CHILE MEDIA REPORT - JANUARY 8-9

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000022 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 - JANUARY 8-9 Leading Stories -------------- ¶1. Dailies highlighted the Central Bank's announcement of a historic interest rate reduction from 8.25% to 7.25%; the reprimand issued by the Senate Ethics Commission on PPD Senator Guido Girardi for his misconduct in a case involving a highway patrol officer; and the gathering of President Bush and President-Elect Obama with all the living former U.S. Presidents at the White House. U.S.-Related News -------------- ¶2. The FBI has identified the individual responsible for sending envelopes containing white powder to the U.S. Embassy in Santiago and 17 other U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide. Sources at the Western Santiago Prosecutor's Office reported that U.S. authorities in charge of the investigation disclosed earlier this week that the person who sent the suspicious envelope was a man with an anarchist background who lives in California. The FBI is in the process of arresting him. Chile's Public Safety Institute (ISP) confirmed that the white powder in the envelope was found to be flour. The Prosecutor's Office decided to close the case and dismissed a request for the suspect's extradition. (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 1/9). ¶3. Approximately one month ago, the U.S. State Department submitted an official invitation to all chiefs of diplomatic missions in Washington, stating that, in accordance with tradition, the United States would not invite foreign delegations or heads of state to the Presidential inauguration. Thus, the only Chileans officially invited are Chile's Ambassador to the U.S. Mariano Fernandez and OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza. Unofficially, there is a select group of other Chileans who have reserved seats: the parents of Danny Sepulveda - a Chilean who advises Mr. Obama on immigration and international trade issues; his uncle, Gonzalo Arenas, Administrative Director General at the Foreign Ministry; and Claudio Grossman, Dean of the School of Law at American University, who has close ties with the Democratic Party (Que Pasa, conservative, influential weekly, 1/9). ¶4. President-Elect Barack Obama placed a phone call to OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza last Tuesday, 24 hours after the latter officially withdrew from the race for the presidency of Chile. OAS sources confirmed the conversation but declined to provide further details (La Tercera, 1/9). Although members of Insulza's inner circle would not disclose the contents of his conversation, sources in the diplomatic arena commented that they spoke about Insulza's remaining at the OAS and discussed the upcoming Summit of the Americas. (El Mercurio, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 1/9). OAS sources characterized President-Elect Obama's phone call to Insulza as a gesture of "courtesy." It is presumed that during their conversation they both addressed the rather tense relationship the U.S. and OAS have had during the past eight years of the Bush Administration (La Nacion, government-owned, editorially independent, circ. 4,200, 1/9). ¶5. Local newspapers throughout Chile carried stories reporting on the ten Chilean students selected to participate in the 2009 "Youth Ambassadors" program of the U.S. State Department. Articles were published by El Mercurio's online daily Emol.com (1/6); El Sur de Concepcion (1/8); El Mercurio de Antofagasta (1/7); La Tribuna de Los Angeles (1/7); El Diario de Concepcisn (1/8). Local -------------- ¶6. As a result of the Senate's approval to introduce a constitutional reform to the Chilean electoral system that would allow all qualified citizens to register automatically and then vote voluntarily, the Executive Branch is preparing a strategy to make this become effective before the upcoming December general elections. As a first step, next week the Bachelet Administration will submit new legislation to the Senate determining the mechanism that would govern the automatic registration of 3,800,000 citizens. The Government plans to introduce slight modifications to a 2004 draft bill that was rejected by the Lower House last August. In any case, the Chamber of Deputies must approve the Senate's decision this month. The Executive Branch believes that the initiative will pass (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 1/8). Cuba -------------- ¶7. It is likely that President Michelle Bachelet will meet with Fidel Castro during her visit to Havana, February 11-13. Sources at the Executive Branch noted that the meeting depends on Castro's health condition. The official program - to be released today by La Moneda-- includes a business seminar aimed at opening new trade exchange opportunities, and does not feature a meeting with dissidents. (El Mercurio, 1/9). ¶8. Christian Democrat (DC) legislators clashed with Socialist and PPD counterparts during a session held yesterday in Congress to discuss a proposal for an agreement to criticize human rights violations in Cuba. The text calls on the Cuban regime to release political prisoners and to initiate a democratic transition towards free elections. After an extensive debate, the DC initiative - supported by the opposition- was approved by a vote of 57 to 17, with four abstentions. The discussion took place within the framework of President Michelle Bachelet's upcoming trip to Havana. Two Cuban dissidents sent a letter to President Bachelet expressing their availability to meet with her during the February visit. Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley responded to the DC's criticisms of the President's refusal to meet with Cuban dissidents: "State ministers do not take partisan positions, for we belong in the government. I am part of the Coalition's government that is headed by the President," Foxley noted (El Mercurio, 1/8). Editorials -------------- ¶9. Column on the gathering of President George W. Bush and President-Elect Barack Obama with all the living former U.S. Presidents at the White House, entitled "Tubby's Club" "The value of the meeting ... is symbolic rather than tangible. The Oval Office photo attests to a laudable civic culture and respect for tradition and experience that transcends partisanship" (La Tercera, 1/8) ¶10. Column by international pundit Raul Sohr, "The CIA's New Director" "Obama has chosen a man he trusts, who does not come from the intelligence community. Panetta's job will be difficult. Before the White House and his fellow citizens, he has to restore the institution's capacity to detect and warn of the dangers posed against the country... His words open hopefulness that the obscurantism which has taken over the United States since 2001 will begin to dissipate. If the CIA's new orientation becomes a fact, it is (a matter) of special importance to the Third World. Not unrealistically, the CIA's agents have been called 'the State Department's troops' - in other words, the people in charge of fulfilling the determinations of U.S. foreign policy." SIMONS