Cablegate: Santiago Media Report

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SUBJECT: Santiago Media Report

Lead Story

1. President-elect Pi????era will announce his future
undersecretaries on Friday at 11 a.m. in the Fine Arts Museum. He
also confirmed that he would include individuals close to or from
the Concertacion (Conservative, influential newspaper-of-record El
Mercurio, 2/18).

IPR

2. Chile's Association of Industrial Pharmaceutical
Laboratories (Asilfa) has stated that local laboratories comply
fully with existing patent laws. Claudio Alvarez, president of
Chile's Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industries (CIF), which
encompasses 18 U.S. and European labs, immediately rebutted the
statement. "Since the IPR law came into effect in 1991, 73
patented products have been copied with more than 3 copies per
product on the average," said Alvarez, adding that not just the
patents are being copied, but also the manufacturing process and
procedures, which are also patented. Alvarez said that several
cases are already in court, but these usually take up to eight
years to be resolved. He said the Chamber realizes that the Chile's
government has made an effort to improve matters, but concluded,
"The only way to stop this is for Chile to comply fully with the
commitments acquired when it signed the free trade agreements with
the United States and the European Union" (El Mercurio, 2/18).

Chile-U.S.

3. "Chile and the United States: 200 Years," is the title of a
book released by the Chilean Embassy in Washington, D.C .yesterday.
The book is a collection of "forgotten chapters" and photographs of
memorable moments of the bilateral relationship over 200 years,
said Chilean Ambassador Jos???? Go????i. It is also intended to show
Chile's cultural patrimony in the United States, he added. The
book is the result of research by embassy staff in the U.S. Library
of Congress, the National Archive, and the National Library in
Chile (El Mercurio, 2/18).

4. David Rockefeller, Jr., traveled to the Region of Ays????n in
the Chilean Patagonia, to meet with an NGO that is promoting the
creation of a protected marine and coastal area in Ays????n
(Financial
daily Diario Financiero, 2/8).

Terrorism

5. An organization that calls itself "Marzo Anarchista"
(Anarchist March) published an invitation on the Internet for
anyone interested in attending a series of workshops and
conferences throughout March. The initiative is intended to promote
"libertarian" principles and the creation of a "social and
political movement for the destruction of the domination and
exploitation of society and the creation of a new world based on
liberty and equity." Registration fee is under 2 dollars. Some of
the courses are ecoanarchism, Marx and anarchism, anarchist
organizations and political action. The workshops are an
opportunity to "share experiences and expertise to find the best
means to organize and face the enormous task of carrying forth the
Social Revolution," says the invitation (Conservative, afternoon La
Segunda, 2/17).

Pi????era Administration

6. Asked about the development of nuclear energy, future

energy minister Ricardo Raineri said Pi????era's agenda does not
include the construction of a nuclear plant, but the belief is that
"we must keep all options open." Raineri said the future
government is highly interested in the development of
hydroelectricity, noting that this is the major resource available
in the country (Financial daily Estrategia, 2/18).

Chile-U.S.

7. The Chilean American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) will
launch in March a series of workshops on new technologies and
technology transfer for the food industry. The goal is to assist
local food producers enter the U.S. market (Financial daily Diario
Financiero, 2/18).

OAS

8. "Insulza's problem is that he arrived to his office when
the continent was politically and ideologically divided.... He was
dazzled by radical rhetoric and accepted the worst kind of
autocrats into the group of revolutionaries.... Insulza was unable
to make a difference ... between modern leftists and loud-mouthed
authoritarians... and abandoned democratic dissidents in
governments ruled by the most radical and authoritarian sectors....
He... focused on representing presidents and ignored the victims of
divisions .... In his hands the Inter-American Democratic Charter
did not exist. He strongly condemned the coup against Zelaya, but
never admitted that the former president had incurred in
constitutional and legal violations... disqualifying the OAS as an
instrument for a peaceful solution.... That was when Washington
came in with a viable solution, with the subsequent cost for Latin
America for not being able to articulate a solution. Almost all
governments... would want someone different in the OAS. But it is
almost impossible for them to reach a consensus.... The paradox is
that if Insulza is reelected by default, his hands would be free to
support the democratic struggle (Colum by Venezuelan political
analyst Carlos Blanco, La Tercera, 2/18).
SIMONS

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