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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV ECON PREL SNAR EFIN CI
SUBJECT:  CHILE MEDIA REPORT - JANUARY 24-26 
 
Leading Stories 
--------------- 
¶1.  Chilean dailies highlighted the cancelling or postponing of 
investment projects worth US$18 billion dollars, primarily in 
Chile's mining and real estate sectors, because of the economic 
crisis.  Front-page coverage continued about the Obama 
administration's first week in office. 
 
U.S.-Related News 
----------------- 
¶2.  Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley wrote Hillary Clinton a letter 
stating that both countries share common views about democracy, free 
and fair trade and the importance of promoting human rights, which 
"clearly defines the challenges that our countries must face 
together in the future."  He then expressed hope that both can 
"exchange ideas on these issues and on Latin America's situation and 
challenges" in the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and 
Tobago (La Tercera, conservative, independent, circ. 101,000, 
1/26). 
 
¶3.  In an interview, Foreign Minister Foxley outlined Chile's 
expectations regarding President Obama.  "We want to strengthen what 
we began in the last stage of the Bush administration by entering a 
mature relationship where Chile is not asking for help in the 
traditional sense nor the United States imposing its demands; a 
relationship in which we treat each other as equals and where we 
look for the best in them" said Foxley (La Segunda, conservative, 
afternoon, circ. 33,000, 1/23). 
 
¶4.  Interview with John Podesta, chief of Obama's transition team. 
"The new administration will make an effort to restore alliances 
with governments from which we had moved away," he said, adding that 
Obama's program is ambitious.  In the short-term he wants to deal 
with the recession, in the mid-term, he wants to restore the 
traditional role of the United States in the world, and in the 
long-term reengineer essential services such as health, education, 
and energy (La Tercera, 1/25). 
 
¶5.  Defense Minister Jos Goi will visit the Western Hemisphere 
Institute for Security and Cooperation (Whinsec) in March.  The 
institute was known as The School of the Americas, a military 
academy where former military regime agents trained in 
counterinsurgency.  Human rights organizations have asked the 
Chilean government to cease sending officers to train in the 
academy, but Minister Goi has assured that the academy is no longer 
what it was in the past (La Tercera, 1/26) 
 
¶6.  Regional daily El Rancaguino covered Ambassador Paul Simons' 
visit to the Rancagua in the VIth Region and his call on the daily's 
Director, the city's mayor and the regional Intendente.  In those 
meetings, said the daily, the Ambassador addressed the region's 
strong agricultural activity, highlighting the positive results of 
the bilateral FTA and opportunities to further commercial 
cooperation.  The Ambassador also expressed interest in promoting 
educational exchanges (El Rancaguino, 1/17). 
 
¶7.  An actor conducted an experiment.  He posed first as a foreign 
tourist and then as a Mapuche Indian in front of La Moneda and the 
U.S embassy and recorded on video the reactions of the police and 
guards.  In La Moneda he was able to walk for about 20 minutes as a 
tourist.  No policeman approached him.  But when he dressed as a 
Mapuche, he was immediately asked by a policeman about his motives 
and urged him to "move along."  The same happened at the U.S. 
Embassy, where a policeman approached him to ask him about his 
camera when he was dressed as a tourist.  When he arrived as a 
Mapuche, the Embassy's guard immediately told him he could not stay 
(Las Ultimas Noticias, leading-circulation, popular, circ. 140,000, 
1/26). 
 
¶8.  U.S.-Chile talks regarding the marketing order to determine the 
date when Chilean fruit can begin entering the United States 
concluded.  For the next five years, the marketing order will begin 
on April 10 and conclude on July 10.  This is positive in the sense 
that Chilean exporters now have a date for the next years and can 
plan accordingly (El Mercurio, conservative, influential 
newspaper-of-record, circ. 129,000, 1/26). 
 
¶9.  Wal-Mart CEO for Latin America, Craig Herkert, will visit Chile 
next week.  Wal-Mart just bought 58.29% of Chilean supermarket chain 
D&S.  Herkert will become Vice President of D&S starting next week 
(El Mercurio, La Tercera, 1/24). 
 
Cuba 
---- 
¶10.  Foreign Minister Foxley was asked about the reasons for 
President Bachelet's visit to Cuba in February. 
"Cuba is joining the international community.  In fact, it just 
joined the Rio Group... and several chiefs of state have visited the 
island this month showing that the Cold War is over.  We want to 
have some degree of closeness and exchanges with Cuba, because if it 
truly joins Latin America a series of issues will arise in which we 
want our voice to be heard.  Another element is commercial in 
nature....  Cuba needs to import large volumes of products that we 
produce....  We also want to show that foreign affairs in the 21st 
Century are not defined by ideology, but rather by shared 
interests....  Integration is a top priority of our foreign policy, 
accepting that there is an array of paths of development and even of 
political systems....  This is about looking for those areas in 
which we agree and about accepting differences (La Segunda, 
conservative, afternoon, circ. 33,000, 1/23). 
 
¶11.  In an interview, Foreign Minister Foxley was asked if 
Bachelet's trip to Cuba in February is intended as a sign to Obama 
regarding the need to integrate Havana into the international 
community.  "This is an issue that will come up in any conversation 
with Obama, but it is not the only one.  What we want is for the 
United States to have a more active and open participation in 
multilateral organizations so that decisions made do not exclude the 
international community, as occurred in some cases with the Bush 
administration," said Foxley (La Segunda, 1/23). 
 
Local politics 
-------------- 
¶12.  The Party for Democracy (PPD) proclaimed former President 
Eduardo Frei its presidential candidate in the 2009 election (La 
Tercera, 1/26). 
 
Editorials 
---------- 
¶13.  "The Summit of the Americas in April in Trinidad and Tobago 
will be the true test for Obama regarding his relationship with the 
hemisphere.  The President will have the chance to meet all the 
continent's leaders for the first time; all that is said before is 
an outline of what the White House is preparing to do in the near 
future (El Mercurio 1/26 weekly round-up column). 
 
¶14.  "Although some believe that the world is entering a post 
U.S.-era, it seems undeniable that the United States will continue 
to exert a global leadership -- at least in the mid-term -- that it 
will not be countered....  The expectations created by this new 
global U.S. leadership that President Obama intends to promote are 
enormous.... Obama's case is one of the most potent signals that the 
American Dream can still be a source of inspiration for people 
worldwide (La Tercera, 1/24). 
 
SIMONS