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Viewing cable 08BOGOTA260, SCENESETTER FOR THE JANUARY 24-25 VISIT OF

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08BOGOTA260 2008-01-22 13:54 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Bogota
VZCZCXRO7811
OO RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHGR RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG
RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHBO #0260/01 0221354
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221354Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1037
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BOGOTA 000260 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER SNAR ETRD PHUM VZ CO
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR THE JANUARY 24-25 VISIT OF 
SECRETARY RICE AND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO COLOMBIA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (U) Your visit is well timed.  Colombia is in the midst of 
a dramatic transformation, one in which U.S. assistance is 
playing a powerful role.  The Colombia of 2008 is safer, 
economically stronger, better governed and more democratic 
than it has been in decades. Murder rates have declined over 
40 percent since 2002, and kidnapping rates have plummeted 76 
percent.  Murders of union members fell 70 percent during the 
same period, and civil society and political parties enjoy 
much greater political space.  Increased security has led to 
an economic boom that has reduced poverty by 20 percent since 
2002.  More than 40,000 combatants, mostly paramilitaries, 
have laid down their arms and most are participating in GOC 
reintegration programs. 
 
2.  (SBU) Colombia remains a work in progress.  Consolidating 
recent gains and making further advances on human rights, 
security, and poverty reduction--while also managing 
increasingly tense relations with Venezuelan President Hugo 
Chavez--represent the greatest challenges for the remaining 2 
1/2 years of the Uribe Administration.  Our continued 
commitment to Colombia--through Plan Colombia support and 
approval of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Act 
(CTPA)--will help lock in Colombia's democratic security 
gains, promote regional stability, and contribute to a 
Colombia that provides security and opportunity to all its 
citizens.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
CTPA Solidifies Advances: 
Investment, Poverty, and Security 
--------------------------------- 
 
3. (U) President Uribe's democratic security policy and free 
market economic reforms have spurred the economy.  GDP growth 
approached seven percent in 2007 after averaging more than 
five percent annually since 2003.  Colombia's trade volume 
grew more than 65 percent in the same period.  The United 
States remains Colombia's largest trade partner 
(approximately 40 percent of exports and 26 percent of 
imports), though Colombia's trade with Venezuela has soared 
in the last two years, and Colombia could shift to greater 
agricultural imports from Canada and the European Union, when 
free trade negotiations with them conclude in 2008.  Most of 
Colombia's exports already receive duty-free access to the 
U.S. under the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA), which 
expires February 29, 2008, while U.S. exports to Colombia 
face an average tariff of almost 20 percent.  Investors from 
around the world boosting investment in Colombia in 
anticipation of the CTPA.  In 2007, Foreign Direct Investment 
(FDI) exceeded $7.5 billion, 350 percent greater than FDI in 
2002. 
 
4. (SBU) The Colombian Congress ratified the CTPA in 2007 by 
a substantial margin, and it is the Colombian government's 
highest economic priority.  Delays in U.S. approval or 
rejection of the accord would be a severe political and 
economic blow to Uribe and his policy of strengthened ties 
with the United States -- especially given recent tensions 
with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela is 
Colombia's second largest trading partner, and Chavez has 
already begun commercial retaliation over Uribe's decision to 
end Chavez' formal facilitator role in a humanitarian 
exchange with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC).  Venezuela has restricted automobile imports from 
Colombia and deployed troops to the border to stop unofficial 
cross border trade in food stuffs. 
 
5. (U) Analysts expect the agreement with the United States 
would add between one and two percent annual GDP growth to 
the local economy.  This increased growth is key to 
generating the formal sector employment necessary for Uribe 
to meet his goal of cutting the poverty rate from 45 percent 
to 35 percent by 2010.  Trade-based formal sector growth will 
also provide the GOC with additional fiscal resources to 
shoulder a larger portion of its security costs as USG Plan 
Colombia support falls. 
 
