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Washington Post
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Isabel Allende's new novel sends an adventurous reporter to war
Isabel Allende often finds thematic inspiration in her lived experience of revolution. She fled political persecution in Chile after a coup in 1973 deposed President Salvador Allende, her father's cousin. While in exile in Venezuela, she achieved renewal and personal liberation through professional success. She published her critically acclaimed best-selling debut, 'The House of the Spirits,' in 1982. Her new novel, 'My Name Is Emilia del Valle,' returns to her childhood home of Chile, though the story begins in San Francisco's Mission District in 1866. Here, an Irish nun finds sanctuary after a failed love affair with a Chilean aristocrat. Taken in by a local teacher, whom she marries, she gives birth to a daughter she names Emilia. The girl is raised by her mother and stepfather to think for herself and find meaningful work, and Emilia ends up making a living by writing popular pulp fiction and a column for the San Francisco Daily Examiner under the pen name Brandon J. Price. Emilia and her family 'spent hours coming up with the most macho name we could think of,' she explains. When civil war breaks out in Chile in 1891, Emilia seizes the chance to cover the revolution and find her birth father. Along with another reporter from the Examiner, she travels to Chile, begins an affair with her colleague, meets her estranged father and embeds with government forces supporting Chilean President José Manuel Balmaceda, an autocrat dressed as a reformer. She's got a gut feeling about Balmaceda's claims that his reforms will benefit everyone in Chile, that 'Balmaceda was fighting for the rights of the common man, trying to break the iron grip of the aristocracy. And yet I had heard that he did so with a shocking brutality.' She's determined to report whether the rumors are true. Emilia is soon caught up in Balmaceda's paradox. Her fraught journey of romance and self-discovery pivots desperately to survival when Balmaceda's army is defeated. The 1891 civil war in Chile was described by military historian Lt. Col. Don P. Wyckoff as a 'unique civil war — a navy without an army opposing an army without a navy — an elephant in conflict with a whale.' Emilia's journalism is part and parcel of the story's narrative. We learn, as her readers do, that Balmaceda's reform policies are quickly opposed not only by his political enemies, but also by his own ministers. The root of the conflict was fiscal policy: Balmaceda wanted to eliminate domestic tax revenue and fund his reform programs with duties collected from British mining companies. And when he moved to do so without congressional approval, a constitutional crisis quickly devolved into violent confrontation, with the Chilean Navy supporting the congressional rebels and Balmaceda commanding the army. Emilia's reports from the battlefield offer a stark counterpoint to the policy debates over taxes and tariffs. She sees it as her job 'to collect the dispersed fragments' of stories for thousands of men who would die on the battlefield and never get to tell theirs. 'It is impossible to describe the horror of war,' she writes. 'How is it possible that, from the dawn of their presence on earth, men have systematically set out to murder one another? What fatal madness do we carry in our soul? That propensity toward destruction is the original sin.' Allende offers readers a deeply researched historical adventure, excavating both romantic and journalistic exploits with verve and passion. But it is the story's prescient alignment with our current cultural and civic upheaval that lands like a mortar from Allende's epic depiction of the Battle of Concón. The United States is in a paroxysm of tariff-induced economic crisis, market collapse, frenzied political stasis, and battles for institutional power and control over individual citizens, native and foreign. From that vantage, Chile's history (including the role of foreign interests) and Emilia's story offer an essential lesson. If history and a free press illuminate a revolution's explosion of civil norms, literature reveals the human triumph, vanity and tragedy of revolution's impact. The upheaval that Emilia del Valle recounts in 1891 is our clarion call in 2025. Marcela Davison Avilés is a multimedia producer and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. By Isabel Allende Ballantine. 304 pp. $30
02-05-2025
- Climate
7.4 magnitude quake strikes off Chile, Argentina; no damage reported
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina, the United States Geological Survey says SANTIAGO, Chile -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck off the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina on Friday, prompting the evacuation of the Chilean coastline throughout the Magallanes region and the suspension of water activities and navigation in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province. No damage or casualties were initially reported. The United States Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was under the ocean 219 kilometers (173 miles) south of the Argentine city of Ushuaia. Chilean authorities issued an evacuation alert for the entire coastal section of the Strait of Magellan, in the far south of the country. Due to a 'tsunami alert, evacuation to a safe zone is being ordered for the coastal sectors of the Magallanes region,' Chile's National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response said in a message sent to the public. It also requested that all beach areas in the Chilean Antarctic territory be abandoned. Chilean President Gabriel Boric wrote on X that 'all resources are available' to respond to potential emergencies. 