VZCZCXYZ0021
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #2117 2841234
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111234Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0134
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2670
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3324
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1115
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ OCT LIMA 4739

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 002117 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC PREL KMDR KPAO PGOV VE BR PA PE CI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - VENEZUELA'S AGREEMENT TO ASSIST BOLIVIA 
BUILD MILITARY BASES NEAR ITS BORDER 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Revelations of an agreement between Venezuela and 
Bolivia to build military bases along Bolivia's frontier with 
Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Chile generated considerable public 
commentary in Santiago.  Chile's Senate Foreign Relations and 
Defense Committees summoned the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and 
Defense to review the pact.  President Bachelet's spokesman 
downplayed the Venezuelan-Bolivian agreement, stating that it is 
"similar to those Chile has with other countries...." 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  Conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" 
(circ. 129,000; 10/10) headline:  "Venezuelan Foreign Minister 
Nicolas Maduro: 'Everything is part of a U.S. Campaign.'"  Maduro 
said the controversy in Chile over the military agreement between 
Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales is the result of a U.S. campaign to 
"antagonize" Chile and Venezuela directed from sectors in the United 
States. 
 
¶3.  Government-owned, editorially independent "La Nacion" (circ. 
4,200): "One way or another (the controversy) is part of a campaign 
financed and directed from the U.S. by sectors that through 
intrigue...and manipulation want to antagonize our countries," said 
Maduro.  He called to "cease the anti-Venezuela campaign that we are 
sure is fed and encouraged by sectors that do not want our people 
and government to have good relations." 
 
¶4. Conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" 
(circ. 129,000; 10/9-10/10) reactions:  House Foreign Relations 
Committee chairman Jorge Tarud (PPD): "This kind of activity is a 
threat for regional stability....  The military intervention of a 
third country in Bolivia is evidently a concern." 
 
House Defense Committee Chairman Patricio Hales (PPD) said the 
military agreement between Chavez and Morales is "highly disturbing 
and contrary to cooperation agreements that exist among countries in 
the region." 
 
Former Undersecretary of Aviation Nelson Haddad said the agreement 
is a "threat to the region's stability," creates "unnecessary 
suspicion" between Bolivia and Chile and "constitutes a new form of 
intervention in the internal affair of a Latin American country." 
 
Former Army Commander-in-Chief Juan Emilio Cheyre said the agreement 
was "unacceptable" and labeled it "rupturing interventionism." 
 
Government spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber, however, said the military 
agreement between Venezuela and Bolivia is similar to those Chile 
has with other countries, adding that Bolivia's border protection 
policy is "no secret."  He said countries sign agreements to develop 
military infrastructure and that the Chavez-Morales military 
agreement is normal, traditional cooperation. 
 
KELLY