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
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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
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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
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
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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
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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