INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Santiago Oct. 27 Media Report

Published: Tue 27 Oct 2009 07:45 PM
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SUBJECT: Santiago Oct. 27 Media Report
Lead Story
1. After three months of negotiation, the Ministers of
the Environment and Finance signed an agreement with the heads of
the political alliances in Congress to speed up the project that
creates a ministry and regulatory agency for the environment.
Senator Pablo Longueira (USI) labeled the agreement "historical" in
that it will guarantee improved environmental policies based on
technical criteria (Conservative, influential El Mercurio, 10/27).
U.S.-Related News
2. Ximena Hartsock, reappointed by D.C. Mayor Adrian
Fenty parks and recreation acting director for the next six months:
"I'll work as a volunteer if it (the council) withholds my salary"
(Conservative, afternoon La Segunda, 10/26).
Environment
3. International Energy Agency officials presented in
Santiago last week the report, "Chile: Energy Review Policy 2009."
The document highlights Chile's unique potential for developing
renewable energy and encourages the government to continue
diversifying fuels and suppliers to increase energy safety,
complete long-term energy policies, and reorganize the energy
sector. With regard to the latter, the report underscores the
importance of creating an energy ministry and independent entities
to control distribution centers to guarantee impartial decisions.
It also emphasizes the need to convey private investors a clear
message by setting a framework that assures that long-term
investments are based on cost-benefit analysis (El Mercurio,
10/27).
Indigenous Affairs
4. Seventeen-year old Mapuche community member Leonardo
Esteban arrived to the hospital with a shotgun to his leg,
accompanied by his attorney and mother. The police were looking
for Leonardo for his presumed participation in burning two trucks
in the Region of Araucania on October 20 with a group of hooded
individuals and in the subsequent clashes with the police.
Leonardo claims he was injured during a rabbit hunt (El Mercurio,
10/27).
5. Undersecretary of Interior Patricio Rosende admitted
that the government is concerned over high-caliber ammunition found
during police raids in the Region of Araucania over the weekend
(El Mercurio, 10/27).
6. The Intendente (regional administrator) of the Bio
Bio Region, Jaime Toha, is mediating between forestry Miminco, the
National Indigenous Council, and indigenous communities that have
illegally occupied land in Tirua, in the heart of the Mapuche
conflict. The forestry company said it would only sell land if the
government acquires the commitment that it will be used for
productive activities and not just handed to Mapuche communities
with an unspecified purpose (El Mercurio, 10/27).
Uruguay
7. Editorial: "(Although) Mujica has a radical past,
boasts about his humble origins, and shows a more leftist
inclination, in his campaign he has tried to appear as more
moderate.... The moderation that Uruguay's political sector as a
whole has shown lately has clearly had an impact.... This would
also explain in part the results of the two plebiscites held on
Sunday in Uruguay.... Both results were a defeat for the far left
and confirm that Uruguay's political axis ... is still largely
anchored in the center" (El Mercurio, 10/27).
8. Editorial: "Beyond the final results in Uruguay's
election, developments in that country thus far give us an idea of
a trend in Latin American countries outside the Bolivarian
(Venezuelan) sphere.... They confirm the strength of the
democratic left with very popular leaders (Lula in Brazil, Bachelet
in Chile, Vazquez in Uruguay) and that the right is gaining
significant support, as is the case with Jose Serra in Brazil and
Sebastian Pinera in Chile, where both have good chances of winning
in their respective countries" (La Tercera, 10/27)
SIMONS
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