'We are calling for the evacuation of the coastline throughout the Magallanes region," Boric wrote. 'Right now, our duty is to be prepared and heed the authorities.' In Punta Arenas, located in Chilean Patagonia and on the Strait of Magellan, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the streets quickly filled with residents searching for shelters, according to images broadcast on local television. Many of them were carrying bags. The evacuation proceeded calmly and without panic. 'We received the alert and we had to evacuate at work, but people are calm and well prepared,' Roberto Ramírez told the 24-hour channel. The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy, or SHOA, reported that waves could reach Antarctica as early as next hour, while it could take up to 12 hours to reach more remote locations. In the Argentine city of Ushuaia, considered the world's southernmost, local authorities suspended all types of water activities and navigation in the Beagle Channel for at least three hours. No material damage or evacuations were reported. 'The earthquake was felt primarily in the city of Ushuaia and, to a lesser extent, in towns across the province,' the local government reported. 'In the face of these types of events, it is important to remain calm.' ____ Débora Rey in Buenos Aires contributed. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Scottish Sun
02-05-2025
- Climate
- Scottish Sun
Tsunami warning issued after massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocks coast of Chile and Argentina
QUAKE SHOCK Tsunami warning issued after massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocks coast of Chile and Argentina A MASSIVE tsunami warning has been issued in Chile following a 7.5-magnitude quake. The huge warning came after a strong earthquake in Puerto Williams off the Chilean coast. 2 A tsunami warning has been issued in Chile 2 Puerto Williams, Chile Credit: Getty According to the National Seismological Center, the earthquake occurred when the clock was about to strike 9:00a.m. The agency first indicated that the quake had a magnitude of 7.5 on Friday morning. It reportedly had a depth of 10 kilometres. The Chilean Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA) issued the warning after the quake rocked 218 kilometres south of Puerto Williams, in the Magallanes region. They also issued a precautionary warning for the Antarctic territory. The National Disaster Prevention and Response System said that they "continue to assess the impact on people and damage to infrastructure and basic services". They added that the results of would be reported through incident or emergency reports prepared by SENAPRED, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service. More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
The Irish Sun
02-05-2025
- Climate
- The Irish Sun
Tsunami warning issued after massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocks coast of Chile and Argentina
A MASSIVE tsunami warning has been issued in Chile following a 7.5-magnitude quake. The huge warning came after a strong earthquake in Puerto Williams off the Chilean coast. 2 A tsunami warning has been issued in Chile 2 Puerto Williams, Chile Credit: Getty According to the National Seismological Center, the earthquake occurred when the clock was about to strike 9:00a.m. The agency first indicated that the quake had a magnitude of 7.5 on Friday morning. It reportedly had a depth of 10 kilometres. The Chilean Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA) issued the warning after the quake rocked 218 kilometres south of Puerto Williams, in the Magallanes region. They also issued a precautionary warning for the Antarctic territory. The National Disaster Prevention and Response System said that they "continue to assess the impact on people and damage to infrastructure and basic services". They added that the results of would be reported through incident or emergency reports prepared by SENAPRED, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service. More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online Most read in The Sun is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at
The Sun
02-05-2025
- Climate
- The Sun
Tsunami warning issued after massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocks coast of Chile and Argentina
A MASSIVE tsunami warning has been issued in Chile following a 7.5-magnitude quake - prompting authorities to launch an evacuation. The huge warning came after a strong earthquake in Puerto Williams off the Chilean and Argentine coast. 2 The Chilean National Disaster Prevention and Response Service said that the coastal area of Magallenes region in Southern Chile would be evacuated due to the tsunami risk. According to the National Seismological Center, the earthquake occurred when the clock was about to strike 9:00a.m. The agency first indicated that the quake had a magnitude of 7.5 on Friday morning. It reportedly had a depth of 10 kilometres. The Chilean Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA) issued the warning after the quake rocked 218 kilometres south of Puerto Williams, in the Magallanes region. They also issued a precautionary warning for the Antarctic territory. The National Disaster Prevention and Response System said that they "continue to assess the impact on people and damage to infrastructure and basic services". They added that the results of would be reported through incident or emergency reports prepared by SENAPRED, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service. is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
