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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #0305/01 0302013
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD2597CA MSI6690-695)
P 302013Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6753
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8610
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1589
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ FEB 9881
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 6943
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA PRIORITY 2940
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 7643
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL PRIORITY 4803

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000305 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ECON SOCI CO
SUBJECT: GOC PRIVATIZATION OF PROTECTION PROGRAM 
CONTROVERSIAL 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (U) Interior and Justice Minister (MOIJ) Fabio Valencia 
announced January 26 that the GOC-funded and administered 
protection program for at-risk individuals, including 
unionists and human rights defenders, will be contracted out 
to a private security firm starting January, 2010. The body 
guard program is currently administered by the Department of 
Administrative Security (DAS).  Unionists and human rights 
groups oppose the move, noting the protection of citizens is 
a state responsibility.  Presidential Human Rights Director 
Carlos Franco told us the private option would be cheaper and 
more efficient, and would provide participants the same level 
of protection they currently enjoy.  It would also address 
union complaints that the intelligence service (DAS) should 
not be involved in protection.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PROTECTION PROGRAM BACKGROUND 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The MOIJ protection program provides services to over 
8517 vulnerable and threatened individuals, including 
politicians, opposition groups, civic and local leaders, 
unionists, peasant leaders, human rights activists, and 
ethnic minorities.  Approximately 1460 of the participants 
are unionists.  The protection program's annual budget for 
2008 was about 82.2 billion Colombian pesos (about 41 million 
USD)--Minister Valencia said the 2009 budget will be 90 
billion pesos (about 45 million USD).  No one enrolled in the 
protection program in 2008 was killed. 
 
¶3.  (U) The protection schemes offered by the program are 
either hard or soft.  Hard protection measures include body 
guards, weapons, bullet-proof vests, armored doors/buildings, 
armored vehicles, rental vehicles, and international plane 
tickets to leave the country.  Soft protection measures 
include communication equipment and economic assistance for 
temporary domestic relocations.  The DAS and the Colombian 
National Police (CNP) are responsible for completing a risk 
analysis study to determine whether soft or hard protection 
measures are required on a case-by-case basis.  Since 2003, 
no one with hard protection measures has been killed. 
 
WHY PRIVATIZE? 
-------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) MOIJ Minister Valencia announced January 26 that the 
protection program will be contracted out to a private 
security firm starting January, 2010.  Franco said the GOC 
wants a cheaper but equally effective option.  He noted the 
change should not come as a surprise--discussions on how to 
improve the GOC protection program began in 2002 when the 
United Nations, the GOC, and human rights groups agreed the 
following issues needed to be addressed: body guards needed 
more professional training, the GOC needed to provide 
mandatory social security benefits to the body guards, and 
there should be a separation between the intelligence 
services (DAS) and the protection services.  Based on these 
concerns, the GOC has offered beneficiaries the option of 
moving to the contracted service on a voluntary basis, with 
Inspector General (Procuraduria) oversight.  He said the GOC 
has already moved many of the at-risk groups to the private 
security firms through a successful pilot project--now the 
unionists and human rights groups will be included. 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Under the existing scheme, the MOIJ transfers funds 
to the DAS to administer the body guard program, while the 
most sensitive protection cases are given to the CNP. 
Currently, the DAS body guards can be selected by the 
threatened individuals.  They are not DAS direct-hires, but 
instead are given three-month contracts.  Franco said the GOC 
wants to end this practice, since it violates its own labor 
code.  The GOC does not pay mandatory social security 
contributions to the bodyguards on the three-month contracts. 
 DAS added that the bodyguards--who are not DAS 
employees--generate a disproportionate number of public 
complaints about DAS behavior. 
 
¶6.  (U) Franco also told us the state institutions could not 
cope with the steep expansion rate of the protection 
program--the protection program budget is now 25 times larger 
than what it was in 2000.  MOIJ Protection Program Director 
Rafael Bustamante told us in 2000 the program protected 880 
 
individuals; now they are responsible for over 9000.  Franco 
said that to meet the demands of current approved 
applications, the program needs to hire another 1000 
bodyguards.  Franco voiced concern that the growing 
protection program responsibilities diverted valuable 
investigative and crime-fighting resources away from the DAS 
and CNP, noting the DAS currently dedicates substantial 
administrative resources to the program.  DAS officials tell 
us they want to end their involvement in protection work and 
focus their resources on intelligence activities. 
 
NOT PROTECTED? 
-------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The largest labor confederation--the United Workers 
Confederation (CUT)--rejected the GOC plan, calling it a a 
"time bomb."  General Workers Confederation (CGT) President 
Julio Roberto Gomez voiced concern that both the GOC and the 
private firms will shirk their protection responsibilities. 
The CUT said the GOC is insincere when it hides behind 
protecting workers' rights (i.e. the body guards' social 
security payments.)--the state not only avoided paying social 
security taxes for many years, but now it is leaving at-risk 
unionists stranded.  Former CUT President Carlos Rodriguez 
said the unionists previously complained that the DAS used 
the program to spy on them, so it is ironic they now oppose 
the new system.  Valencia Cossio and Franco stressed that the 
transition will be gradual and will not result in a 
diminution in protection of at risk individuals. 
 
 
 
 
BROWNFIELD