CHILE MEDIA REPORT - AUGUST 3

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000736

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 - AUGUST 3

Lead Story
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1. A Peruvian daily reported that four Chilean Air Force officers
were victims of espionage in Lima. The man allegedly responsible is
retired Navy officer Elias Ponce Feijo. Peruvian Ambassador Carlos
Pareja informed the Chilean Foreign Ministry that Lima would
investigate and sanction those responsible, underscoring that the
espionage had not taken place during President Alan Garcia's
administration. The Chilean Foreign Ministry accepted Peru's
explanation (El Mercurio, conservative, influential
newspaper-of-record, 8/3).

U.S.-Related News
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2. Communist Party monthly "El Siglo" reported last Friday that
declassified CIA show that the presidential candidate of the right,
Sebastian Pinera, fled the country in 1982 with the help of the U.S.
Embassy in Santiago to avoid a trail for fraud. Asked to produce the
original CIA documents, the journalist who wrote the article,
Francisco Herreros, produced a document in Spanish on U.S. Embassy
press section letterhead. The document was clearly a photo montage
and did not have censored portions as is usually the case with these
documents. National Security Archives Director Peter Kornbluh, an
expert on U.S. declassified material, said, "It's hard to tell if
the document was fabricated or is a mix of real documents that were
then translated." He said that unlike the document published by "El
Siglo," the CIA's color seal "does not appear on authentic
documents." Asked about this discrepancy, the journalist said not
all the documents he had used were from the CIA. "They are (also)
from the U.S. embassy information section, which put together
information for internal use." Asked why would the USG would write a
document for internal use in Spanish, Herreros said he had published
the document because it "concurred with the information he had on
this matter" (The Clinic, 8/3).


3. The Chile-California agreement is gaining momentum. University
of California-Davis agricultural experts Jill Hill and Mark Bell
will speak at a seminar on technology transfer (El Mercurio,
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record agricultural magazine,
8/3).


4. Photo coverage of the ceremony to launch the "Chile Speaks
English" program, the government's "crusade to make Chile a
bilingual country," includes photo of Ambassador Simons at the event
(La Tercera, conservative, independent; El Mercurio, 8/2).

U.S. Military operations in Colombia
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5. In an interview with Colombian "El Tiempo," Ecuadorian President
Rafael Correa said that Bogota's decision to accept U.S. military
bases would "hurt stability," because "some" Colombian leaders,
"such as Santos, believe they can attack others countries" (La
Tercera, 8/3).


6. Asked about Colombia's decision to accept U.S. military bases,
Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said, "Our decision has
nothing to do with the internal situations in other countries,
including Ecuador. It has to do with Colombia's security. U.S.
assistance is welcome to fight our enemy, which is terrorism from
narcotics trafficking and from narco-guerrillas. We cannot be
careless on the issue of security" (La Tercera, 8/2).

OAS/Venezuela
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7. Chile's Foreign Ministry asked its ambassadors in the region to
deliver a letter to the respective foreign affairs ministers asking
them to support Jose Miguel Insulza's reelection to the OAS (La
Tercera, 8/2).


8. The president of the International Institute for Strategic
Studies (IISS),John Chipman, will be in Chile this week to speak on
Latin America and to discuss with President Bachelet the possibility
to hold the Latin American Defense and Security Summit in Chile. On
the region, Chipman said that since Obama took office, Venezuela has
improved its "practical" cooperation with the United States
(Mercurio, 8/2).

Indigenous Mapuche Conflict
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9. "El Mercurio" reported that from 2005 to 2009, the Public
Ministry had issued eight reports warning the government that the
indigenous conflict in the Region of Araucania was escalating. The
Public Ministry had also requested more policemen and more
resources. In light of the information, the opposition alliance
announced that the Chamber of Deputies would subpoena Minister of
Interior Edmundo Perez-Yoma to explain the government's "indecision"
to take action on this matter (El Mercurio, 8/3).


10. Indigenous Mapuche leader Juan Catrillanca denounced an incident
in which civilians with shotguns fired at a group of Mapuches in
Ercilla, injuring two. The Governor of Malleco, Jaime Saffirio, said
he was unaware of any such incident in the area (El Mercurio, 8/2).

Corruption
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11. A preliminary General Comptrollers' Office report revealed that
15 of the 151 individuals who received Ministry of Education
scholarships to complete technical studies in Canada and Spain had
not fulfilled the minimum requirements to receive this benefit (El
Mercurio, 8/3).

FARC
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12. Editorial: "Evidence shows that the FARC have been able to
build a regional support network and to deploy their influence
beyond Colombia's border. Now that Bogota is having success in
fighting them it is the time for all countries in the region to help
end this organization that has made violence its method of political
action" (La Tercera, 8/3).

Environment
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13. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of environmental groups and
ordered AES Gener to cease the construction of its thermo-electric
plant in the 5th Region. The plant's location is one of the most
polluted areas in the country and therefore many of its inhabitants
celebrated the court's decision, except the one thousand people who
lost their jobs. The court ruled based on the constitutional right
to "live in a pollution-free environment" (El Mercurio, 8/1).

SIMONS