnight, opened fire, then escaped by car, Caracotch said.
The man killed lived in the city and had no police record for drug-related crimes, he said, adding that the investigation opened was for organized gang murder and criminal association.


Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods

Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods
Updated 56 min 2 sec ago

Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods

Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods
  • Recovery is under way in the mid-north coast region of New South Wales state after days of flooding
  • About 32,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state remained isolated due to floodwaters

GHINNI GHINNI, Australia: Helicopters were airdropping animal feed on Sunday to farmers in Australia stranded by floods that have killed five and isolated tens of thousands in the country’s southeast.
Recovery was under way in the mid-north coast region of New South Wales state after days of flooding cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes. At least 10,000 properties may have been damaged in the floods, which were sparked by days of incessant rain, authorities estimate.
The floodwaters “trashed” Dan Patch’s house in rural Ghinni Ghinni near hard-hit Taree, and some cattle on the property have gone without food for days, he said.
“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” Patch told Reuters. “It’s the worst everybody’s seen around this area.”
About 32,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state remained isolated due to floodwaters that were slowly starting to recede, the state’s Emergency Services posted on the X platform.
“The New South Wales government is providing emergency fodder, veterinary care, management advice and aerial support for isolated stock,” state Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said in a statement.
It said 43 helicopter drops and around 130 drops by other means had provided “isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock.”
At their peak, the floods isolated around 50,000 people, submerging intersections and street signs in mid-north coast towns and covering cars up to their windshields, after fast-rising waters burst river banks.
Five deaths have been linked to the floods, the latest a man in his 80s whose body was found at a flooded property about 50km from Taree, police said. Taree sits along the Manning River more than 300km north of the state capital, Sydney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that conditions remained critical in flood-affected regions as clean-up efforts began.
Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. After droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.


Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks

Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks
Updated 25 May 2025

Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks

Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks
  • The South Asian nation has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024
  • There are 54 registered political parties in Bangladesh – not including the now-banned Awami League of fugitive former leader Hasina

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader will meet multiple parties on Sunday in marathon talks as he seeks to build unity and calm intense political power struggles, party leaders and officials said.

Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has called for rival parties to give him their full support.

The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.

The talks come after meetings that stretched late into Saturday evening with major political parties, including those who have protested against the government this month.

“Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus will meet the leaders of several parties on Sunday,” his press secretary Shafiqul Alam said.

There are 54 registered political parties in Bangladesh – not including the now-banned Awami League of fugitive former leader Hasina.

Alam did not specify how many parties were invited to this round of talks.

Mamunul Haque, leader of the Islamist Khelafat-e-Majlish party, said he was attending discussions expected to focus on “the ongoing crisis.”

Zonayed Saki of the liberal Ganosamhati Andolon party said he was also attending.

After a week of escalation during which rival parties protested on the streets of the capital Dhaka, the government led by Yunus warned on Saturday that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made.

“Broader unity is essential to maintain national stability, organize free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country,” it said in a statement.

Microfinance pioneer Yunus, who returned from exile at the behest of protesters in August 2024, says he has a duty to implement democratic reforms before elections he has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.

The caretaker government has formed multiple reform commissions providing a long list of recommendations – and is now seeking the backing of political parties.

Yunus last held an all-party meeting – to discuss efforts to overhaul Bangladesh’s democratic system – on February 15, and some parties cited frustration at the lack of contact.

But on Saturday, the government warned that it had faced “unreasonable demands, deliberately provocative and jurisdictionally overreaching statements,” which it said had been “continuously obstructing” its work.

Sources in his office and a key political ally said on Thursday that Yunus had threatened to quit, but his cabinet said he would not step down early.

Yunus on Saturday met with the the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election front-runners, who are pushing hard for polls to be held by December.

According to Bangladeshi media and military sources, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman also said this week that elections should be held by December, aligning with BNP demands.

Yunus also met with leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation’s largest Islamist party, and the National Citizen Party (NCP) made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule.

NCP leader Nahid Islam warned on Saturday that rival parties were pushing for swift elections to skip reforms and “assume power,” and that he believed there were “indications” that a “military-backed government could re-emerge.”


Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote

Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote
Updated 25 May 2025

Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote

Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote
  • President Nicolas Maduro secures himself another term despite not producing detailed polling results
  • The opposition party published its own tally of results showing a win for Gonzalez Urrutia instead

CARACAS: Can Venezuelans be persuaded to return to the polls on Sunday, ten months after President Nicolas Maduro claimed a third term in elections marred by violence and allegations of fraud?
The issue of voter participation is the big unknown as the sanctions-hit Caribbean country returns to the polls to elect a new parliament and 24 state governors.
The main opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, an engineer and former MP, has urged Venezuelans not to legitimize what they see as yet another sham election by voting.
A small opposition faction led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles rejected the boycott call, arguing that previous voter stayaways had merely allowed 62-year-old Maduro to expand his grip on power.
“We must vote as an act of resistance, of struggle,” Capriles, who is running for parliament, said.


