This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

id: 15607
date: 4/1/2004 22:59
refid: 04BOGOTA3393
origin: Embassy Bogota
classification: SECRET//NOFORN
destination: 
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.



----------------- header ends ----------------

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 003393 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2014 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER PINR PINS PROP SNAR MOPS ASEC CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN ARMY ATTACK ON POLICE UNIT SPARKS 
CONTROVERSY 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d) 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) The deaths on March 19 of eleven people -- seven anti- 
kidnapping police and four civilians -- at the hands of the 
Colombian Army (COLAR) in Narino department has sparked 
controversy.  The Colombian National Police (CNP) and Army have 
presented contradictory accounts of the 
incident, and President Uribe has asked the Ministry of Defense 
(MOD) to present him with a consensus account by April 2.  Over 
the past week, the press has focused on inconsistencies in the 
COLAR and CNP accounts of the incident, as well as on 
disagreements between the two security services.  To provide 
closure, at the very least the MOD's report would have to 
clarify whether: 1) the CNP were clearly identifiable as police; 
2) they were authorized to operate in the area; 3) the COLAR was 
operating on credible intelligence and acted responsibly; and 4) 
the COLAR appropriately handled the investigation immediately 
following the incident and did not attempt a cover-up.  Such a 
short-fuse report may not adequately address these and other 
questions, but the answers must eventually be found if the COLAR 
and CNP are to work together effectively.  End Summary. 
 
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The "Incident" 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On the night of March 19, in what is being variously 
described as an ambush, an execution, or a friendly fire 
accident, the Colombian Army (COLAR) killed eleven people in a 
police convoy in the municipality of Guaitarilla, Narino 
department.  The victims, who included four civilians and seven 
members of a Colombian National Police's (CNP) Anti-Kidnapping 
Group (GAULAs), were traveling along a rural highway in an area 
with a heavy presence of illegal armed groups when they were 
fired on by about forty COLAR forces from the Third Division's 
Boyaca 
Battalion.  All eleven passengers were killed; COLAR forces 
suffered no casualties. 
 
¶3.  (C/NF) The incident has sparked controversy and confusion 
both publicly and within the Ministry of Defense (MOD). 
Initially, the COLAR and the CNP publicly offered markedly 
different accounts of the incident, and the President (who was 
in Washington, DC at the time) prohibited both institutions from 
commenting further in public.  Compounding difficulties the GOC 
faces in investigating an incident that occurred in largely 
hostile territory, no local eyewitnesses to the event have been 
identified.  Although the Prosecutor General's Office 
("Fiscalia") is conducting an investigation, President Uribe has 
demanded that the MOD submit its own internal report on the 
incident by April 2, in which the COLAR and CNP reach consensus 
on what occurred.  Uribe clearly hopes the report will put an 
end to public speculation. 
 
-------------------- 
Conflicting Accounts 
-------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) The COLAR claims its actions were based on 
intelligence about ongoing narcotics trafficking activities in 
the area.  According to the COLAR, its forces attacked vehicles 
carrying individuals in camouflage uniforms armed with 
revolvers.  Armed Forces Commander General Carlos 
Alberto Ospina and Army Commander General Martin Orlando Carreno 
have commented that the GAULA members' presence late at night on 
a rural road is suspicious, and Carreno has taken no 
administrative action against the COLAR members involved in the 
incident, pending an investigation. 
 
¶5.  (S/NF) The CNP, on the other hand, claims its troops were 
involved in an approved anti-extortion operation, and were 
accompanied by at least one civilian informant and two or more 
civilian detainees.  According to the CNP, its troops were on 
their way to Pasto, capital of Narino department, to process the 
detainees when they were attacked.  Money the COLAR found in the 
vehicles was being used by the informants as part of a sting 
operation.  Contrary to COLAR reporting, the CNP says its 
members were wearing standard issue police uniforms and carrying 
rifles.  The CNP also alleges that the COLAR cordoned off the 
area after the incident and, rather than immediately informing 
the CNP about the tragedy, publicly announced a successful 
operation against paramilitaries and only told the CNP about its 
officers' deaths the following day.  Upon learning of the 
incident, the CNP Deputy Director asked that the COLAR wait for 
the Prosecutor General's Office to 
arrive before tampering with the scene. According to CNP 
sources, the COLAR ignored this request and instead flew the 
bodies back to Pasto in helicopters, where they were delivered 
to the victims' families.  The source goes on to say that all of 
the victims' clothing and jewelry were missing, except for one 
GAULA hat left in a vehicle. 
 
--------------- 
Inconsistencies 
--------------- 
 
¶6.  (C/NF) In trying to piece together the incident, GOC 
investigators and the press have uncovered many inconsistent, 
suspicious, and/or confusing details. 
 
--  (U) The Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) says the 
bodies appear to have been tampered with.  In addition, ten 
bodies were found on the ground outside their vehicles and shot 
at point-blank range, suggesting they were not killed in an 
ambush, as the COLAR claims. 
 
--  (U) The CNP claims the GAULAs had authorization from CNP 
leadership in Bogota to travel through the area.  However, the 
military was apparently not notified.  Some observers find it 
suspicious that such a small number of police would be traveling 
on official business on a rural road in the middle of the night 
in an area with a large presence of illegal armed groups.  At 
the very least, it is clear that the CNP and COLAR did not 
adequately coordinate operations. 
 
--  (U) The GAULAs were not accompanied by a prosecutor and were 
operating outside a metropolitan area, both of which violate 
regulations for local GAULA units.  The CNP has explained away 
this concern by asserting that four of the officers were 
assigned to the national unit. 
 
--  (C/NF) Two alleged police survivors of the incident have 
come forward, contradicting the first military justice official 
to arrive on the scene, who claimed there were no survivors. 
According to the first of these, the GAULAs were in the area 
conducting an anti-drug trafficking operation.  If this were the 
case, it would explain COLAR 
reports that drugs were found in the vehicles, but 
simultaneously raises questions about why the GAULAs -- an anti- 
kidnapping and anti-extortion unit -- were conducting an anti- 
narcotics operation.  However, serious questions have been 
raised about this individual's credibility, and 
some reports now claim he is actually a police informant who 
came forward two days after the incident with a bullet wound 
that doctors determined was received just hours earlier. 
 
--  (U) According to press reports, a second alleged survivor, 
who is reportedly entering the Prosecutor General's witness 
protection program, claims the 11 persons were murdered after 
exiting their vehicles and conversing with COLAR forces.  This 
witness claims he exited one of the vehicles and hid in the 
underbrush when he noticed a suspicious roadblock ahead.  From 
there, he made two cell phone calls to his brother, one of the 
civilian informants in the groups, who said the GAULAs were 
arguing with the soldiers about turning over their weapons. 
Shortly thereafter, he heard shots and could no longer 
communicate 
with his brother.  The credibility of this witness has yet to be 
determined. 
 
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Comment 
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¶7.  (C) It is important that the GOC resolve this incident as 
soon as possible in order to minimize the damage already caused 
to traditionally strained relations between the CNP and the 
COLAR.  The MOD's report to the President may adequately explain 
what happened on the night of March 19.  However, given the 
short timeframe for delivery of the report and the complicated 
nature of the incident, this is unlikely. 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================