UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001573

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA

AMEMBASSY FOR PAO/IO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO CI AR BL VE
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - MERCOSUR SUMMIT



1. On July 21, conservative, independent "La Tercera" (circ.
102,000) carried a column by correspondent Alvaro Vargas Llosa
entitled, "Chile's Three Fronts in Cordoba." Quotes:

"The Mercosur summit began yesterday offering Chile three elements
of tension: Evo Morales, Nestor Kirchner, and Hugo Chavez.... With
regard to Chavez...Chile is under Washington's pressure to try to
block Venezuela's candidacy (to the UNSC) and under pressure from
Caracas to facilitate it.... Mercosur..., which is already pitiful
because of its internal problems, has now incorporated Chavez, and
the main course for this Summit...is the signature of an agreement
with Cuba.... For Chile, which is part of the 'reasonable'
governments in Latin America, this is not good news. Because one
thing is to show Chavez and Castro affection and avoid ideological
confrontations, but it is a completely different matter to form part
of a strategy to take Mercosur down a political path in which
Santiago has no interest.

"What interests Santiago is to become part of the Latin America
club, extend its ties to different fronts, and resolve energy
problems. But this is not what the Venezuelan President wants.
What Chavez wants is to form an anti-U.S. political platform...and
take South America and the Caribbean along a path of political
animosity with Washington.... Castro's arrival in Cordoba shows the
degree of political energy that Chavez is already deploying in the
South American bloc.... The Castro-Chavez-Morales trio will attend
the alternative counter-Summit in Cordoba, and after that Chavez
will begin a tour to other countries...to gain votes...and win the
battle he is waging with Washington over Venezuela's candidacy in
the Security Council.... A Mercosur with members and associate
countries with diverging goals and contradicting views, as those
represented by the Chavez-Morales-Castro trio on the one hand, and
Chile on the other, can hardly be productive."


2. On July 21, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El
Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) carried a column by Karin Ebensperger
entitled, "Bolivia and its Eternal Demand for the Sea." Quote:

"There is something that is it not explained clearly enough in
international affairs or repeated often enough. Chile offered
Bolivia access to the sea but Peru refused.... The view in the
international public opinion is that Chile owes Bolivia something,
and that that country cannot grow because it has no sea. This view
is wrong.... Chile has tried to please Bolivia with a corridor, and
although Bolivia demands that none of its gas sold to Argentina
reach Chile, the people and all governments in Chile have made
endless efforts to promote bilateral trade, granting granted Bolivia
the maximum facilities so that it can export its products through
the Pacific."

YAMAUCHI