MEDIA REACTION - MILOSEVIC DEATH

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000576 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA, PM, INL, INR/R/MR (FOR ANLAYST IRENE MARR) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC CI SR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - MILOSEVIC DEATH On March 20, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" (circ. 116,000) ran an editorial entitled, "Milosevic's Death." Quote: "The death of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has revived some controversies and created others concerning the operation of international peacekeeping and security systems. Aside from the strange circumstances surrounding it...Milosevic's death has again led to debate about the international community's responsibility for delaying their intervention to prevent these crimes. It has also raised questions about the efficiency of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia.... But the frustration arises not only from (Milosevic's) death, which allowed him to elude justice, but from the incompetence of the special tribunal and the inefficiency of the United Nations, whose more timely military intervention would have saved thousands of lives." KELLY