UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000179

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR CI
SUBJECT: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR BACHELET'S MARCH 11
INAUGURATION

REF: SANTIAGO 00170


1. The Chilean government has initiated preparations for the
inauguration of President-elect Michelle Bachelet and the new
Congress on March 11. According to the Foreign Ministry's
Protocol Office and press reports, the inauguration
activities are likely to include:

--March 10: President Lagos will receive/meet with foreign
dignitaries at La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. He
will then host a dinner at La Moneda.

--March 11: Inauguration ceremony will begin at 12:00 noon
local time (10:00 EST) in Valparaiso (the physical location
of Congress; approximately one hour's drive from Santiago).
A cultural event in Santiago will follow.


2. President Lagos recently designated Javier Luis Egana,
former ambassador to the Vatican and current director of the
secretariat of communications and culture (SECOCU) at the

SIPDIS
Interior Ministry, to coordinate inauguration activities.
According to press reports, Egana has extensive experience in
this area, having run all three previous presidential
inauguration ceremonies (Presidents Aylwin, Frei-Ruiz-Tagle
and Lagos) since Chile's return to democracy. On January 25,
Egana told the press the GOC had sent out invitations to the
heads of state of the 171 countries with which Chile has
diplomatic relations, as well as several unspecified
"important invitees." (Note: Bolivian President Evo Morales
reportedly has accepted an invitation, personally extended by
President Lagos during their January 22 meeting in La Paz.)

Bachelet's First Appointment
--------------


3. Bachelet recently appointed Fernando Ayala, current
Chilean ambassador to Vietnam and a career diplomat, as her
future head of protocol at the Foreign Ministry. According
to press reports, Ayala is considered close to Chilean UN
PermRep, Heraldo Munoz, one of the frontrunners mentioned as
Bachelet's possible Foreign Minister (Ref. A).


4. MFA/Protocol officer Rodrigo Donoso told EPOL assistant
January 25 that the GOC would intensify planning for the
inauguration early next week, after Ayala returns to
Santiago. In an apparent contradiction with Egana's press
comments, Donoso said the GOC had not yet actually sent out
official invitations.


5. Post will remain in contact with GOC officials regarding
the inauguration, and report developments as they become
available.

Fernando Ayala Bio Note
--------------


6. Fernando Ayala graduated from Chile's Diplomatic Academy
in 1984. He has served as Consul in Chicago and Stockholm,
and Consul General in Milan. In 2004, he became Chile's
first ambassador to Vietnam. In the late 1990s, Ayala became
active in Party for Democracy (PPD) politics, where he built
his relationship with Chilean UN PermRep Munoz. In
2000-2001, he worked as Munoz' chief of staff when the latter
served as Deputy Foreign Minister. He then followed Munoz to
the Presidential Palace after Munoz was appointed by
President Lagos as government spokesperson. In 2003, Ayala
moved to the Ministry of Education, where he worked as an
international advisor to then Minister Sergio Bitar. He has
also served as Foreign Ministry Director General of
Administration (1992-94), and Advisor to the Director General
of International Economic Relations - DIRECON (1999-2001).
During the Pinochet era, Ayala lived in exile in Croatia,
where he earned an economics degree from the University of
Zagreb. He also holds a master's degree in political science
from Catholic University in Chile.
KELLY