------------------- 
Democratic Security 
------------------- 
 
6. (U) The establishment of greater Colombian government 
 
BOGOTA 00000260  002 OF 004 
 
 
territorial control and the paramilitary demobilization have 
created the space for civil society and political parties to 
operate more openly than ever before.  The Government 
maintains a police presence in all 1099 municipalities for 
the first time in history.  Increased security of roads and 
highways have allowed for greater freedom of movement for 
people and commerce.  Murders fell from over 29,000 in 2002 
to less than 17,000 in 2007, and kidnapping fells from over 
2800 a year to less than 600 during the same period. Local 
elections in October reflected the improved security with 
over 86,000 candidates participating.  The leftist Polo 
Democratico Party (PDA) won 1.2 million more votes than in 
2003, and its candidate won the key Bogota mayoral race. 
 
-------------- 
Labor Violence 
-------------- 
 
7. (U) Labor violence and impunity remain major concerns, but 
the government has made greater progress than some give it 
credit for.  Since 2002, labor unions report that murders of 
unionists for political reasons or common crime fell more 
than 75%.  A resident International Labor Organization (ILO) 
representative arrived in Colombia in January 2007 to help 
implement the tripartite agreement committing the GOC to 
provide $4 million to finance the ILO Special Technical 
Cooperation program and to provide $1.5 million a year to the 
Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) to prosecute cases of 
violence against trade unionists.  The additional funding 
enabled the Fiscalia to create a special sub-unit with nearly 
100 prosecutors and investigators to investigate 187 priority 
cases.  Since 2001, the Fiscalia has resolved 56 cases of 
labor violence, leading to 118 convictions.  For 2008, the 
Fiscalia has received an additional $40 million in GOC funds 
that has allowed it to add 1,072 new positions, including 175 
prosecutors and 200 investigators. 
 
8. (U) In addition to gains stemming from its democratic 
security policy, the GOC has taken specific steps to protect 
labor leaders and other vulnerable individuals.  In 2007, the 
Ministry of Interior and Justice's $34 million Protection 
Program helped protect more than 6,900 human rights 
activists, journalists, politicians, and other threatened 
individuals, including 1720 trade unionists.  The murder rate 
for unionists is now lower than that for the general 
population. 
 
-------------------- 
Human Rights Record 
-------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) The Uribe Administration continues to make progress 
on human rights cases involving military abuse or 
collaboration with paramilitaries.  All members of the 
military and police receive mandatory human rights training. 
In October 2006, Defense Minister Santos named the first 
civilian -- and the first woman -- as director of the 
Military Criminal Justice System.  Santos has strongly backed 
initiatives to deter extrajudicial killings, changing 
promotion criteria to favor demobilization or capture of 
illegal fighters and ordering military personnel to 
facilitate civilian investigations of all combat deaths. 
Human rights groups allege that security forces committed 955 
extrajudicial killings over the last five years. 
 
10.  (U) The Fiscalia has made advances in prosecuting 
military personnel alleged to have committed human rights 
abuses.  In August, a court convicted three military 
personnel for the murder of three unionists in Arauca in 
2004. In November, the Fiscalia ordered the detention of Army 
Captain Guillermo Gordillo for his participation in the 
massacre of eight civilians near San Jose de Apartado in 
February 2005.  The Fiscalia has set up a special 
prosecutorial team to investigate cases of alleged 
extrajudicial killings. 
 
--------------- 
U.S. Assistance 
--------------- 
 
11. (SBU) In January 2007 the Colombian government presented 
a Plan Colombia "consolidation strategy" pledging a Colombian 
investment of $78 billion through 2013.  The proposal 
emphasizes the importance of building social cohesion, 
assigning substantial resources to help strengthen local 
governance, protect human rights, and help displaced people, 
Afro-Colombians, and indigenous.  It also aims to reintegrate 
 
BOGOTA 00000260  003 OF 004 
 
 
more than 45,000 demobilized ex-fighters and deserters and to 
promote Colombia's licit exports.  The Colombian government 
seeks funding from the United States and European countries 
to complement its own resources. 
 
