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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000999 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV OPRC PREL PGOV SNAR CI
SUBJECT:  CHILE MEDIA REPORT - NOVEMBER 12 
 
Front Page News 
--------------- 
 
¶1.  Front page headlines focused on pension system loses (more than 
$25 billion) because of the international financial crisis; the 
strike of public employees who are demanding higher wages; and the 
ongoing scandal about individuals that tested positive for HIV but 
who had not been notified by the respective public hospitals. 
 
U.S.-Related News 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  Interview with Congressman Dan Burton entitled, "Barack Obama 
will make changes in the policy on Cuba": 
 
"Dan Burton has been one of the most influential and strongest 
anti-Castro members of the U.S. Congress.  He and Senator Jesse 
Helms sponsored the famous Helms-Burton Law that tightened the 
embargo on Cuba.  Burton was in Santiago this week with a 
congressional delegation and in this interview admits that it is 
possible that the Obama administration will end up lifting economic 
sanctions on Cuba (La Tercera, conservative, independent (circ. 
101,000). 
 
¶3.  Minnesota FED Director Arthur Rolnick is calm with how markets 
are behaving and confident that the Obama administration has capable 
economic advisors to deal with the crisis (El Mercurio, 
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record (circ. 129,000). 
 
¶4.  Pedro Roffe, International Center for Trade and Sustainable 
Development principal IPR advisor, said that Chile has made 
significant progress on its IPR laws compared to other countries 
with similar levels of development.  Chile "has modernized its 
framework and the latest legislative reforms are a reflection of 
this," he said.  In this context, he said it is "unfair" for the 
United States to maintain Chile on its Priority Watch List.  Roffe 
said that one element that concerns the United States and European 
countries alike, and which in his view is the most serious one, is 
the problem of how to protect data in clinical tests.  He also 
believes the government should do more to balance the rights of the 
pharmaceutical laboratories that have patents (innovators) and 
producers of generic products (Diario Financiero, business and 
financial (circ. 30,000). 
 
Editorials:  Barrack Obama 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Eugenio Tironi column entitled, "America is Back": 
"Obama represents a deep change in the correlation of 
forces in U.S. society.  Simply put, his victory marks 
the end of the 30-year 'Reagan era'....  Obama has 
proposed that common good is above individual interest 
and that this good cannot be achieved through 
selfishness and greed, but through compassion and 
solidarity....  He has said that the 'true root of the 
United States' lies in its ability and will to change. 
There is no doubt that with Obama the United is shinning 
again" (El Mercurio). 
 
¶6.  Attorney Alberto Etchegaray wrote:  "My grandmother, French 
descendent...was not too happy with my decision to attend a U.S. 
university....  But I'm sure that with this new United States under 
Obama's leadership she would have forgiven me for not studying in 
Europe" (Diario Financiero). 
 
¶7.  Column by Cristina Bitar:  "That someone whose roots are 
completely different from those of influencial groups can become the 
President of the most powerful country in the world makes me feel 
that society and the world is fair and just.... I don't know if 
Obama will be a better or worse president... but I do know that he 
is among those who can best represent the American Dream that I have 
always admired.  On Tuesday night...I was happy and full of hope.  I 
even cried from excitement, because I feel that I am living in a 
better world, one in which politics can become a service for others" 
(La Segunda, 11/10, conservative, afternoon daily, circ. 33,000). 
 
Environment 
----------- 
 
¶8.  A study conducted by a group of international scientists 
confirms that pollution from Santiago and other large cities in 
Chile's central valley is transported to the Southeast Pacific, 
where the atmosphere is already showing high concentration of gases 
and chemicals (El Mercurio). 
 
Narcotics 
--------- 
 
¶9.  The Carabineros police OS-9 dismantled a criminal organization 
that used legal shooting range facilities to sell weapons to 
narcotics trafficking organizations.  The organization hired 
individuals with no criminal record who would declare to the police 
that their weapons had been stolen.  The serial numbers were then 
erased and the weapons entered the black market (All dailies). 
 
SIMONS