Chile Information Project -- "Santiago Times" -- Political, Environment, Human Rights, Economic News
February 11, 1997
February 11, 1997
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HEADLINE: INDIGENOUS ALPHABET APPROVED
Chilean Aymara To Share Language With Peruvians And Bolivians
KEYWORDS: CULTURAL
SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
TEXT: The indigenous community of Arica in Chile's Region I last
week approved the first written alphabet for Aymara Indians in
Chile, announced the head of the National Indigenous Association
(Conadi) in Arica, Eduardo Perez.
In addition to ratifying the Aymara culture, the decision will
also allow the indigenous community to begin addressing educational
problems associated with language.
Linguists and community leaders from Arica, Iquique and
Parinacota approved the alphabet at a meeting held in Pozo Almonte,
a few miles south of Iquique. The participants supported the
proposal by academic specialists to adopt the unified Aymara
alphabet which has been in use in Bolivia and Peru since 1983. In
addition, they created the Chilean Academy of the Aymara Language.
From 1963 to the unification of the language in 1983, the
Aymara made 18 attempts to establish a grammar. However,
dissimilar phonologies frustrated efforts to create the indigenous
writing system, and alphabetical wars fed by intransigent groups
emerged.
Last week's decision put an end to a conflict within Chile over
which Aymara dialect to adopt in the region. The indigenous
community of Parinacota is influenced by the La Paz, Bolivia, dialect,
while the community within Iquique is influenced by Oruro, Peru. A
third option, the creation of a separate Chilean Aymara language, was
rejected on the basis that the differences with Peru and Bolivia are
insignificant.
The approval of the language paves the way for the start of a
pilot primary education program in Visviri, on the Peruvian and
Bolivian border, to serve the General Lagos community. This will be
part of a government effort to promote intercultural bilingual
education, which will also cover three Mapuche villages in Region IX.
The program in Region I, under the direction of Tarapaca
University, seeks to revert serious educational problems which
border-dwelling children face as a result of the idiomatic mix they
are exposed to, says Victoria Espinoza of the Chilean Language
Academy. Indigenous children cannot understand the Spanish
spoken by their professors because they have only heard the
Aymaran Spanish of their parents. As a result, they often spend five
months in class practically without speaking.
The language consists of three vowels and 27 consonants. The
Aymaran language has eight more consonants than the number used
phonetically in Spanish, but also lacks five Spanish letters.
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HEADLINE: CURRENT EVENTS BRIEFS
KEYWORDS: POLITICS; ECONOMY; INTERNATIONAL; ENVIRONMENT
SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
SOURCE: LA EPOCA
TEXT: Today's headline stories:
-- ROTAPLAST PROGRAM UNDERWAY. The Region V Doctors'
Union filed suit in Region V courts Monday charging that the 28
North American doctors sent by Rotary International to provide free
corrective surgery for some 100 low-income children with cleft lips
and palates are practicing medicine in Chile illegally. The crime is
punishable by 541 days to three years in prison.
The doctors for the Rotaplast program began surgery Monday
at Gustavo Fricke Hospital in Vina del Mar, with the full support of
the Ministry of Health and the parents of the beneficiaries.
Union President Rene Montano blamed the Health Ministry for
the situation, but nonetheless questioned the doctors' credentials and
intentions: "They don't come here to teach us, but rather to practice
and learn on Chilean children, on sudacas, as they call us, disguised
as charity."
The government assures that the doctors are experienced
professionals (their average age is 45) from universities such as
Harvard, Boston, Yale and Chicago. Health Minister Alex Figueroa
said that in the future the government would take into account the
feelings of local physicians, who it must have insulted by not inviting
them to participate.
Dan Martinez, local Rotary Club representative, said the
Rotary's team of attorneys and the U.S. Embassy would study the
doctors' legal defense.
-- RIGHT REJECTS POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF FPMR.
Concertacion parties reacted favorably while the right reacted
negatively Monday to Acting Interior Minister Belisario Velasco's
comments that the government is open to the political inclusion of
the leftist Frente Patriotico Manuel Rodriguez (FPMR), published
recently in Argentinean newspaper Tiempos del Mundo.
Acting PDC President Jorge Pizarro said that encouraging the
FPMR to leave violent protest behind and incorporating its members
into democratic life would be an effective way to dismantle the
group as a terrorist agency. Jorge Insunza of the Communist Party,
however, said political inclusion would correct a great injustice by
recognizing those who fought against the military regime.
Independent Democratic Union (UDI) Dep. Ivan Moreira, by
contrast, said, "I cannot allow the murderers of Jaime (Guzman), for
some wrong and invented reinsertion of the Frente Manuel
Rodriguez, to go unpunished once again." He said Chile's situation
cannot be compared to that of certain "tropical countries" which have
found it necessary to compromise with extremists.
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HEADLINE: MINING NEWS ROUND UP
KEYWORDS: MINING
SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
SOURCE: EL DIARIO
TEXT: Today's mining news, as it appears in the national media:
-- SONAMI DISCOUNTS MARKET SATURATION. Patricio
Cespedes, the acting president of the National Mining Society
(Sonami), discounted Monday the possibility of a copper glut on
world markets because of sharp increases in Chilean copper
production. Cespedes predicted a three percent annual growth in
world demand between 1997 and the year 2000, and a 3.5 percent
annual growth on through the year 2005.
