Weekly Report - 14 April 2011 (WR-11-15)

CHILE | Reaching out. President Sebastián Piñera is literally building bridges in an attempt to improve the perception of his right-of-centre government in Chile's remote southern regions. On a visit this week to Cochrane, in Region XI, Piñera promised public investment of US$760m during the four years of his term (2010-2014), complemented by private investment of US$2.18bn. He claimed this was the biggest investment in the region in one term in Chile's history. The main focus is on enhancing infrastructure and improving transport connections through new bridges and resurfaced roads; cutting the journey time from Puerto Montt, the gateway to the south in the Chilean Lake District, to Coyhaique, the capital of Region XI, from 36 to 17 hours; building new water supply and irrigation systems; and constructing a hospital in Puerto Aysén.
Before presenting his 'Plan Aysén', Piñera flew to the city of Los Angeles in Region VIII (Bí­o Bí­o) to attend a mass in honour of Juan Lobos, a deputy from the Unión Democrata Independiente (UDI) who died in a car accident.
Piñera has also had problems in Magallanes, the southernmost region in Chile, directly below Region XI, where there were serious protests in January over a proposed gas price increase. The government accepted the resignation this week of the intendant (governor) of Magallanes, Liliana Kusanovic, who resigned for “personal reasons". She insisted that the protests had had no bearing on her decision, but she tendered her resignation back in January. The UDI governor of Bí­o Bí­o, Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, resigned last week in the wake of two scandals.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 269 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial