CHILE MEDIA REPORT - SEPTEMBER 1

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000823 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 - SEPTEMBER 1 Lead Story -------------- ¶1. The National unemployment rate is up to 10.8 percent for May-July. Valparaiso has the highest rate (18.5 percent),followed by Angol and Vina del Mar (Conservative, influential newspaper-of-record El Mercurio, 9/1). U.S.-Related News -------------- ¶2. Austral Capital investment fund will launch the Austral California program with an office in Palo Alto, California. The objective is to facilitate the entry of Chilean companies in Silicon Valley (La Tercera, conservative, independent, 9/1). Human Rights -------------- ¶3. On Sunday "La Nacion" reported that the army had rehired several officers who had been prosecuted for human rights violations. Defense Minister Francisco Vidal requested all defense branches to submit a list of its personnel, former members of the military regime's security organizations, and of those who faced charges for human rights violations. The reports came in yesterday and show that 14 individuals fit this description. However, yesterday we also learned that Vidal was informed of this case a month ago. The Executive Office was not. In light of this information, the Chamber of Deputies' defense committee summoned Defense Minister Vidal and Army Commander-in-Chief Oscar Izurieta today (El Mercurio, 9/1) Indigenous Conflict -------------- ¶4. The indigenous Mapuche organization "Coordinadora Arauco Malleco" (CAM),responsible for the most severe acts of violence in the Bio Bio and Araucania Regions, is replacing its traditional leadership with "urban Mapuches," said police intelligence sources. One reason is that most of its leaders have been arrested over the past two years. Another is that the leaders of the different Mapuche communities are following their own strategy or have joined communities that are negotiating with the government. In this new scenario, the CAM is recruiting young college professionals and members of anarchist organizations and providing them with indoctrination and paramilitary training. The police say that the CAM has also tightened its security and that some of the e-mails sent to the local media to claim responsibility for attacks in the Region of Araucania were sent from Spain or Italy to avoid computer tracking (El Mercurio, 9/1). ¶5. A security camera in the roof of a storehouse in a farm in Pailahueque caught the exact moment in which five hooded individuals, three of them armed, tried to set fire to a corral with 250 cattle on August 13. The same group set fire to another storehouse in the same property, burning 40 pieces of farming machinery. Total losses amount to approximately US$1.5 million (El Mercurio, 9/1). Japan -------------- ¶6. Editorial: "Political Change in Japan": "The Japanese Democratic Party's victory led by Yukio Hatoyama... has been initially well received in Asia. This is promising, but also raises expectations regarding the great changes ahead.... There is no doubt that for the world the most important element here lies in the possibility to have a competitive policy in Japan that will make the world's second largest economy in the world more dynamic" (El Mercurio, 9/1). SIMONS