Santiago February 14-16 Media Report

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000212 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 February 14-16 Media Report Lead Story ¶1. President-elect Sebastian Pi????era announced his decision to support Jose Miguel Insulza's reelection to the OAS (All dailies 2/13). OAS ¶2. President-elect Pinera met with OAS Secretary General Insulza last week in Santiago to inform him that he would endorse his reelection. Reportedly, Pi????era also talked about the need to improve the OAS Democratic Charter to make the defense of human rights and democracy more efficient. Pi????era publicly announced his decision to support Insulza's reelection immediately after the meeting (El Mercurio; conservative, independent La Tercera, 2/13). ¶3. OAS Secretary General Insulza met with Peruvian President Alan Garcia and his foreign Minister Garcia Belaunde in Ecuador. The conversation was about the upcoming OAS General Assembly and at no time focused on Insulza's reelection, which the GOC has interpreted as a sign that Peru will not endorse Insulza's candidacy. High-ranking Peruvian officials said that the endorsement is directly tied to Chile's decision to freeze political talks with Lima in response to the claim filed with The Hague (El Mercurio, 2/15). ¶4. Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde said his country has not yet decided whether to endorse Insulza's reelection to the OAS. This was no surprise for Chile's foreign ministry, because Peru has never voted for a Chilean candidate (La Tercera, 2/15). ¶5. Paraguay's Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Lara noted the "good relations" that his country has had with Insulza and that his country had voted for Insulza in 2005. Lara, however, did not confirm that Paraguay would endorse Insulza's candidacy this time (El Mercurio, 2/16). ¶6. In an "Open Letter" to Chile's incoming foreign minister, Alvaro Vargas Llosa wrote: "It was politically impossible for President Pi????era not to support Insulza. But it is crucial that he demand some reforms ... once Insulza is reelected. The OAS has lost prestige in the United State and Latin America... in party due to the organization's structure, divisions in Latin America, and Insulza himself. Something must change and Chile's incoming administration, which understands this very well, must be the one to take the first step" (La Tercera, 2/14). 
 Chile-U.S. ¶7. Editorial entitled, "Intellectual Property: Chile on the Red List": "For a third consecutive year, the USG included Chile on the list of the ten countries that do not respect or lack respect for intellectual property rights.... The U.S. has a tough position on this matter, because the sector that creates intellectual property has become a source of its wealth.... We can therefore, understand why it so strongly defends these rights in terms of duration and on the need to apply them more widely.... The expansion of IPR in the United States seems excessive. This would explain why countries that strongly respect other forms of property, such as Chile and Canada, are not enthusiastic about its application. It is necessary to protect these rights, but the costs that this entails in the sense of promoting a kind of 'monopoly of ideas' and the cost of protecting society from it must be taken into account. Chile should publicly articulate a position on IPR, taking into account the costs and benefits, and negotiating an effective application of these rights. This will probably mean disagreeing with the United States, but for Washington the ambiguity Chile has today on this matter ... is perhaps more annoying than what we do today, which is accept its criteria, but don't apply it (Conservative, influential El Mercurio, 2/15). ¶8. Article notes that Assistant Secretary Arturo Valenzuela tweets in four languages: Mostly English, but also in Portuguese when referring to Brazil, Spanish, and French when talking about Haiti (El Mercurio, 2/14). ¶9. U.S. scientific Melville, of the SCRIPPS research center, will arrive in Valparaiso on February 17. The ship will travel far south to research ocean life form along the Nazca, Antarctic, and South American Continental plates, where high levels of methane gas are released (El Mercurio, 2/13). ¶10. Wal-Mart announced the implementation of the "Must Arrive by Date" system (MABD) to ensure the arrival of products to its distributions centers nationwide within a timetable. Companies that fail in complying with the schedule will be fined. The president of Chile's fruit exporter's federation, Rodrigo Echeverria, said the system cannot be applied to fruit, because crops depend on nature. Repeated fines will simply divert the product to other markets, he said (Financial daily Diario Financiero, 2/16). Haiti ¶11. Brazil has proposed President Bachelet to work in coordination with President Bill Clinton on the delivery of international aid to Haiti. Bachelet has not yet responded to the proposal. She will travel to Haiti on February 20, just before attending the Rio Group summit in Cancun (El Mercurio, 2/16). Pi????era Administration ¶12. Future Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said that state copper company Codelco will continue to be stated owned during the Pi????era administration, but would have a more professional corporate government (La Tercera, 2/13). ¶13. In the TV program. "Oppenheimer Presents," President-elect Pi????era said that his government would give more emphasis to the defense of freedom in the region, especially in countries such as Cuba and Venezuela. "Cuba is not a democracy and does not respect human rights," said Pi????era, adding that he hopes to do everything possible for the OAS to defend democracy and human rights more efficiently. He did not dismiss visiting Cuba officially, stating that in that case he would also meet with dissidents. Asked about the closing of RCTV in Venezuela, Pi????era said that he has an opinion on this matter, but would not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries in the region. He said his foreign policy would focus on strengthening ties with Chile's neighbors: Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina (El Mercurio, 2/16). ¶14. Pi????era met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim in Santiago last week. They talked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Lula da Silva in the upcoming Rio Summit in Cancun, before Pi????era is sworn-in. Pi????era's future Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno underscored the significance that this was the first foreign government official to meet with Pi????era (La Tercera, 2/13) ¶15. After meeting with Pi????era, Brazilian Foreign Minister Amorim said it was important for Chile to continue to play a role as "moderator" in the Union of South American Nations, Unasur. He then said that, "The idea of an alliance continues," continues to be a goal between the two countries (El Mercurio, 2/13). Iran ¶16. Weekly round-up column: "Iran is facing two fronts.... On the external front there is the conflict with Washington and with a large part of the West over its nuclear problem .... The talks with the West are at a standstill and the commercial sanctions imposed by the Obama administration have clearly not worked. Some analysts say that Ahmadinejad sees in all this a chance to ... provoke a more radical response in the international community .... This is a risky strategy, because western circles are more in favor today of the military option .... Ahmadinejad is leaving the West no choice; diplomatic channels remain open, but by not giving favorable signals Teheran could be pushing for an unfavorable outcome and discover that it is lonelier than what it believes (El Mercurio, 2/15). SIMONS