Secretary Clinton Set to Visit Chile Tuesday

By Sara Just
@sarajust
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ABC's Kirit Radia reports: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Chile on Tuesday, part of a five country swing through Latin America that was planned well before Saturday's massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake. The tremor occurred about 321 km from the capital of Santiago, but was strong enough to knock out power and sway tall buildings there. The city's airport closed as a result. So far, the State Department has not announced any changes to Clinton's travel plans. She had been expected to meet with the country's outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and its President-elect Sebastian Pinera. A State Department official, on the condition of anonymity, tells ABC News says at least three of the US embassy's 118 personnel have not be accounted for, which may be due to difficult communications today.  A State Department spokeswoman, Megan Mattson, said the US has been in touch with the Chilean government and has offered any assistance, though no requests have yet been made. Mattson said the State Department has not received any reports of American citizens killed or injured as a result of the quake. She said there are approximately 1,000 American citizens in the most affected area, about half of which are dual nationals. After another devastating earthquake struck Haiti earlier this year, Clinton paid a special visit to the hard-hit capital of Port au Prince just days later. She was on the ground for only a few hours and held all her meetings with top officials at the airport because, she said, she did not want her visit to distract precious resources from the rescue effort. Clinton's visit to Chile on Tuesday is part of a whirlwind trip that will take her to Uruguay on Monday, Brazil on Wednesday, Costa Rica on Thursday, and Guatemala on Friday before returning to Washington that evening.