CHILE MEDIA REPORT - FEBRUARY 7-9

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000116 SIPDIS STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV ECON PREL SNAR EFIN CI SUBJECT: CHILE MEDIA REPORT - FEBRUARY 7-9 Leading Stories -------------- ¶1. Dailies had extensive coverage of Bachelet's trip to Cuba, of a possible meeting with Fidel Castro, and the disappointment of Cuban dissident organizations with whom the President will not meet. Dailies also reported on the demonstrations of the people of Chaiten in opposition to the government's relocation plan. Chaiten was buried by a volcanic eruption last year. Also highlighted was the 6.3% inflation rate, the lowest in many years, and forecasts that the Central Bank will lower the interest rate on Thursday. U.S.-Related News -------------- ¶2. Senator Antonio Horvath (Aysen) is leading a campaign to stop people in the community of Chaiten -- buried by last year's volcanic eruption -- from selling their land to to American Douglas Tompkins. Over the past months, Tompkins has bought two more properties in Chaiten. Not long before the eruption, Tompkins bought 98 hectares, paying close to $1 million pesos per hectare. But after the eruption, he bought 200 hectares covered in volcanic ashes, but at half that price. The owner of that land, however, assures that the negotiations began before the eruption and that the natural disaster only sped-up the process. People in Chaiten say that Tompkins has offered to rebuild the homes -- reportedly modeled after his home in Palena -- to those who do not want to sell. But Senator Horvath believes the government must buy this land to relocate these people as fast as possible and before they sell to Tompkins. Horvath also criticized the government for first asking if a particular piece of land belongs to Tompkins, before deciding if the land in question is safe for relocation (El Mercurio, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 2/8). ¶3. Congressmen are urging the government to take some form of action to stop people from leaving or selling their land to foreigners in Chaiten. The argument is that inhabiting this part of the territory is crucial for sovereignty. Senate Defense Committee Chairman Sergio Romero(RN) said the exodus of people is putting "Chile's entire southern colonization (effort) in jeopardy" (El Mercurio, 2/9). ¶4. In May 2002, President Bush spoke before the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami. Sitting in the first row was Orlando Bosch, one of the most dangerous terrorists that Latin American has �0A;known. Bosch is responsible for more than 100 bombings and deaths, and for blowing up a Cuban aircraft. Sitting next to him was Luis Posada Carriles, who with Bosch founded the most violent anti-Castro organization ever created to harass the Cuban government, called Coordinadora de Organizaciones Revolucionarias Unidas (CORU). FBI declassified documents confirm that the CORU had ties with the Pinochet dictatorship and an investigation in Chile establishes that the organization was responsible for placing the bomb that killed Chilean Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., was involved in unsuccessful attempts to murder Chilean leftist politicians in Mexico and Italy, and negotiated with Pinochet to train its members in Chile. The CORU has left behind it a trail of blood and accomplices. All the anti-Castro terrorists mentioned in this article are free and living in the United States (La Nacion, government-owned, editorially independent, 2/9). ¶5. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said that the global financial crisis, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East are higher priorities for the new U.S. administration and that, therefore, it is unlikely that the United States will present a strong political agenda for the region at the Summit of the Americas (El Mercurio, 2/9). Cuba -------------- ¶6. Laura Pollan, one the founders of the Cuban organization, "Women in White," expressed disappointment that the GOC had not made arrangements for Bachelet to meet with them during her visit to Cuba this week. "As a woman who suffered the horrors of repression in her family," Bachelet can "certainly understand our suffering," said Pollan (El Mercurio, 2/9). ¶7. Cuban Ambassador to Chile Illeana Diaz Arguelles, said Bachelet's visit to Cuba "will be an important landmark and fundamental step in promoting the kind of cultural, commercial, scientific, and political" ties Cuba wants to establish with Chile (La Nacion, 2/9). ¶8. The political affiliation of Chileans investing in Cuba is as varied as the types of products they export. Among them is right-winger Gonzalo Vial, owner of Agrosuper (which sells meat, pork, chicken and wine),who says: "this is just business, it's not personal." In a year, Vial sells more than US$2 million to Cuba. Then there is Radical Party Congressman Alejandro Sule, and Jurgen Paulmann, owner of Sky Airlines, who defines himself as "non political." On the other side of the spectrum is Max Marambio, former member of the Revolutionary Leftist Movement MIR. He has investments in real estate, aviation, tourism, and agriculture and is considered one of the most influential businessmen on the island. ProChile reports that the commercial flow between the two countries totaled US$67.22 million in 2007 and that in 2008, Chile exported 10.8% more than during the same period in 2007. Cuban exports to Chile, on the other hand, totaled US$4.3 million, which is 56.8% more than the previous year (La Nacion, 2/9). ¶9. Entrepreneur Max Marambio commented on President Bachelet's decision not to meet with the dissidence in Cuba: "It's not prohibited to meet with them (the dissidence) but common sense and protocol says that this is an official visit and both governments work on the agenda. Cuba would never accept an intervention in its internal affairs" (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 2/8). ¶10. Sebastian Pinera called on those entrepreneurs traveling with Bachelet to Cuba to "raise their voices to defend freedom, democracy, and the respect for human rights" (La Tercera, 2/8). Nuclear Energy -------------- ¶11. A Russian delegation will arrive in Santiago on Tuesday to meet with the National Energy Commission and discuss the impact and dangers of nuclear electricity generation (La Nacion, 2/9). SIMONS