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Objective/Context: This paper studies the role of the Chilean state during the great drought of 1967-1969 as a mediator between human beings and nature. Institutional adaptations and the effort to improve the infrastructure were elements of continuity with respect to previous droughts, but there were novelties as well, such as attempts to pursue weather modification and the artificial melting of glaciers. The support of technologies and scientists operating from peripheral state institutions was essential for these purposes. All the above took place in the context of the Cold War when the predominant environmental imaginaries made human intervention look favorable and necessary for the modernization of countries. Methodology: Diverse primary sources were used, such as ministerial documents, decrees, bulletins, and reports of different state institutions that allowed understanding the logic of state management during the water crisis. Similarly, research in national and international press helped identify how imaginaries about the environment were expressed and disseminated publicly, which tended to validate novel efforts to control nature. Originality: This is an original study for Latin America, which addresses the early appearance of science and technology in the efforts of what today would be known as geoengineering: mainly through the observation of new actors, which expanded the traditional forms of mediation between humans and nature, led by the state, concerning climate crises. Conclusions: In the 1960s, optimism grew for the human capacity to control and manipulate water resources by appealing to ways other than those previously known, associated with infrastructure development. Expert knowledge was placed at the service of peripheral institutions of the state to promote these changes with lasting consequences. The human desire to control nature at all costs was validated, which helps explain the temporal projection of experiments with artificial rain and glacier control to the present day in Chile.

This article examines the work of Peace Corps volunteers in South America during the 1960s. It argues that through their training in impoverished communities in the United States and their intervention in similar contexts in South America, these volunteers connected diverse visions of community action aimed at eradicating poverty. This allows an inclusion of a historical comprehension of the Peace Corps within the scenario of a Global War on Poverty. The argument derives from the analysis of letters and testimonies, press items, and official documents found in archives and libraries both in the United States and South America.

El artículo estudia el fenómeno e impacto de la propaganda cinematográfica de Estados Unidos en Chile durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Se argumenta que la serie de proyectos fílmicos planeados y realizados por Estados Unidos durante el conflicto fueron parte de una diplomacia cultural que no estuvo escindida de los principales lineamientos diplomáticos trazados desde Washington. Por el contrario, queda de manifiesto la estrecha vinculación de la industria hollywoodense con el Departamento de Estado. El cine y otras formas de propaganda tuvieron una amplia difusión en el país, y contribuyeron a consolidar el mensaje de Estados Unidos entre la población chilena, independiente de reacciones negativas puntuales, asociadas a representaciones cinematográficas de Chile que hirieron sensibilidades identitarias de parte de la ciudadanía.This article studies the phenomena and the impact of propaganda film from the United States in Chile during the World War II. I argue that the series of film projects planned and created by the United States during the conflict were part of a cultural diplomacy that was not separated from Washington's main diplomatic guidelines. On the contrary the close connection between the Hollywood film industry and the Department of State is evident. Independent of specific negative reactions associated with representations that hurt Chilean identity, film and other forms of propaganda were largely circulated throughout the country and contributed to the consolidation of the United State's message within the Chilean population.

This work analyzes the irruption of American cinema in Chile during the 1910s and 1920s with regard to its role in the formation of a market empire. Hollywood cinema became an irresistible commodity that all Chileans valued irregardless of their social position. Its social and cultural impact was enormous and turned the United States into a new paradigm of modernity. The consumption of movies, fashions, and manufactured products from the United States was regarded as a way to participate in this “American-style” modernity. This reinforced the market imperialism that the United States was forging during those decades.