Cablegate: Santiago Oct. 14 Media Report

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SUBJECT: Santiago Oct. 14 Media Report

Lead Story

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1. Under Secretary of Interior Patricio Rosende said the
government will invoke the Anti-Terrorist Law to prosecute those
responsible for burning two trucks, attacking a toll booth, and
firiQt private vehicles in the community of Victoria, in
southern Chile, over the weekend. The individuals spray painted
the toll with the slogan, "This is Mapuche Territory." But Rosende
said those responsible are "common criminals who exhibited
terrorist behaviors." Yesterday early morning another truck was
attacked in the same area of the previous incidents
(Government-owned, La Nacion, 10/14).

U.S.-Related News

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2. The Washington Post reports that President Obama authorized
sending 13,000 troops to Afghanistan in addition to the 21,000
announced in March. The information, based on Pentagon sources,
could not have come at a worse time for the PrQent, who is
facing strong criticism for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. This
is especially true in the Middle East where the perception is that
he has not done anything to end the conflicts in Afghanistan and
Iraq (Conservative, afternoon La Segunda, 10/14).

3. The U.S. Department of State announced the opening of the
bidding process to participate in the annual lottery to assign
50,000 permanent residence visas (Regional dailies El Observador,
10/8, and El Mercurio de Antofagasta, 10/9).

4. U.S. inventor Stanford Ovshinsky was in Chile last week for
a conference on solar energy in Antofagasta. Chile has a natural
resource "that is much more valuable than oil, which is solar
energy," he said (El Mercurio, 10/14).

5. Editorial: "President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize
this week... in a reflection of the expectations he has
generated... in his brief period of time in the White House.... He
will now have a chance to fulfill those expectations, when United
Nations debates once again the encomic, commerical, and financial
embargo on Cuba.... The embargo not only hurts Cuba and its people,
it also affects companies of countries that are friends of the
United States and that do business with Cuba.... The 50-year
blockade has not made the Cuban regime open up politically even an
inch .... It is an outdated situation and the Nobel Peace Prize has
now an opportunity to make a historical change" (La Nacion, 10/14).

Local Politics

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6. President Bachelet signed into law the bill on corporate
government. This is not just a requirement that Chile had to
fulfill to enter the OECD; It is also related to the use of
privileged information, an issue that has been in the political
debate because of a fine applied to presidential candidate
Sebastian Pinera. Bachelet was clear, "There are no exceptions.
The use privileged information is unacceptable." She said the new
bill fills a legal void with regard to regulations on the sale and
purchase of company shares by company board members (La Segunda,
10/13).
SIMONS

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