CHILE MEDIA REPORT - MARCH 19

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000262 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 - MARCH 19 Leading Stories -------------- ¶1. Dailies highlighted that Chile has 90 days to rebut Peru's claim at the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding their maritime borders. Dailies also noted that on April 20, twenty state companies will publish the salaries of their CEOs, complying with a law on access to public information. U.S.-Related News -------------- ¶2. President Obama phoned Bachelet earlier in the year and invited her to Washington. The Chilean Ambassador has already consulted with the Department of State on this, because the GOC's goal is for the Chilean President to visit the United States before the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. Such a visit would give Bachelet a higher profile. The Department of State has not said no, which means the possibility for a meetings is still open. (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 3/19). ¶3. Photograph of Ambassador Paul Simons and Patricio Rosende: The Ambassador met with under Secretary of Interior Patricio Rosende to begin coordinating the security for the visit of Vice President Biden. The U.S. Vice President will visit Chile at the end of March for the Progressive Governance Summit, which coincides with the "Day of the Young Combatant," on March 29. Reportedly, the security will be similar to that applied for APEC 2004, when President Bush came to Chile. "The security for Vice President Biden and all the leaders who will participate (at the summit) is the usual applied for these types of events," said Rosende (La Tercera, 3/19). ¶4. Applauses and ovations for the all-male U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club choir in its first performance in Vina del Mar (El Mercurio on line 3/18); Ovation for the U.S. Naval Academy Choir (Municipality of Vina del Mar webpage, 3/18). ¶5. American education group Apollo acquired UNIACC university in ¶2008. It has now made a bid to control University Santo Tomas, which has 14 campuses nationwide and approximately 20,000 students (Diario Financiero, business and financial (circ. 30,000),business and financial daily, circ. 30,000, 3/19). Chile-Peru -------------- ¶6. Peru will submit today to the International Court of Justice at The Hague its claim for a revision of its maritime border with Chile. Once this occurs, Chile has 90 days to rebut the claim (La Tercera, 3/19). Cuba -------------- ¶7. Newsweek magazine notes that, according to former Mexican chancellor Jorge Castaneda, the recent destitution of Chief of Staff Carlos Lage and Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez-Roque in Cuba was because both officials were plotting against Raul Castro, with the support of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez (La Segunda, conservative, afternoon, circ. 33,000, 3/18). Local -------------- ¶8. An OECD delegation is in Santiago to review the framework of Chile's eventual accession to the OECD, examining statistics related to inflation, national accounts, and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) (La Segunda, 3/18). ¶9. Rodrigo Alvarez (UDI) took office as president of the Chamber of Deputies. This is the first time in fifty years that the chamber is chaired by a right-wing party representative. Alvarez was elected thanks to an agreement with the Concertacion (La Segunda, 3/18). ¶10. Consensus Forecasts, which collects information from consulting firms, investment banks, and economists, projects Chile's economy will experience the largest growth in the region during 2010 (La Tercera, 3,19). SIMONS