Michelle Bachelet, candidate for the governing center-left coalition in Chile and favored in the polls for the Dec. 11 presidential elections, expressed her opposition to the native forests bill, which has the preliminary approval of a Senate commission. In her response to a questionnaire by the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, Bachelet said the proejct, which would regulate management and conservation of Chile's autochthonous forests, “does not have the necessary political foundations, and won't be approved by the parliament during under the current government (of President Ricardo Lagos).”

Flavia Liberona, coordinator of the Native Forest Network, made up of 21 organizations, told Tierramérica that “it is not coherent that the current agricultural minister (Jaime Campos) issues an apology for the project and that its presidential candidate has a totally different view.”