Tensions were high in the run-up to the election.
More than 400,000 security agents were deployed to monitor the vote.
On Friday, a leading opposition member and close ally of Machado, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was arrested on charges of heading a “terrorist network” planning to attack Sunday’s vote.
Cabello linked Guanipa, a former MP, to a group of 50 people arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of being mercenaries in the pay of foreign powers.
Venezuela, which frequently alleges foreign-backed coup plots, said the suspects entered the country from Colombia and closed the busy border with its neighbor until after the election.
Guanipa is just the latest opposition leader to be targeted by the authorities.
Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia went into exile in Spain last year after a bounty was put on his head.
A message on Guanipa’s X account, shortly after his arrest, declared he had been “kidnapped by the forces of Nicolas Maduro’s regime” but would continue the “long fight against the dictatorship.”


Many opposition supporters in Venezuela lost any remaining faith they had in the electoral process after the July presidential election.
Maduro claimed to have won a third term, without producing detailed results to back his claim.
The opposition published its own tally of results from polling stations, which appeared to showed a convincing win for Gonzalez Urrutia.
A deadly crackdown on protests that erupted over Maduro’s victory claim cemented Venezuela’s pariah status on the world stage.
Only a handful of countries, including longtime allies Russia and Cuba, have recognized Maduro as the country’s rightful leader.
Sunday’s election comes as the country’s economy — once the envy of Latin America, now in tatters after years of mismanagement and sanctions — faces even further turmoil.
US President Donald Trump has revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro’s administration of its last lifeline.
Washington has also revoked deportation protection from 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in the United States and expelled hundreds of others to a brutal prison for gangsters in El Salvador.
The pressure has failed to sway Maduro, who continues to defy the world and spar with his neighbors.
On Sunday, Venezuela will for the first time hold elections for parliament and state governor in the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo, on its border with Guyana.
Guyana has administered the region for decades but Caracas has threatened to partially annex it.


Bangladesh government calls for unity to prevent ‘return of authoritarianism’

Bangladesh government calls for unity to prevent ‘return of authoritarianism’
Updated 25 May 2025

Bangladesh government calls for unity to prevent ‘return of authoritarianism’

Bangladesh government calls for unity to prevent ‘return of authoritarianism’
  • The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since ex-PM Hasina was ousted by student-led protests in 2024
  • Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who returned from exile at the behest of protesters, says he has a duty to implement reforms

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim government, which took over after a mass uprising last year, warned on Saturday that unity was needed to “prevent the return of authoritarianism.”

The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by student-led protests in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.

After a week of escalation during which rival parties protested on the streets of the capital Dhaka, the government led by Muhammad Yunus said political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made and pleaded for people to give it their full support.

“Broader unity is essential to maintain national stability, organize free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country,” it said in a statement.

Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who returned from exile at the behest of protesters last year, says he has a duty to implement democratic reforms before elections that are due by June 2026 at the latest.

However, the government warned that it had faced “unreasonable demands, deliberately provocative and jurisdictionally overreaching statements,” which it said had been “continuously obstructing” its work.

Sources in his office and a key political ally said on Thursday that microfinance pioneer Yunus had threatened to quit.

“If the government’s autonomy, reform efforts, justice process, fair election plan, and normal operations are obstructed to the point of making its duties unmanageable, it will, with the people, take the necessary steps,” Saturday’s statement said, without giving further details.

Wahiduddin Mahmud, who heads the finance and planning ministry, insisted that Yunus will not step down early.

“We are going to carry out the responsibilities assigned to us,” Mahmud told reporters on Saturday. “We can’t simply abandon our duties.”

Yunus held talks on Saturday evening with key political parties, including those who have protested against the government this month.

His press secretary Shafiqul Alam insisted that the parties all had “full trust” in Yunus, with an all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday.

Yunus met leaders of the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election front-runners, who are pushing hard for polls to be held by December.

“Any excuse to delay the election may open the door for the return of dictatorship,” senior BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said after the meeting.

“The interim government and its allies will be held responsible for such a consequence.”

Yunus has said polls could be held as early as December but that holding them later — with the deadline of June — would give the government more time for reform.

But Hossain said that reforms, justice and elections were not “mutually exclusive goals.”

According to Bangladeshi media and military sources, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman also said this week that elections should be held by December, aligning with BNP demands.

Bangladesh has a long history of military coups, and the army retains a powerful role.

The upcoming elections will be the first since Hasina fled to India, where she remains in self-imposed exile in defiance of an arrest warrant to face trial for crimes against humanity related to last year’s police crackdown on protesters, during which at least 1,400 people were killed.

Shafiqur Rahman, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation’s largest religious party, said after his meeting with Yunus that he had asked for an election timetable — saying he was open to a later date if it allowed for reforms.

He also said he had sought “progress in the ongoing trials” of those from Hasina’s ousted regime.

Nahid Islam, leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP) made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule, has said he wants later elections to allow time for “fundamental reforms.”

He fears rival parties want swift elections to “assume power.”

Speaking after meeting with Yunus, he said the NCP had “demanded a specific roadmap for reforms, trials, and the election of a constituent assembly.”

Islam, an ally of Yunus who previously served in his cabinet, speaking earlier on Saturday, warned that he had seen “indications” that a “military-backed government could re-emerge — one that is anti-democratic and anti-people.”