Santiago Oct. 7 Media Report

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000970 SIPDIS STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL SNAR EFIN CI SUBJECT: Santiago Oct. 7 Media Report Lead Story -------------- ¶1. Congress passed a draft bill that creates a new corporative government for Chile's state-owned copper company Codelco. This is "the most significant" change the company has undergone since its creation in 1976 (Conservative, independent La Tercera, 10/7). U.S. Related News -------------- ¶2. FBI experts are giving a class on thumbprint identification techniques for Carabineros police and Public Ministry officials in the city of Iquique. Carabineros Captain Claudio Pavez said, "This has been a cultural exchange of their knowledge with our experience in the field, striking a balance and a unique pattern for the identification of individuals." The workshop is sponsored by the Under Secretary of Carabineros Police and the U.S. Embassy (Regional dailies La Estrella de Iquique and Diario 21, 10/6), ¶3. "The Washington Post" wrote that Ximena Hartsock's confirmation hearing as D.C.'s parks and recreation director had been "an embarrassment" to the city. "The council members seemed more concerned with Hartsock's ethnic background and immigration status than with her education and work background," says the article. Reportedly, "the worst" council member was Marion Barry, who said the city needed "someone who understands our culture." Barry said that the park department serves a community of "'black and brown" people who "have a different culture and a different subculture." Barry also questioned Hartsock's immigration status, because she was born in Chile and has legal permanent residence, but is not a U.S. citizen. Hartsock has a doctorate in leadership and education and policy studies from George Washington University (Conservative, influential El Mercurio, 10/7). ¶4. Cisco Senior Vice President Howard Charney visited a vocational school in a low-income area of Penalolen to assess the progress of Cisco's Networking Academy. The program is aimed at teaching how to create and maintain networks on the Internet in accordance to international standards. Mayor Claudio Orrego said, "We want our students to be able to compete as equals with other students in the world" (Government-owned La Nacion, 10/7). ¶5. NASA expert Maria Catalina said the space agency wants to create a lunar habitat in Chile's Atacama Desert to prepare astronauts. Catalina will tour the country to speak on the array of projects that NASA has undertaken in Chile's north, where conditions are similar to those on the Moon and Mars. In 2004, NASA experts spent weeks in the Atacama Desert studying the subsistence of primitive live forms (Regional influential El Sur, 10/5) Salitre Exercise -------------- ¶6. Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez and Peruvian Ambassador Carlos Pareja will meet today amid the tense bilateral scenario triggered by Peru's accusation of an arms race and criticism over the "Salitre" military exercise (El Mercurio, 10/7). Corporate government -------------- ¶7. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate passed a draft bill that creates a new corporative government for Chile's state-owned copper company Codelco. The new bill incorporates best practices from corporate governments in other parts of the world and suggestions made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. For example, Codelco will now be under the supervision of the Superintendence of Values and Stocks. It will have nine directors: three named by the President of the country, one elected by the company's union, another by its supervisors, and four independents chosen from a list approved by the Higher Public Direction Council (El Mercurio, 10/7). OAS -------------- ¶8. Chile's effort to gather support for Jose Miguel Insulza's reelection as Secretary General to the OAS is starting to yield results. Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said yesterday that the Dominican Republic had committed its vote and that Canada had "verbally" expressed its support for Insulza (La Tercera, 10/7). Indigenous Affairs -------------- ¶9. The Executive Office sent to Congress a draft bill that creates the Ministry for Indigenous Affairs and the Council for Indigenous Peoples. The spokesperson of the Mapuche organization "Consejo de Todas las Tierras," Aucan Huilcaman, filed a suit with the Santiago Appeals Court against President Bachelet. Huilcaman says the government did not consult with indigenous organizations before sending the bill in question to Congress as required by the International Labor Organization 169 Accord. The ILO says that any legal initiative binding to the indigenous community must be reviewed by its representatives. Government spokesperson Carolina Toha said that the government had consulted regarding the council, but would consult again regarding the ministry. She said that the latter was included in the bill in an effort to have a more "comprehensive reform" (Financial Diario Financiero, 10/7). SIMONS