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RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000916 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL SNAR EFIN CI
SUBJECT: Santiago Sept. 25 Media Report 
 
Lead Stories 
 
--------------- 
 
¶1.       On Wednesday's presidential debate, Eduardo Frei cited a 
Transparency International (TI) report released the day before 
which mentions a fine levied by Chile's Securities and Stocks 
Regulator against Pinera for the use of privileged information to 
buy LanChile shares in 2006.  Yesterday, TI's local Chapter, "Chile 
Transparent," issued a statement saying that it had not seen or 
approved the text of the report before its release. Pinera's 
campaign team is severely questioning TI's release of the report 
right before the presidential debate and the fact that one of its 
drafters also works for the Ministry of Finance (Conservative 
independent, La Tercera, 9/25). 
 
 
 
¶2.      In the framework of this controversy, Transparency 
International spokesperson in New York, Gipsy Guillen, explained 
that the different chapters in each country are responsible for 
drafting the report on their country and on deciding what cases to 
include. Guillen said that TI had selected September 23 as the date 
to release its latest report time ago so that it would coincide 
with the U.N. General Assembly. The president of Chile's 
Transparency Chapter, Karen Poniachic, however, claims that the 
entity's board did not see the text of the report until it was 
released. Other board members are questioning the report based on 
the fact that one of its drafters is also an advisor to a 
government ministry (El Mercurio, 9/25). 
 
 
 
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Americas Competitiveness Forum 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
------------------------ 
 
¶3.      Four-page supplement sponsored by the American Chilean 
Chamber of Commerce, AmCham, highlighting the excellent economic 
relations between Chile and the United States: "The Benefits of the 
Commercial Exchange with Chile," by Secretary Locke; "Reflections 
on a Dynamic  Bilateral Relation," by U.S. Ambassador Paul Simons, 
and "Social Corporate Responsibility: Transfer of U.S. Company 
Experience" (Financial daily Diario Financiero, 9/25). 
 
 
 
¶4.       President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva confirmed he will not 
attend the ACF (La Tercera, 9/25). 
 
 
 
Indigenous Mapuche Conflict 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.      In the United Nations Human Rights Council, Chile denied 
abusing the application of the antiterrorist law in cases affecting 
members of the indigenous Mapuche community. Ambassador Carlos 
Portales told the council that from 1999 to 2009, this special law 
has been applied to 16 cases, and only two have involved Mapuches 
(Conservative, afternoon, La Segunda, 9/24). 
SIMONS