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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #0867/01 3342003
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 302003Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1126
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 8473
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ NOV LIMA 4521
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5179
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3783
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1407

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 010867 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER 
LAND RIGHTS AND DEMOBILIZATION TO DRL PDAS FARRAR 
 
Classified By: Polcouns John Creamer.  Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (U) DRL PDAS Jonathan Farrar met human rights groups in 
Bogota and Barrancabermeja.  NGOs across the board raised 
concerns about the reforming of paramilitary groups. 
Indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups complained that land 
issues were at the heart of Colombia,s conflict and 
highlighted the disproportionate effects of the armed 
conflict on their communities.  Both groups also criticized 
USAID programs to encourage large scale agricultural 
development.  Human Rights NGOs voiced concerns over the 
constitutionality and implementation of the Justice and Peace 
Law, and said they would refuse to cooperate.  In 
Barrancabermeja, human rights activists alleged demobilized 
paramilitaries continued to exert influence in the city, 
intimidating the populace and running a range of criminal 
activities.  End Summary. 
 
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INDIGENOUS/AFRO-COLOMBIAN GROUPS HIGHLIGHT CONCERNS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C)  In a two hour meeting on November 14 in the offices 
of human rights group MINGA, indigenous and Afro-Colombian 
activists voiced concern over human rights issues facing 
ethnic minorities.  The meeting included representatives from 
AFRODES, DESPERTAR AFRO, Conferencia Afro Colombiano, Proceso 
de Comunidades Negras, ONIC, MINGA, Justicia y Paz, CRIC, and 
the Red Nacional de Mujeres Colombianas.  Indigenous groups 
said the armed conflict disproportionately affected 
indigenous communities through displacement, forced 
recruitment, and violence.  Lisardo Dominico, Secretary 
General of the Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia 
(ONIC) described a "humanitarian crisis" facing indigenous 
communities, claiming there were 28 forced disappearances, 
279 arbitrary arrests, 32 violent deaths, and over 5,000 
displacements from January to June 2006.  All armed groups 
occupied indigenous lands.  Dominico criticized the GOC for 
not enacting recommendations UN Special Rapporteur for 
Indigenous Affairs Rodolfo Stavenhagen made in 2004 and asked 
why President Uribe had not adopted the UN Declaration of 
Indigenous Rights.  (Note:  in a separate meeting, UNHCR 
representatives reported that indigenous persons make up 16 
percent of new IDPs thus far in 2006, six times their 
proportion of the Colombian population.) 
 
¶3. (C) The indigenous groups also expressed concern over land 
rights and aerial drug eradication.  The Nasa indigenous 
community complained companies were illegally planting 
African palm on indigenous lands, disrupting bio-diversity 
and 
displacing communities. Justicia y Paz alleged (without 
presenting evidence) that aerial fumigation had killed 28 
children in 1991, and representatives from Putumayo called 
Plan Colombia "a violation" of their human rights because it 
had not been approved through popular referendum.  (Note: 
during travel to San Jose de Apartado (septel), Armed Forces 
Commander Freddy Padilla said that GOC success in 
establishing control in conflictive areas may bring more, 
rather than less, conflict over land rights.  He said GOC 
control would encourage more IDPs to return while also 
raising land values, making it more difficult to resolve land 
disputes.) 
 
