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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 - JANUARY 8-9 
 
Leading Stories 
-------------- 
¶1. Dailies highlighted the Central Bank's announcement of a historic 
interest rate reduction from 8.25% to 7.25%; the reprimand issued by 
the Senate Ethics Commission on PPD Senator Guido Girardi for his 
misconduct in a case involving a highway patrol officer; and the 
gathering of President Bush and President-Elect Obama with all the 
living former U.S. Presidents at the White House. 
 
U.S.-Related News 
----------------------- 
¶2. The FBI has identified the individual responsible for sending 
envelopes containing white powder to the U.S. Embassy in Santiago 
and 17 other U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide.  Sources at the 
Western Santiago Prosecutor's Office reported that U.S. authorities 
in charge of the investigation disclosed earlier this week that the 
person who sent the suspicious envelope was a man with an anarchist 
background who lives in California. The FBI is in the process of 
arresting him. Chile's Public Safety Institute (ISP) confirmed that 
the white powder in the envelope was found to be flour. The 
Prosecutor's Office decided to close the case and dismissed a 
request for the suspect's extradition. (La Tercera, conservative, 
independent, circ. 101,000, 1/9). 
 
¶3. Approximately one month ago, the U.S. State Department submitted 
an official invitation to all chiefs of diplomatic missions in 
Washington, stating that, in accordance with tradition, the United 
States would not invite foreign delegations or heads of state to the 
Presidential inauguration. Thus, the only Chileans officially 
invited are Chile's Ambassador to the U.S. Mariano Fernandez and OAS 
 
Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza. Unofficially, there is a 
select group of other Chileans who have reserved seats: the parents 
of Danny Sepulveda - a Chilean who advises Mr. Obama on immigration 
and international trade issues; his uncle, Gonzalo Arenas, 
Administrative Director General at the Foreign Ministry; and Claudio 
Grossman, Dean of the School of Law at American University, who has 
close ties with the Democratic Party (Que Pasa, conservative, 
influential weekly, 1/9). 
 
¶4. President-Elect Barack Obama placed a phone call to OAS Secretary 
General Jose Miguel Insulza last Tuesday, 24 hours after the latter 
officially withdrew from the race for the presidency of Chile. OAS 
sources confirmed the conversation but declined to provide further 
details (La Tercera, 1/9).  Although members of Insulza's inner 
circle would not disclose the contents of his conversation, sources 
in the diplomatic arena commented that they spoke about Insulza's 
remaining at the OAS and discussed the upcoming Summit of the 
Americas. (El Mercurio, conservative, influential 
newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 1/9).  OAS sources characterized 
President-Elect Obama's phone call to Insulza as a gesture of 
"courtesy."  It is presumed that during their conversation they both 
addressed the rather tense relationship the U.S. and OAS have had 
during the past eight years of the Bush Administration (La Nacion, 
government-owned, editorially independent, circ. 4,200, 1/9). 
 
¶5. Local newspapers throughout Chile carried stories reporting on 
the ten Chilean students selected to participate in the 2009 "Youth 
Ambassadors" program of the U.S. State Department. Articles were 
published by El Mercurio's online daily Emol.com (1/6);  El Sur de 
Concepcion (1/8); El Mercurio de Antofagasta (1/7); La Tribuna de 
Los Angeles (1/7); El Diario de Concepcisn (1/8). 
 
Local 
------ 
¶6.  As a result of the Senate's approval to introduce a 
constitutional reform to the Chilean electoral system that would 
allow all qualified citizens to register automatically and then vote 
voluntarily, the Executive Branch is preparing a strategy to make 
this become effective before the upcoming December general 
elections. As a first step, next week the Bachelet Administration 
will submit new legislation to the Senate determining the mechanism 
that would govern the automatic registration of 3,800,000 citizens. 
The Government plans to introduce slight modifications to a 2004 
draft bill that was rejected by the Lower House last August. In any 
case, the Chamber of Deputies must approve the Senate's decision 
this month. The Executive Branch believes that the initiative will 
pass (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 1/8). 
Cuba 
------- 
¶7. It is likely that President Michelle Bachelet will meet with 
Fidel Castro during her visit to Havana, February 11-13. Sources at 
the Executive Branch noted that the meeting depends on Castro's 
health condition. The official program - to be released today by La 
Moneda-- includes a business seminar aimed at opening new trade 
exchange opportunities, and does not feature a meeting with 
dissidents. (El Mercurio, 1/9). 
 
¶8.  Christian Democrat (DC) legislators clashed with Socialist and 
PPD counterparts during a session held yesterday in Congress to 
discuss a proposal for an agreement to criticize human rights 
violations in Cuba.  The text calls on the Cuban regime to release 
political prisoners and to initiate a democratic transition towards 
free elections. After an extensive debate, the DC initiative - 
supported by the opposition- was approved by a vote of 57 to 17, 
with four abstentions.  The discussion took place within the 
framework of President Michelle Bachelet's upcoming trip to Havana. 
 Two Cuban dissidents sent a letter to President Bachelet expressing 
their availability to meet with her during the February visit. 
Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley responded to the DC's criticisms 
of the President's refusal to meet with Cuban dissidents: "State 
ministers do not take partisan positions, for we belong in the 
government. I am part of the Coalition's government that is headed 
by the President," Foxley noted (El Mercurio, 1/8). 
 
Editorials 
---------- 
¶9.  Column on the gathering of President George W. Bush and 
President-Elect Barack Obama with all the living former U.S. 
Presidents at the White House, entitled "Tubby's Club" "The value of 
the meeting ... is symbolic rather than tangible. The Oval Office 
photo attests to a laudable civic culture and respect for tradition 
and experience that transcends partisanship" (La Tercera, 1/8) 
 
¶10.  Column by international pundit Raul Sohr, "The CIA's New 
Director" "Obama has chosen a man he trusts, who does not come from 
the intelligence community. Panetta's job will be difficult. Before 
the White House and his fellow citizens, he has to restore the 
institution's capacity to detect and warn of the dangers posed 
against the country... His words open hopefulness that the 
obscurantism which has taken over the United States since 2001 will 
begin to dissipate. If the CIA's new orientation becomes a fact, it 
is (a matter) of special importance to the Third World. Not 
unrealistically, the CIA's agents have been called 'the State 
Department's troops' - in other words, the people in charge of 
fulfilling the determinations of U.S. foreign policy." 
 
SIMONS