Cespedes based his optimistic projections on the growth of fiber
optics systems, the increased use of copper in automobile motors and
parts and the increased growth of electrical systems infrastructure in
the developing world. He also noted that many major mines will be
playing out over the next decade. Cepedes' analysis is contrary to a
recent study carried out by Chilean economist Orlando Caputo, who
predicts a copper glut in the global market.
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HEADLINE: BUSINESS BRIEFS
KEYWORDS: ECONOMY; INTERNATIONAL; NAFTA
SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
SOURCE: EL DIARIO
TEXT: Today's top business stories:
-- PRICES OF KEY COMMODITIES PLUMMETED IN 1996.
Three of Chile's principal export products, copper, fishmeal, and
wood pulp, experienced steep price declines in 1996, thus
accounting for much of the nation's US$1.2 billion foreign trade
deficit during the year, according to analysts. The most
important fluctuation for Chile in 1996 in terms of its impact on
balance of trade was that of copper, which was on average 22
percent lower than in 1995. Wood pulp and fishmeal prices, for
their part, fell on average 44.5 percent and 22 percent
respectively from 1995.
On the import side, petroleum prices aggravated the
balance of trade situation, increasing 20.2 percent on average,
relative to 1995. Chile relies on imports for over 90 percent of
its petroleum needs.
-- PENSION FUNDS EARN 1% IN JANUARY. Pension funds
(AFPs) averaged 1.4 percent average nominal profits and one
percent real profit (inflation adjusted) for the month of January,
according to a report by the Superintendency of Pension Funds
issued on Monday. Much of the gains were attributed to a rise in
stock values, the report said.
Electricity sector stocks made returns of 0.5 percent for the
month, followed by natural resources and services (including
telecommunications), with 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent returns,
respectively.
Nominal and real annual pension fund returns average
31.1 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively, since 1981.
AFP Superintendency President Julio Bustamante said as of
January's end pension funds had accumulated assets of US$28.9
billion, up 3.3 percent from US$27.9 billion as of December 31,
1996.
-- LOWER INFLATION PREDICTED FOR FEBRUARY. The
Santiago Chamber of Commerce has projected inflation for
February to be between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, according to
their weekly commercial report.
The report said that the dollar has "depreciated favorably"
from 425 pesos to 417.50 pesos as of the end of last week. The
dollar's decline has mainly been due to an increased offering of
external credit and a low domestic demand for dollars.
-- AGRICULTURAL TRADE BALANCE FELL IN 1996. The
balance of trade for agricultural, forestry, and livestock products
registered a positive balance of US$2.9 billion in 1996, down
14.2 percent from the US$3.4 billion registered in 1995,
according to a report by the Office for Agrarian Policies and
Studies (ODEPA).
Exports were US$4.2 billion in 1996, down 6.8 percent
from the US$4.5 billion exported in 1995, the report said. Sector
imports were US$1.2 billion, up 18 percent from the US$1 billion
imported in 1995.
Farming, forestry and livestock accounted for 60.2 percent,
37 percent and 2.8 percent of exports in the sector, respectively,
according to the report.
Agriculture exports totaled US$1.6 billion in 1996, up 17
percent from the US$1.3 billion figure registered in 1995, while
forestry exports totaled US$293 million, down 25.8 percent from
the 1995 figure of US$395 million.
-- STUDY DISCARDS SALMON DUMPING ACCUSATION.
Fisheries in the state of Maine, the U.S.'s principal salmon
production zone, received a study that effectively disproved the
notion that Chilean fisheries have been "dumping" salmon into
the U.S. market, according to Rodrigo Infante, general manager of
the Salmon and Trout Producers Association in Chile.
The Maine producers had been threatening to seek to
impose tariffs on Chilean imports since last August, but, as a
result of the study, have now decided to abandon the cause,
Infante said.
Favorable climatic conditions allow Chilean fish producers,
which exported US$177 million of salmon to the U.S. in 1996, to
attain a cost structure that is lower by 24 to 30 percent, Infante
said. The producers can thereby profit from a wholesale price
that fluctuated between US$2.20 to US$2.30 per pound of salmon
in 1996, according to Infante.
-- ARIZTIA MAKES IT OFFICIAL. Ricardo Ariztia today
officially announces his candidacy for the presidency of the National
Agriculture Society (SNA), Chile's most important agriculture lobby.
No other candidate will be vying for the position, which makes
Ariztia a sure bet to replace outgoing SNA president Ernesto Correa
in late March.
Ariztia has had a high profile the past two years as head of
Fedefruta, the fruit growers association, defending fresh fruit
growers' interests against those of export firms. The exporters have
given export volumes their highest priority, while growers have been
most concerned with the price their fruit receives in foreign markets
and have questioned the transparency of contracts and accounting
processes related to Chile's fresh fruit deal.
Chile's agricultural sector will need strong leadership in the
coming years. Chile's recent insertion into Mercosur and projected
entry into NAFTA will stress traditional agriculture interests like
wheat farmers and cattlemen, unaccustomed to competing in world
markets.
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-- BASIC ECONOMIC INDICATORS :
Dollar's value: Informal, 418.10 pesos; Accord, 458.99;
Interbank, 417.90
Today's Unidad de Fomento, UF: $13,353.77
Copper Price: off 3.2% to US$1.097
Stock Exchange: IGPA, off 0.04% to 5,317.02; IPSA, off
0.16% to 115.70
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