VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #0177/01 0141907
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141907Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0918

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000177 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
ONDCP DIRECTOR WALTERS AND CODEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM SNAR MARR KCRM PTER EAID ETRD ECON
KJUS, ELAB, CO 
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR ONDCP DIRECTOR AND CONGRESSIONAL 
DELEGATION VISIT JAN 18-20 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (U) Post welcomes the January 18-20 visit of Office of 
National Drug Control Policy Director John P. Walters and 
accompanying CODEL.  Your delegation will visit a Colombia in 
the midst of a dramatic transformation, one in which U.S. 
assistance is playing a powerful role.  The Colombia of 2008 
is far safer, economically stronger, better governed and more 
democratic than it has been in decades. Murder rates have 
declined 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) Still, Colombia remains a work in progress. 
Consolidating recent gains and making further progress on 
human rights, security, and poverty reduction 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 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) Improved security and President Alvaro Uribe's 
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 
has grown 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 
agricultural imports from Canada and the European Union if 
trade negotiations conclude in 2008.  Colombia already 
receives duty-free access for most of its exports to the U.S. 
under the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA), which expires 
February 29, 2008, while U.S. exports to Colombia currently 
face an average tariff of almost 20 percent.  Investors from 
around the world are increasingly investing 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 remains the Colombian 
government's highest economic priority.  Delays in U.S. 
approval or rejection of the accord would serve as a severe 
political and economic blow to Uribe and his policy of 
strengthened ties with the United States.  Analysts expect 
the agreement to add between one and two percent annual GDP 
growth to the local economy.  This increased economic growth 
is crucial to generating the formal sector employment 
necessary for Uribe to meet his goal of reducing 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 decreases. 
 
------------------- 
Democratic Security 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The establishment of greater Colombian government 
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.  Local elections in October showcased 
these gains 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 
-------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Labor violence and impunity remain major concerns, but 
significant progress has been made.  Since 2002, labor unions 
report that murders of unionists for political reasons or 
common crime fell more than 60%.  A resident International 
Labor Organization (ILO) representative arrived in Colombia 
in January 2007 to help implement the tripartite agreement 
committing the GOC 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. 
 
¶7. (U) In addition to gains stemming from the GOC's 
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 1,720 trade unionists.  As 
a result, the murder rate for unionists is now lower than 
that for the general population. 
 
-------------------- 
Human Rights Record 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (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 address the problem of extrajudicial killings, 
changing promotion criteria to favor demobilization 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. 
 
¶9.  (U) The Fiscalia has also 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 also set up a special 
prosecutorial team to investigate cases of alleged 
extrajudicial killings. 
 
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U.S. Assistance 
--------------- 
 
¶10. (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 
45,000 demobilized ex-combatants 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. 
 
¶11.  (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 also 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 persons, human rights and democratic institutions, 
and reintegration of demobilized fighters. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Drug Eradication and Interdiction 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (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 
expenditures.  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. 
 
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Extradition 
----------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Since taking office, President Uribe has approved 
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 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (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).  Police 
estimate there are 23 emerging criminal groups with a 
combined membership of 2300 persons.  Reintegration programs 
and targeted law enforcement are working to counter these 
emerging 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.  Over 80,000 victims 
have registered under the JPL, and the GOC is working on 
measures to provide reparations. The Supreme Court and the 
Fiscalia--with GOC support--also continue to investigate 
politicians with alleged paramilitary ties. So far, 52 
Congressmen, 19 mayors and 11 governors have been implicated 
in the scandal. 
 
¶15. (SBU) The 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 continues to kidnap civilians to fund its operations, but 
its military capability continues to decline.  The FARC has 
rebuffed GOC initiatives to engage in any meaningful peace 
talks, and killed eleven state legislators that they had held 
hostage in July 2007.  The GOC authorized Venezuelan 
President Hugo Chavez to facilitate peace talks between the 
Colombian government and the FARC and ELN in late 2007, but 
subsequently suspended his role after Chavez intervened in 
Colombia's internal politics. 
 
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U.S. Hostages 
------------- 
 
¶16. (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 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