VZCZCXYZ0023
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #1075/01 3451513
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101513Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4058
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 3662
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2202
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 1173
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0567
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1869
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 5842
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 4126
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 2010
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV ECON PREL SNAR EFIN CI
SUBJECT:  CHILE MEDIA REPORT - DECEMBER 7-10 
 
Lead Stories 
------------ 
¶1.  Chilean newspapers highlighted likely cabinet changes that will 
take place today.  Dailies also highlighted the victory of the U.S. 
team in the Under 20 Women's Soccer World Cup.  Headlines continue 
to give coverage to the impasse between Chile and Peru and Foreign 
Minister Alejandro Foxley's role in this conflict. 
 
U.S.-Related Stories 
-------------------- 
¶2.  Interview with Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Southern Command 
Commander, entitled, "Venezuela is not a Threat for the United 
States."  Asked why the image of the United States has deteriorated 
in the region, Stavridis said, "I disagree with that premise.  In my 
trips to the region I have found excellent military relation, not 
just with Chile, but also with Nicaragua, Bolivia, Argentina, and 
other countries."  Asked about Venezuelan-Russian exercises in the 
Caribbean, and what he believes are the main threats to the region, 
the officer said, "We have a dialogue with Venezuelan officers. 
Southcom has looked for a chance to conduct exercise with 
Venezuela's military and I consider these relations as professional 
and cordial (...)  The Russian Fleet has a global project; these 
exercises with Venezuela concern only those countries.  I don't see 
Venezuela as a military threat.  Russian presence is not a problem. 
The main threat is poverty... because other problems stem from it , 
such as crime and narcotics trafficking.  We would like to see a 
joint effort to minimize that scourge."  On the closure of the Manta 
base in Ecuador, the Admiral said, "We will simply have to 
re-accommodate our forces in other countries, such as El Salvador 
(La Tercera, conservative, independent, 12/6). 
 
¶3.  All dailies covered the U.S. team's victory in the Women's Under 
20 soccer World Cup:  "U.S. swept with all the awards in the Under 
20 Women's Soccer World Cup" -- "No competition for the Gringas" (El 
Mercurio, 12/8); "U.S. clearly showed that it is of the First World 
-- The Americans defeated North Korea 2-1" (La Cuarta, 12/8); "The 
Americans were Best at Everything."  Not only did they take the cup 
with them, they also swept with all the individual awards.  Those 
who spent time with them said they displayed friendliness and good 
manners on and off the field (La Tercera, 12/8); U.S. Women's Soccer 
Team Visits La Moneda Presidential Palace.  Minister Spokesman 
Francisco Vidal greeted them (La Tercera, 12/9); "U.S. Team conquers 
all -- Gringuitas win the cup and everyone's hearts (La Tercera, 
12/8). 
 
¶4.  Chilean Ambassador to the U.N. Heraldo Muoz talks about 
reactions in the international organization to Obama's future 
cabinet members.  On Susan Rice:  "The reaction is positive, 
because... she will have a cabinet position, which is the same rank 
this office had in the Clinton administration with Madeleine 
Albright, with direct access to the President."  On Hillary Clinton: 
 "She is remembered for her negotiating skills" (La Segunda, 
conservative, afternoon, circ. 33,000, 12/ 5). 
 
¶5.  Beginning in January 2009, an array of Chilean frozen and canned 
vegetables will begin entering the U.S. market with zero tariffs. 
This is the result of recent talks between the two countries to move 
forward the 12-year gradual tariff elimination program set in the 
bilateral FTA that came into effect in January 2004.  Carlos Furche, 
head of the Foreign Ministry's International Economic Relations 
Department, Direcon, said the talks show that it is possible to 
expand the FTA ahead of time when both parties benefit (El Mercurio, 
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 12/8). 
 
 
¶6.  UDI Congressman Rodrigo Alvarez will become the first opposition 
congressman to chair the Chamber of Deputies in 50 years and the 
first "Harvard Boy" to hold that office.  Alvarez holds a Masters 
degree from the Harvard School of Law (El Mercurio, 12/7). 
 
