CHILE MEDIA REPORT - FEBRUARY 13

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000135

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 13

Leading Stories
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1. Front-page news highlighted the Central Bank's decision to lower
the interest rate to 4.75% (lowest in three years) and President
Bachelet's meeting with Fidel Castro yesterday afternoon. Dailies
also reported that private clinics failed to notify the central
health authority of 104 HIV/AIDs cases, as required by law.

Bachelet Criticizes U.S Embargo in Cuba
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2. In the opening of the Chile-Cuba business seminar Bachelet said:
"Chile has always opposed extended discriminatory practices in
trade, and in this instance, it is permanent and has acquired
special urgency given today's international financial and economic
crisis. Wwhat I am specifically referring to is the U.S. "blockade"
against Cuba, which seriously hurts living conditions of the people
of Cuba, particularly in today's crisis. Chile has always opposed
the embargo and has thus expressed it in all multilateral
institutions and entities in which it participates.... In the last
decades Chile has promoted open, but also fair trade" (La Segunda,
conservative, afternoon, circ. 33,000, 2/12; La Tercera,
conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 2/13).

Bachelet meets with Fidel Castro
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3. Cuban President Raul Castro unexpectedly pulled President
Bachelet from a ceremony at the Salvador Allende memorial so that
she could meet with Fidel Castro. Bachelet said Fidel was in "very
good health and fully informed of events taking place in Chile. He
had much statistical information and was interested in hearing about
Chile's economic development and exchanged views on how to expand
commercial ties." Bachelet said they had had an "important
dialogue" on the challenges that the region and Latin America face
in the context of the international economic crisis (El Mercurio,
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 2/13).



4. Fidel dedicated his regular column "Reflexiones" to Bachelet's
visit. In that column, Fidel said Bachelet "has the merit that she
was elected by the majority vote of the Socialist party," adding
that, "For the first time in Latin America, a leftist organization
obtains the victory without the money, the weapons, or publicity of
the Yankee apparatus." His words have been interpreted as a sign
that Castro does not consider Ricardo Lagos -- the first socialist
elected after Allende -- a true socialist. It would also show his
disapproval of Lagos, who never visited Cuba or tried to establish
close ties with Havana. Castro also wrote that he and Bachelet had
discussed an array of topics, including Bolivia. On that subject,
he wrote that the 1879 Pacific War (where Bolivia lost the territory
that gave it access to the sea) had been a "historic humiliation"
for La Paz, criticized Chile's "oligarchy" for taking from Bolivian
its access to the sea, and he endorsed Bolivia's hope for a passage
to the Pacific (La Tercera, El Mercurio, 2/13).


5. Bachelet said that she and Fidel Castro had a lengthy
conversation that "was positive in the exchange of ideas" and
covered "how Chile sees and does things, and she also listen to
Fidel's reflections." Asked about Fidel's health, Bachelet said,
"Anyone who can talk for one hour and a half is doing very well. He
is active as always" (La Nacion, government-owned, editorially
independent, circ. 4,200, 2/13).

Cuba: Science and Business
--------------

6. Vivian Heyl, President of Chile's National Scientific and
Technological Research Commission (Conicyt) signed an agreement with
Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology Science, and Environment for
the exchange of scientists and joint work in the area of
biotechnology, renewable energy and rehabilitation (La Nacion,
2/13).


7. Rafael Guilisasti, president of Chile's Trade and Production
Confederation (CPC) and one of the several entrepreneurs with
Bachelet in Cuba, said there is potential for trade with Cuba in the
area of pharmaceuticals. "Its part of globalization to be able to
have the widest and most open trade possible, and therefore, we will
promote this area, said Guilisasti. He then dismissed any political
interests in this trip. "We don't politically label any of the
government's official visits or political priorities. Our agenda is
very specific and we will follow it here or any other opportunity we
have when the authorities invite us," he concluded (La Nacion,
2/13).

Environment
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8. The Waterkeeper Alliance, a well-known environmental
organization founded by Robert Kennedy, Jr., opened an office in the
VII Region last year and has already begun opposing the AES Gener
project to build a thermoelectric plant in Punta Pacoco (Que Pasa,
conservative, influential newsweekly, 2/13).

Narcotics
--------------

9. The Investigations Police (PDI) conducted an internal
investigation that led to the arrest of three of its own
counternarcotics detectives working in a border unit. The three
individuals are allegedly involved in the same operation for which
vice-sheriff Gonzalo Araya was arrested last week. Araya was
selling narcotics that had been confiscated during operations. (La
Segunda,2/12).

Human Rights/Anti-Terrorism Law
--------------

10. Minister of Interior Edmundo Perez Yoma said the request for
asylum filed in Switzerland in favor of 11-year old Mapuche girl
Relmutrya Cadin on the grounds that her family is being persecuted
is "inadmissible." He said the child's family is detained for
committing "common crimes," such as assaulting a prosecutor. The
executive will ask the Swiss government to dismiss the asylum
request (El Mercurio, 2/13).


11. Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said the government will apply the
Anti-terrorist Law in the case of Mapuche activist Miguel Tapia
Huenulaf. The Carabineros police arrested Tapia this week and
seized two of his homes. The material found at those addresses --
military gear, guns, ammunition, detonators, explosives, machine
guns, and bullet-proof vests -- would show intention of forming a
terrorist organization, said Perez-Yoma. The importance in this
case lies in that the government has objected to applying this
Anti-terrorist Law to any previous cases involving Mapuche activists
(La Tercera, 2/13).

SIMONS