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R 041842Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0721
INFO RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
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RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000150 
 
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 Feb 4 Media Report 
 
Lead Story 
 
¶1.      President-elect Pi????era and Bachelet discussed the report 
that Chile will submit to the international court of The Hague to 
counter Peru's claim to change bilateral maritime borders (All 
dailies, 2/4). 
 
 
 
Chile-U.S. 
 
¶2.   Ambassador Paul Simons commented on Chile's invitation to join 
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD: 
"Having a seat at the table and the opportunity to share best 
practices with other countries will benefit Chile" (America Chilean 
Chamber of Commerce, AmCham, magazine Business Chile, January 
edition). 
 
 
 
¶3.   Photo coverage and article of the AmCham breakfast for the 
Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, and his visit to Chile 
(Business Chile). 
 
 
 
Chile-Peru 
 
¶4.   The report that Chile will submit to The Hague to counter 
Peru's claim to change maritime states that bilateral borders were 
defined by the 1952 Border Zone Declaration and 1954 Special Border 
agreements. Both treaties, says Chile's report, are in force today. 
Chile has exerted sovereignty over the territory that Peru is now 
claiming as its own since the time of the treaties.  In its border 
claim, Peru does not directly address land borders, but does refer 
to a land marker which sets the maritime border south of the 
current one.  With regard to this point, Chile hints in its report 
that if Peru has land border issues, the matter should be resolved 
by the United States in accordance to the 1929 Lima Treaty 
(Conservative, independent La Tercera, 2/4). 
 
Note: The 1929 Lima Treaty establishes borders between the Chile 
and Peru and was drafted based on U.S. proposals, which 
participated in the solution of the conflict at the request of the 
two parties.  One of treaty's articles says that that "any 
disagreement" will be resolved by the President of the United 
States "whose decision cannot be appealed." 
 
Local Politics 
 
¶5.      Minister Secretary General to the Presidency Jose Antonio 
Viera Gallo called on the opposition alliance to pass the law on 
blind trusts before the swearing-in of President-elect Pi????era (La 
Tercera, 2/4). 
 
 
 
Haiti 
 
¶6.      U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the organization's 
special envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, to head the reconstruction 
effort in Haiti. U.N. spokesperson Martin Nesirky said Clinton is 
"highly involved in Haiti and can mobilize political and business 
leaders worldwide" (Government-owned La Nacion, 2/4). 
 
 
 
¶7.      The distribution of humanitarian aid in Haiti is 
threatening to deepen the crisis in that country. Yesterday, 
demonstrators accused the mayor of Port-au-Prince of selling the 
aid and of receiving bribes (La Tercera, 2/4). 
 
 
 
Weapons to Latin America 
 
¶8.      The Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS) 
based in London reports that Latin America has become the most 
important market for Russian weapons.  Russian sales to the region 
totaled US$4 billion over the past years. One reason for this trend 
is the restriction imposed by the United States for sales to 
countries such as Venezuela (El Mercurio, 2/4). 
 
 
 
OAS 
 
¶9.      The OAS Permanent Council voted to hold the election of its 
secretary general on March 24. La Moneda believes that the 
proximity of the date will undermine Venezuela and Nicaragua's 
efforts to submit a candidate, amid rumors that Venezuela's 
Ambassador to the OAS, Roy Chaderton, is a possible candidate (El 
Mercurio, 2/4). 
 
 
 
Technology 
 
¶10.  Undersecretary of Telecommunications Pablo Bello said the 
latest Telecommunications Services Consumer Survey shows that 40.1 
percent of homes in Chile have Internet.  This is a 7% increase 
compared to six months ago and twice as many as in 2006.  Bello, 
however, underscored that there is still an unequal access to this 
service between urban and rural sectors and among the different 
social strata.  Figures also show that in 2008, 33% of homes had 
"paid," i.e., cable, television.  This figure also increased 7% 
this past semester because the service if offered together with 
Internet (Business daily Estrategia, 2/4). 
 
 
 
¶11.  Chile became the first Latin American country to test the Long 
Term Evolution, or 4G, technology.  The tests, conducted by Entel 
PCS and the University of Chile, were a success.  The new 
technology allows wireless transition at a much higher speed than 
what is used today. Local experts said that the testing of this 
technology is landmark, comparable to the arrival of Internet to 
Chile (Financial daily Diario Financiero, 2/4). 
 
 
 
China 
 
¶12.  Conservative, influential newspaper-of-record El Mercurio, 
2/4, ran editorial entitled, "The U.S. and China":  "Once again 
relations between Washington and Beijing are facing turbulence. 
The U.S. announcement that it would sell weapons to Taiwan... was 
an open challenge to Beijing's sovereignty, which has the 
non-negotiable policy that there is only one China... and that 
Taiwan is only a 'rebel province' .... China is no longer an 
aspiring world power:  It already is one and is demanding to be 
treated as such.... Beijing is not willing to make concessions on 
issues that concern its political and economic independence and 
with regard to the United States is more a competitor than an 
ally." 
URBAN