¶4. (C) Afro-Colombian groups said private companies are 
planting African palm on land claimed by Afro-Colombian 
communities.  Alberto Franco from Justicia y Paz highlighted 
specific problems in Curvarado, Cacarica, and Jiguamiando in 
Choco Department stating that corporate "mega projects" 
promoted by the GOC and USG were affecting humanitarian zones 
in that Region.  Franco claimed Urapalma had already planted 
25,000 hectares of African palm on disputed land. Franco said 
Justicia y Paz will work more closely with the OAS and the 
Inter-American Human Rights Court to protect humanitarian 
zones, not only from armed actors, but also from corporations 
seeking to exploit the land.  AFRODES highlighted concerns 
regarding internal displacement of Afro-Colombian communities 
who constitute 19 percent of internally displaced persons, 
but represent just 10 percent of the population. 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
NGOS CRITICIZE JUSTICE AND PEACE LAW 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) In a subsequent meeting in the offices of the Comision 
Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ), human rights groups also 
expressed concern over the Justice and Peace (J&P) law and 
its implementation.  The meeting included Fundacion 
Esperanza, Fundacion Pais Libre, CODHES, Fundacion Restrepo 
Barco, Comite de Solidaridad con Presos Politicos (CSPP), CCJ 
and the Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo 
(Colectivo).  CCJ's Gustavo Gallon said the J&P law showed 
the GOC's "promotion" of impunity for ex-paramilitaries, and 
Fundacion Restrepo Barco's Mario Gomez questioned the law's 
constitutionality.  CSPP's Agustin Jimenez said the J&P law 
needed to better address security for the victims  and how to 
handle those paramilitaries who chose not to demobilize. 
Marco Romero from CODHES claimed the J&P law would not solve 
the internal armed conflict and did not provide a valid forum 
for victims to seek redress.  Romero referenced former 
President Pastrana's talks with the FARC and the possibility 
of humanitarian exchanges of hostages for prisoners as 
alternative paths to peace. The Colectivo's Diana Munoz 
called for more investigations into links between demobilized 
paramilitaries and narcotrafficking networks. 
 
¶6. (C) Gallon alleged the GOC manipulated data on human 
rights cases to show progress, and said the Prosecutor 
General's Office needed to use less selective statistics in 
its human rights case reporting.  He said killings by 
security forces are not included in GOC statistics until a 
sentence has been handed down, a much more narrow definition 
than applied to non-GOC linked cases. 
 
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BARRANCABERMEJA: WORRIES OVER EX-PARAS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) In a visit to Barrancabermeja, Santander Department, 
on November 15, human rights groups said ex-paramilitaries 
continue to exercise influence in the city.  The meeting 
included Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Medio, 
CREDHOS, Pastoral Obrera, Asociacion Campesina del Valle del 
Rio Cimitarra, Corporacion Nacional, Federacion Agrominera 
del Sur de Bolivar, and the Organizacion Femenina Popular. 
The groups claimed 700 demobilized paramilitaries had 
resettled in Barrancabermeja.  They added that some were now 
working as traffic wardens and private security guards, 
forcing victims to see their victimizers on a daily basis. 
The NGOs also alleged there were 25 new emerging criminal 
groups made up of demobilized paramilitaries in or around 
Barrancabermeja. According to the NGOs, these groups 
conducted a range of criminal activities, including gasoline 
trafficking, intimidation of human rights activists and trade 
unionists, and murder.  The activists criticized the local 
OAS monitoring office for not including all of the 
allegations they provided in official OAS reports.  In an 
earlier meeting, the director of the OAS verification team 
told Farrar that much of the information provided by the 
human rights groups was difficult to corroborate, and could 
not be included in the OAS,s overall reports. 
 
¶8. (C) The human rights groups expressed their opposition to 
the J&P law, and only two of the seven groups present had 
accepted the GOC'S offer to participate in the National 
Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (CNRR).  None were 
willing to cooperate with the GOC reinsertion program for 
demobilized paramilitaries. 
 
¶9. (C) Human rights groups (and Barrancabermeja,s mayor, in 
a separate meeting) bemoaned the lack of GOC social 
assistance to the area.  Mayor Edgard Cote claimed 15,000 new 
IDPs arrived in the Barrancabermeja area in 2006, but said 
the GOC's IDP assistance agency, Accion Social, had provided 
aid to only 150 families so far. 
 
¶10. (C) The Federacin Agrominera del Sur de Bolivar 
criticized the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement, alleging 
it would increase violence in the area.  They blamed the 
ColMil,s Granada battalion for the September 19 killing of 
one of their leaders. They said the agreement would make 
Colombia more attractive for multinational firms, which in 
turn, would increase military presence in the area to protect 
the companies.  The group asserted that Plan Colombia was 
responsible for prolonging the armed conflict. 
 
¶11. (C) Comment:  The validity of individual cases and 
 
complaints raised by the NGOs in many instances remains to be 
examined.  What was clear in the meetings, however, was the 
widespread distrust within the NGO community concerning the 
GOC,s implementation of the Justice and Peace Law, and the 
growing concern over the reemergence of paramilitary groups. 
 
¶12. (U) This cable has been cleared by PDAS Farrar. 
WOOD