CHILE MEDIA REPORT - JANUARY 15

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000056

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 15

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

1. Chilean dailies highlighted an audit on Chile's National
Registry Service that revealed repeated mismanagement and
embezzlement during former Director Guillermo Arenas'
administration; Chile's Central Bank's predictions of a 2% to 3%
economic growth in 2009; and the latest developments in the conflict
in Gaza.

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

2. Interview with Chile's Ambassador to the U.S. Mariano Fernandez
on the atmosphere in Washington for the upcoming Presidential
Inauguration and his expectations about bilateral relations with the
Obama Administration. "Our greatest challenge is to continue
deepening and diversifying the current very good bilateral relations
with the United States. Our challenge is to be creative in order to
avoid making our relations bureaucratic and dull. Besides a host of
initiatives that we will continue to pursue and broaden, the Free
Trade Agreement and the Chile-California Plan are the framework of
our relations. It is important to point out that the State
Department's 2008 document on (U.S.) relations with Latin America
mentions the Chile-California Plan and the Economic Dialogue with
Brazil as the only bilateral (issues)" (Diario Financiero, business
and financial, circ. 30,000, 1/15).


3. Chilean exports to the United States dropped by 11.5% during
November 2008, revealed a report released by business and industry
association SOFOFA (La Segunda, conservative, afternoon daily, circ.
33,000, 1/15).

Local
--------------

4. The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Report projected a 2% to 3%
growth in Chile's economy in 2009, and reduced from 4% to 3.1% its
inflation rate prediction for December 2008 (El Mercurio,
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000,
1/15).


5. Long timer Socialist Party member Jorge Arrate resigned his
membership of 46 years and announced he will run for the presidency
of Chile. Mr. Arrate, a close friend's of President Salvador
Allende and other renowned Chilean Socialists, served in the
cabinets of former Presidents Patricio Aylwin and Eduardo Frei.
Jorge Arrate criticizes the current party leadership headed by
Camilo Escalona (All dailies, 1/15).


6. Members of the Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Commission
voted to remove Deputy Karla Rubilar as President of the Commission
for erroneously charging several families of detained and
disappeared as "false" victims (La Tercera, conservative,
independent, circ. 101,000, 1/15).

Chile-Cuba
--------------

7. Government coalition Senators Nelson Avila from the Radical
Democratic Socialist Party (PRSD) and Jaime Gazmuri from the
Socialist Party (PS) argued in favor of President Michelle
Bachelet's agenda during her upcoming official visit to Cuba. Both
Senators characterized the tour as "natural and positive in the
process of diversifying relations with countries and governments in
Latin America." Senator Gazmuri criticized the right and the
Christian Democratic Party for having a "double standard" in their
requirement that Bachelet meet with the dissidents. "We have never
seen those sectors setting conditions on trips to countries... such
as China" (La Nacion, government-owned, editorially independent,
circ. 4,200, 1/15).

Editorials
--------------

8. "Obama's Initial Signals Towards the Region" "In her
confirmation hearing at the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee
Tuesday, future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's guaranteed that
the Obama Administration aspires to have 'a vigorous association'
with Latin America... (and that) her country's international policy
should be based on a combination of 'principles and pragmatism' and
not affix itself on a 'rigid ideology.' If these lines are
interpreted as key to Obama... one could expect from Washington a
more flexible and understanding perspective towards the new
political realities that have appeared on the subcontinent. The
guarantee offered by the next Secretary of State regarding her will
to rebuild a common space in Latin America is good indication of a
collaborative period...." (La Nacion, 1/15).


7. "Israeli Military Operation in Gaza" "Israel notes that it is
acting on legitimate defense. However, it seems evident that there
is no proportion between the violence deployed in its offensive and
the threat represented by Hamas' missiles on the south of Israel....
Hopefully, the talks carried out by Egypt and France will bear
fruit and Palestinians and Israelis understand that they live in a
territory where they need to learn to share, by respecting the
integrity of their borders and mutual deference" (La Tercera,
1/15).

SIMONS