Cablegate: Chile Media Report - November 12

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TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV OPRC PREL PGOV SNAR CI
SUBJECT: CHILE MEDIA REPORT - NOVEMBER 12

Front Page News
---------------

1. Front page headlines focused on pension system loses (more than
$25 billion) because of the international financial crisis; the
strike of public employees who are demanding higher wages; and the
ongoing scandal about individuals that tested positive for HIV but
who had not been notified by the respective public hospitals.

U.S.-Related News
-----------------

2. Interview with Congressman Dan Burton entitled, "Barack Obama
will make changes in the policy on Cuba":

"Dan Burton has been one of the most influential and strongest
anti-Castro members of the U.S. Congress. He and Senator Jesse
Helms sponsored the famous Helms-Burton Law that tightened the
embargo on Cuba. Burton was in Santiago this week with a
congressional delegation and in this interview admits that it is
possible that the Obama administration will end up lifting economic
sanctions on Cuba (La Tercera, conservative, independent (circ.
101,000).

3. Minnesota FED Director Arthur Rolnick is calm with how markets
are behaving and confident that the Obama administration has capable
economic advisors to deal with the crisis (El Mercurio,
conservative, influential newspaper-of-record (circ. 129,000).

4. Pedro Roffe, International Center for Trade and Sustainable
Development principal IPR advisor, said that Chile has made
significant progress on its IPR laws compared to other countries
with similar levels of development. Chile "has modernized its
framework and the latest legislative reforms are a reflection of
this," he said. In this context, he said it is "unfair" for the
United States to maintain Chile on its Priority Watch List. Roffe
said that one element that concerns the United States and European
countries alike, and which in his view is the most serious one, is
the problem of how to protect data in clinical tests. He also
believes the government should do more to balance the rights of the
pharmaceutical laboratories that have patents (innovators) and
producers of generic products (Diario Financiero, business and
financial (circ. 30,000).

Editorials: Barrack Obama
--------------------------

5. Eugenio Tironi column entitled, "America is Back":
"Obama represents a deep change in the correlation of
forces in U.S. society. Simply put, his victory marks
the end of the 30-year 'Reagan era'.... Obama has
proposed that common good is above individual interest
and that this good cannot be achieved through
selfishness and greed, but through compassion and
solidarity.... He has said that the 'true root of the
United States' lies in its ability and will to change.
There is no doubt that with Obama the United is shinning
again" (El Mercurio).

6. Attorney Alberto Etchegaray wrote: "My grandmother, French
descendent...was not too happy with my decision to attend a U.S.
university.... But I'm sure that with this new United States under
Obama's leadership she would have forgiven me for not studying in
Europe" (Diario Financiero).

7. Column by Cristina Bitar: "That someone whose roots are
completely different from those of influencial groups can become the
President of the most powerful country in the world makes me feel
that society and the world is fair and just.... I don't know if
Obama will be a better or worse president... but I do know that he
is among those who can best represent the American Dream that I have
always admired. On Tuesday night...I was happy and full of hope. I
even cried from excitement, because I feel that I am living in a
better world, one in which politics can become a service for others"
(La Segunda, 11/10, conservative, afternoon daily, circ. 33,000).

Environment
-----------

8. A study conducted by a group of international scientists
confirms that pollution from Santiago and other large cities in
Chile's central valley is transported to the Southeast Pacific,
where the atmosphere is already showing high concentration of gases
and chemicals (El Mercurio).

Narcotics
---------

9. The Carabineros police OS-9 dismantled a criminal organization
that used legal shooting range facilities to sell weapons to
narcotics trafficking organizations. The organization hired
individuals with no criminal record who would declare to the police
that their weapons had been stolen. The serial numbers were then
erased and the weapons entered the black market (All dailies).

SIMONS

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