12.  (SBU) Under Plan Colombia, the USG has provided more 
than $5 billion in assistance, including $800 million in 
economic and social assistance. USG security assistance 
combats drug trafficking and terrorism through training, 
equipment, and technical assistance.  It supports Colombian 
military aviation, essential for all programs - civilian or 
military - outside Colombia's major cities.  U.S. social and 
economic aid focuses on alternative development, displaced 
and other vulnerable communities, human rights and democratic 
institutions, and reintegration of demobilized fighters. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Drug Eradication and Interdiction 
---------------------------------- 
 
13. (SBU) Eradication of coca and poppy crops and 
interdiction of cocaine and heroin reached near-record levels 
in 2007.  President Uribe supports greater manual 
eradication, but understands that manual eradication cannot 
replace aerial eradication without a sharp increase in 
spending.  He seeks a complementary approach using both 
methods.  In 2007, the National Police and military forces 
seized almost 150 metric tons of cocaine and coca base, and 
destroyed 200 cocaine laboratories.  We continue to work with 
the Colombian government to refine our eradication strategy 
and determine how best to transfer key tasks from the USG to 
the Colombian Government. 
 
----------- 
Extradition 
----------- 
 
14. (SBU) Since taking office, President Uribe has approved 
over 571 extraditions to the United States, including a 
record number of 164 in 2007.  Among those extradited in 2007 
were 11 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC) and three members of the United Self Defense Forces of 
Colombia (AUC). 
 
--------------------------------- 
Demobilization and Peace Process 
--------------------------------- 
 
15. (SBU) Over 32,000 former paramilitaries have demobilized 
since 2002, and a further 14,000 have deserted from other 
illegal armed groups (about one-half from the FARC).  The OAS 
estimates there are 30 emerging criminal groups with a 
combined membership of over 3000 persons.  Reintegration 
programs and targeted law enforcement are working to counter 
these groups.  Under the Justice and Peace Law (JPL) process, 
over 50 former paramilitary leaders have been jailed, and 
many are confessing their participation in violent crimes. 
To date, the JPL process has revealed the location of the 
graves of almost 1200 paramilitary victims and provided 
information on 3600 crimes.  Almost 90,000 victims have 
registered under the JPL, and the GOC is working on measures 
to accelerate the payment of reparations. The Supreme Court 
and the Fiscalia--with GOC support--continue to investigate 
politicians with alleged paramilitary ties. Fifty-two 
Congressmen, 19 mayors and 11 governors have been implicated 
in the scandal. 
 
16. (SBU) The National Liberation Army (ELN) has negotiated 
with the Colombian government for over two years on a 
ceasefire agreement, but ELN infighting and FARC pressure 
have prevented a deal.  The ELN kidnap civilians to fund its 
operations, but its military capability is declining.  The 
FARC has rebuffed GOC initiatives to engage in any meaningful 
peace talks, and killed eleven state legislators held hostage 
in July 2007.  The GOC authorized Venezuelan President Chavez 
to facilitate peace talks between the Colombian government 
and the FARC and ELN in late August 2007, but subsequently 
suspended his role after Chavez intervened in Colombia's 
internal politics.  The GOC issued a communiqu on January 16 
urging Chavez to "stop his aggression towards Colombia" after 
Chavez proposed that the international community grant the 
FARC "belligerent status" and remove the group from worldwide 
terrorism lists.  Chavez subsequently announced the 
militarization of Venezuela's 2200 kilometer border with 
Colombia. 
 
------------- 
 
BOGOTA 00000260  004 OF 004 
 
 
U.S. Hostages 
------------- 
 
17. (SBU) The three U.S. contractors captured by the FARC in 
February 2003 are the longest held U.S. hostages in the 
world.  A November 2007 video seized by the GOC from a FARC 
urban cell showed proof-of-life of the three Americans. 
Their safe release remains a top priority.  President Uribe 
has assured us that any humanitarian exchange will include 
the U.S. hostages.  On January 10, the Colombian Government 
authorized the International Committee of the Red Cross -- 
working with Venezuela -- to recover FARC-held hostages Clara 
Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo. 
Brownfield