Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SANTIAGO514
2009-06-02 18:19:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Santiago
Cable title:  

CHILE MEDIA REPORT - JUNE 1

Tags:  KMDR KPAO PGOV ECON PREL SNAR EFIN CI 
pdf how-to read a cable
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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000514 

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 - JUNE 1

Leading Stories
---------------
UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000514

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 - JUNE 1

Leading Stories
--------------

1. Chilean health authorities have confirmed 276 cases of AH1N1.
Given the spread of the disease, the authorities are no longer
screening at the airport and have instructed that now all cases of
influenza as should be treated as if it were AH1N1.

U.S.-Related News
--------------

2. Chilean Army Commander-in-Chief Oscar Izurieta attended the VIII
Asia Pacific Security Summit in Singapore, where he and U.S.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discussed security policy
development (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000,
5/31).


3. Former Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Castaneda said the
solution to decreasing narcotics trafficking lies in lowering the
collateral damage associated to this activity and attacking drug use
as a health problem, not a crime. Castaneda recalled that the United
States has been saying it will lower its domestic demand for drugs
for at least 40 years, but has been unable to do so. "And will
never do so," he adds. Castaneda rebutted reports that 90 percent
of weapons that enter Mexico come from the United States. He
explained that 90 percent of "traceable weapons" come from the U.S.,
and that only 18% of the total amount of weapons found in Mexico
arrived from the United States (La Tercera, conservative,
independent, circ. 101,000, 5/30).


3. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza wants the organization
to revoke Cuba's suspension. To his end he is trying to merge the
proposals submitted by the United States, Nicaragua, and Honduras,
and wants further negotiations with the United States; He met with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week(La Tercera, 5/31).


4. U.S. company, Geoglobal Energy (GGE),has requested private
concessions to explore geothermal energy in Chile. Its goal is to
invest USD 1.5 billion to develop 500MW (Diario Financiero, business
and financial, circ. 30,000, 6/1).

IPR
---

5. The Patent Cooperation Treaty will come into effect tomorrow,
which means Chile has finally complied with Chile-U.S. Free Trade

Agreement provisions on this matter (Diario Financiero, 6/1).

Bachelet's Tour of France and El Salvador
--------------

6. Presidents Bachelet and Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris. Among the
issues discussed was the need to increase cooperation in countries
such as El Salvador, Paraguay, and Haiti. Sarkozy also expressed his
desire to visit Chile before the end of his term (El Mercurio,
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 5/30).



7. In 2008, Bachelet received Mauricio Funes in La Moneda. Funes
was then the presidential candidate of El Salvador's FMLN and today
will be sworn-in as President. Funes has not forgotten Bachelet's
gesture and scheduled a meeting with the Chilean president for this
evening. Both countries have a commercial agreement since 2002 and
share a strong commitment to social cohesion, respect for human
rights, and regional integration (La Nacion, government-owned,
editorially independent, circ. 4,200, June 1).

Chile-North Korea
--------------

8. The Chilean embassy in Seoul issued a statement whereby
President Bachelet rejects North Korea's nuclear test. "Chile
reiterates its hope for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula
and for progress in the Six Party talks, which have stalled, because
North Korea refuses to rejoin them," says the statement (La Segunda,
5/29):

Chile and Military Acquisitions
--------------

9. In her visit to the EADS facilities in Toulouse, Bachelet was
unpleasantly surprised. As an example of good business relations,
EADS CEO Francois Auque commented on the on-going process for the
purchase of military aircraft and helicopters, the latter armed with
Exocet missiles. In the afternoon, and after consulting with the
respective defense branches in Chile, Defense Minister Francisco
Vidal confirmed both operations, but denied the intent to buy Exocet
missiles now or in the future (La Tercera, 5/30-5/31).

The FARC and Mapuche Organizations
--------------

10. Chile's Public Ministry has found evidence of ties between the
FARC and Mapuche organizations. In an e-mail dated 2006, former FARC
leader Raul Reyes approved military training for a group of Mapuche
leaders. The e-mail is one of many documents sent by Colombia to
assist the Chilean Public Ministry's investigation (La Tercera,
5/31).

Venezuela
--------------

11. Weekly round-up column on Venezuela: "The international
community has chosen . . . to act with indifference with regard to
Venezuela's political events . . . The arguments are that doing the
opposite only favors Chavez... and that isolation can only make his
government increasingly radical, but everything indicates that this
international strategy has failed" (Mercurio, 6/1).


SIMONS