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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000179 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR CI
SUBJECT: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR BACHELET'S MARCH 11 
INAUGURATION 
 
REF: SANTIAGO 00170 
 
¶1. The Chilean government has initiated preparations for the 
inauguration of President-elect Michelle Bachelet and the new 
Congress on March 11.  According to the Foreign Ministry's 
Protocol Office and press reports, the inauguration 
activities are likely to include: 
 
--March 10: President Lagos will receive/meet with foreign 
dignitaries at La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago.  He 
will then host a dinner at La Moneda. 
 
--March 11: Inauguration ceremony will begin at 12:00 noon 
local time (10:00 EST) in Valparaiso (the physical location 
of Congress; approximately one hour's drive from Santiago). 
A cultural event in Santiago will follow. 
 
¶2. President Lagos recently designated Javier Luis Egana, 
former ambassador to the Vatican and current director of the 
secretariat of communications and culture (SECOCU) at the 
 
SIPDIS 
Interior Ministry, to coordinate inauguration activities. 
According to press reports, Egana has extensive experience in 
this area, having run all three previous presidential 
inauguration ceremonies (Presidents Aylwin, Frei-Ruiz-Tagle 
and Lagos) since Chile's return to democracy.  On January 25, 
Egana told the press the GOC had sent out invitations to the 
heads of state of the 171 countries with which Chile has 
diplomatic relations, as well as several unspecified 
"important invitees." (Note: Bolivian President Evo Morales 
reportedly has accepted an invitation, personally extended by 
President Lagos during their January 22 meeting in La Paz.) 
 
Bachelet's First Appointment 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. Bachelet recently appointed Fernando Ayala, current 
Chilean ambassador to Vietnam and a career diplomat, as her 
future head of protocol at the Foreign Ministry.  According 
to press reports, Ayala is considered close to Chilean UN 
PermRep, Heraldo Munoz, one of the frontrunners mentioned as 
Bachelet's possible Foreign Minister (Ref. A). 
 
¶4. MFA/Protocol officer Rodrigo Donoso told EPOL assistant 
January 25 that the GOC would intensify planning for the 
inauguration early next week, after Ayala returns to 
Santiago.  In an apparent contradiction with Egana's press 
comments, Donoso said the GOC had not yet actually sent out 
official invitations. 
 
¶5. Post will remain in contact with GOC officials regarding 
the inauguration, and report developments as they become 
available. 
 
Fernando Ayala Bio Note 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. Fernando Ayala graduated from Chile's Diplomatic Academy 
in 1984.  He has served as Consul in Chicago and Stockholm, 
and Consul General in Milan.  In 2004, he became Chile's 
first ambassador to Vietnam.  In the late 1990s, Ayala became 
active in Party for Democracy (PPD) politics, where he built 
his relationship with Chilean UN PermRep Munoz.  In 
2000-2001, he worked as Munoz' chief of staff when the latter 
served as Deputy Foreign Minister.  He then followed Munoz to 
the Presidential Palace after Munoz was appointed by 
President Lagos as government spokesperson.  In 2003, Ayala 
moved to the Ministry of Education, where he worked as an 
international advisor to then Minister Sergio Bitar.  He has 
also served as Foreign Ministry Director General of 
Administration (1992-94), and Advisor to the Director General 
of International Economic Relations - DIRECON (1999-2001). 
During the Pinochet era, Ayala lived in exile in Croatia, 
where he earned an economics degree from the University of 
Zagreb.  He also holds a master's degree in political science 
from Catholic University in Chile. 
KELLY