¶7.  The 52-story Titanium Tower will be finished in mid- 2009.  It 
will be the highest building in the country, at least for a few 
months.  Just two blocks from it is the Costanera Center, which is 
still under construction and is also programmed to be finished 
around the same time.  The Costanera will be ten stories higher than 
the Titanium. (Note:  the Titanium is right across the street from 
the Embassy, El Mercurio, 12/7). 
 
¶8.  48% of CEOs polled by Miller & Chavalier in Latin America and 
the United States said that corruption is a "significant obstacle" 
to doing business in Bolivia and Venezuela.  The United States, 
Chile, and Costa Rica were ranked as the most transparent countries 
in which to do business (La Tercera, 12/10). 
 
Chile-Peru 
----------- 
 
¶9.  Chilean congressmen are outraged at Peruvian Foreign Minister 
Jos Garcia Belaunde, who said Chile should eliminate the law that 
allocates 10% of copper revenues to the armed forces.  Garcia said 
this would "contribute to peace in the region." 
"This is an intervention in Chile's internal affairs," said 
Congressman Jorge Tarud (PPD), echoing the feeling of many others. 
The GOC also rejected the remarks.  Minister Spokesman Francisco 
Vidal labeled Garcia's comments as "unacceptable intromission in 
Chile's internal affairs."  Vidal urged both countries to put the 
incident behind them and to look to the future (El Mercurio, 
12/8-12/9). 
 
¶10.  The GOC has closed the impasse with Peru caused by General 
Edwin Donayre's inflammatory remarks.  However, it stands by its 
position that Peru should have immediately retired the General for 
his remarks (El Mercurio, 12/6). 
 
¶11.  Peruvian President Alan Garcia criticized Chilean Foreign 
Minister Alejandro Foxley for "demanding" the immediate retirement 
of General Donayre for his inflammatory remarks about Chile.  "Just 
as General Donayre's words were unfortunate... so were the remarks 
by a foreign minister (Foxley) saying, 'I order you to do this or 
that'" said President Garcia (La Segunda, conservative, afternoon 
daily, 12/5). 
 
¶12.  Former Army Commander-in-Chief Juan Emilio Cheyre said on the 
diplomatic impasse:  "The half truths and slanted views of this 
incident have hidden the true problem, which is that Peru and Chile 
have been unable to develop a mature and fully integrated 
relationship" (La Segunda, 12/5). 
 
¶13.  Peru is accusing Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley of 
escalating the conflict over General Donayre to strengthen his 
position in the cabinet.  President Bachelet phoned Foxley on 
November 27 alarmed by the reports of General Donayre's remarks that 
any Chilean who entered Peru would leave "in a box," or "in a 
plastic bag," but especially by the comment that Peruvian women 
should be used as human bombs against Chilean soldiers.  She then 
instructed Foxley to demand the General's immediate retirement. 
Foxley phoned his Peruvian counterpart Jose Garcia the following 
morning to relay the message, but did not forewarn that he would go 
to the press.  Garcia had no time to report to the President about 
his conversation with Foxley and accused the Chilean Minister of 
using the impasse to strengthen his position in the cabinet. 
Foreign Ministry officials dismissed this noting that Foxley was 
simply following Bachelet's instructions and that Congress and the 
International Relations Council have strongly supported Foxley. 
Foreign Ministry officials said bilateral relations between both 
countries have been damaged and that Lima will have to take the 
first step to repair them (La Tercera, 12/7). 
 
¶14.  Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley received the full support of 
the Defense and Foreign Relations committees in Congress with regard 
to his position on the impasse with Peru over General Edwin 
Donayre's inflammatory remarks against Chile.  In the meeting, 
Foxley said that Chile must not lose sight that Peru has a pending 
litigation against Chile in the International Court of Justice in 
The Hague over maritime borders, which could bring further tension 
to the bilateral relationship (El Mercurio, 12/10). 
 
