CHILE MEDIA REPORT - APRIL 22

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000383

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 - APRIL 22

Leading Stories
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1. Information revealed under the new Transparency Law has ignited
debate on how the government spends it funds. The information also
revealed the practice among some agencies of hiring more contract
workers than salaried employees, which is in violation of the law.

U.S.-Related News
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2. Editorial: "The Relation of the United States with the region
after the Summit of the Americas": "President Obama's willingness
to listen and to present his country as an equal in the hemispheric
community was important in how he approached the summit.... His
respectful attitude earned him everyone's approval and began a new
era of goodwill between Washington and the continent. That new
disposition is the Summit's most important accomplishment.... Let
us hope that the 'new spirit of Port of Spain' serves as a
foundation on which we can build trust and move forward in the
relations between the United States and the hemisphere. If no
concrete steps follow, the summit will become just another false
beginning in the long process trial and error process that has
characterized inter-American relations" (La Tercera, conservative,
independent, circ. 101,000, 4/22).


3. The GOC is attempting to boost the development of
non-conventional renewable energy and to this end will open a bid
for the construction of a photovoltaic solar farm and a solar
concentration plant in northern Chile, said Energy Minister Marcelo
Tokman. The initiative will have an important starting point: on
Friday, Tokman will speak at a seminar in San Francisco, CA, for the
players involved in these initiatives, that is, builders, operators,
and clients (El Mercurio, conservative, influential
newspaper-of-record (circ. 129,000, 4/22).


4. Phyllis Yoshida, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy
Cooperation in the Office of Policy and International Affairs, U.S.
Department of Energy, met yesterday with the Minister for the
Environment Ana Lya Uriate. Yoshida is in Chile to inform on the
Obama administration's new policies in this area (La Nacion,
government-owned, editorially independent, circ. 4,200, 4/22).


5. Foreign Affairs Minister Mariano Fernandez said that President
Obama had established a "new political climate" at the Summit of the
Americas, "that is very important for relations of the White House
with the region." He expressed the hope that this is not just "a
truce," but rather "a great new a start for the Western Hemisphere"
(La Nacion, 4/22).


6. NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" interviewed the
Director of NGO "Oceana," Alex Munoz, for a program on the state of
the planet's oceans. Munoz spoke about the salmon industry (La
Segunda, conservative, afternoon, circ. 33,000, 4/21).

Economic Freedom
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7. The Heritage Foundation-Wall Street Journal annual Economic
Freedom Index placed Chile 11th worldwide and first in Latin America
(Estrategia, business and financial, circ. 30,000, 4/22).

UNASUR and Health
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8. The UNASUR Health Council met in Santiago and agreed to set up
an "epidemiological shield" to protect South America from diseases,
such as the recent Dengue outbreak in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina,
and Brazil. The initiative includes an array of epidemiological
surveillance methods, which include registering outbreaks and
mortality rates in the region (La Nacion, 4/22).

Antarctica
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9. Argentina filed a claim yesterday with the U.N. Continental
Platform Commission that would expand outward its sovereignty from
200 to 350 million miles, or an additional 1.7 million sq.
kilometers of ocean. The claim clashes with Chile's territorial
extension in Antarctica. In this context, Chile will now present
its claim to the U.N. in an effort to clearly define its domain in
Antarctica (El Mercurio, 4/22).
SIMONS