Local Politics 
-------------- 
¶15.  The mayors who were elected in the October 26 election take 
office today (El Mercurio, 2/6). 
 
¶16.  A study conducted by the Ministries of Interior and Justice 
reveals that 60% of crimes committed in Chile end up with no charges 
and that only 1.2% of those cases end up with a sentence.  Under 
Secretary of Interior Felipe Harboe said this shows the need to 
strengthen investigative skills in the police (La Tercera, 12/7). 
¶17.  President Bachelet has only until today at midnight to make a 
cabinet change, because that is the legal deadline for those who 
wish to run for Congress to leave office.  Possible changes are 
Under Secretaries Felipe Harboe (Interior), Arturo Barrios 
(Culture), and Augusto Prado (Government); Labor Minister Osvaldo 
Andrade and possibly Government Spokesman Vidal.  Foreign Minister 
Alejandro Foxley will stay (All dailies, 12/10). 
 
¶18.  The U.N. Economic Commission for Latin American and the 
Caribbean, ECLAC, released yesterday its annual report on social 
indicators.  The report shows that Chile has fulfilled 100% of the 
Millennium Goals with regard to lowering poverty.  On the topic of 
youth and violence, Chile has one of the lowest rates of youth 
deaths by homicide in the region (15 for every 100,000), compared to 
countries such as Brazil, where the rate is 176 per 100,000.  The 
implementation of programs such as the Explicit Health Guarantees 
Program, AUGE, and provisional reforms would explain Chile's 
improvement (La Nacion, government-owned, editorially independent, 
circ, 4,200, 12/10). 
 
Public Opinion Polls 
-------------------- 
¶19.  La Tercera's poll -- conducted after Ricardo Lagos announced he 
would not be a presidential candidate -- shows that opposition 
candidate Sebastian Piera leads the presidential race in both a 
first round and a runoff election, regardless of the challenging 
candidate.  To the question, "If the presidential election were this 
Sunday, who would you vote for?":  Piera received 47% support from 
those polled, Jose Miguel Insulza 29%, and Alejandro Navarro 
(leftist bloc) 7%.  In a race against Frei, Piera scored 46%, 
Eduardo Frei 26%, and Navarro 8% (La Tercera, 12/7). 
 
¶20.  Universidad del Desarrollo conducted its own survey.  "In a 
first round, who would you vote for?":  Piera received 45%, Frei 
30%, Adolfo Zaldivar 3%.  Using the same question, but with Insulza 
as a candidate, the poll showed:  Piera received 46%, 24% Insulza, 
6% Adolfo Zaldivar (La Segunda, 12/5). 
 
Education 
--------- 
¶21.  The Senate passed the General Education Law with 29 votes in 
favor and 7 against.  The bill "doesn't address the main issue, 
which is that education has turned into a business," said PS Senator 
Carlos Ominami. PPD Guido Girardi and PS Jaime Gazmuri criticized 
the absence of specific proposals in the bill to strengthen public 
education (El Mercurio, 12/10). 
 
Media 
----- 
¶22.  In just a few months daily El Pinguino de Punta Arenas has won 
65% of the market in the Magallanes Region.  It sells 7,400 
newspapers a day and 10,000 on the weekend, surpassing the 
circulation of La Prensa Austral, which has been in circulation for 
70 years in a city of 130,000 inhabitants.  Mauricio Vidal is the 
young journalist behind the initiative (Estrategia, business and 
financial, circ. 30,000, 12/10). 
 
Terrorism 
---------- 
¶23.  Editorial entitled, "The War on Terrorism": "When the Basque 
ETA murdered a renowned  entrepreneur a week ago... it looked as if 
Spanish and French joint intelligence had been setback....  (But) 
The never-ending and strong fight against terrorist activities 
deployed by Spain and France is a model that many countries, 
including ours, should follow.  The ETA's methods... are similar to 
those used by the FARC in Colombia and indigenous radical groups in 
southern Chile, whose ties to the ETA have been repeatedly 
denounced" (El Mercurio, 12/10). 
 
URBAN