VZCZCXYZ0000
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DE RUEHQT #0228/01 0672235
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 072235Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8596
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7414
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3859
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2938
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 2460
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1759
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 0492
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1752
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3380
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

id: 144928
date: 3/7/2008 22:35
refid: 08QUITO228
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: SECRET
destination: 08QUITO221
header:
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0228/01 0672235
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 072235Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8596
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7414
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3859
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2938
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 2460
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1759
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 0492
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1752
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3380
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL


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S E C R E T QUITO 000228 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2014 
TAGS: PREL MOPS PTER EC CO MX SP
SUBJECT: ECUADORIAN TROOP MOVEMENTS, FARC CAPTURES, FOL 
INVESTIGATION 
 
REF: QUITO 221 
 
Classified By: CDA Jefferson Brown for Reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1.  (S) SUMMARY.  Ecuador's Fourth Division Army Commander 
Narvaez confirmed on March 4 that he had modestly increased 
border zone deployments but was operating fairly normally, 
and that the Division's primary mission was still to pursue 
the FARC. Five suspected FARC insurgents were captured near 
the site of the Colombian operation on March 6.   Colombian 
accusations about Correa administration's FARC contacts have 
caused some within the military to be concerned about 
possible removal of some military leaders, including Narvaez. 
 Several of the individuals killed in the March 1 attack 
appear to have been Mexican, including at least one of the 
survivors currently in a Quito military hospital. 50% of 
Ecuadorian poll respondents did not agree with the GOE 
decision to cut of diplomatic relations with Colombia.  The 
Constituent Assembly is considering calls for an 
investigation into whether the Manta Forward Operating 
Location was involved in supporting the Colombian operation. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
MILITARY UPDATE 
 
¶2.  (S) USG representatives have met over the past few days 
with Brigadier General Fabian Edmundo Narvaez, commander of 
the Ecuadorian Army's Fourth Division (which includes the 
area of the Reyes incident).  Narvaez has been an aggressive 
commander, increasing patrols and operations, and very 
receptive to USG support.  He did not appear to have changed 
his attitude, nor did he demonstrate anger over the GOC's 
operation against the FARC.  He seemed to remain committed to 
pursuing the FARC.  Narvaez confirmed that approximately 150 
soldiers from the Fourth Division converged on the site of 
the Colombian operation in northern Ecuador, some to assess 
the site and others to look for evidence of other FARC 
presence.  The Ecuadorian Navy sent three corvette warships 
to the maritime border with Colombia as a show of force. 
 
¶3.  (S) The Fourth Division, comprised of 4,500 troops, has 
relocated its operating headquarters from Coca, Orellana 
province, to the 24th Special Forces Group in Lago Agrio, 
Sucumbios province, closer to the border.  According to 
Narvaez, the Fourth Division is pursuing the FARC actively, 
as it has in a series of concerted operations since last 
November.  Amid recriminations for the GOE,s failure to 
locate and destroy the Reyes camp, some in the military fear 
that Narvaez will be (unfairly, in his case) made a scapegoat 
and relieved of his command (note: many believe he is one of 
the officers whose replacement appeared to be part of the 
negotiation that Larrea conducted with Reyes, as cited in the 
post-op captured documents).  Other military officers have 
expressed resentment regarding President Correa's handling of 
the situation and concern about the Colombian accusations 
that the Correa administration may replace military 
leadership as part of negotiations with the FARC. 
 
RECOVERY AND CAPTURE OF FARC 
 
¶4.  (C) The Fourth Division relocated the 22 bodies and the 
three wounded from the FARC camp to Quito on March 3 and 4, 
the wounded currently in a military hospital.  (Two others, 
including Raul Reyes, were previously removed by the 
Colombian military.)  Ecuadorian leaders, in seeking to build 
their case against the GOC action in terms of international 
law and convention, have asserted that some of the bodies 
reveal shots in the back.  Accompanying this argument is 
criticism that the Colombian forces left wounded individuals 
behind.  Among the three female survivors, Lucia Andrea 
Morett Alvarez, a Mexican national whose parents came to 
Quito to visit her on March 6, claimed no ties to the FARC, 
whereas another, Martha Perez, admitted to the press that she 
had been a FARC insurgent for one year.  No decision has yet 
been announced about how the GOE intends to handle these 
detainees, as officials say only that an investigation must 
first proceed.  Minister of Coordination of Internal and 
External Security Gustavo Larrea claimed publicly on March 7 
that five other Mexican nationals were at the FARC camp at 
the time of the attack, and "may have died."  An embassy 
 
source informed that one body already recovered from the site 
had a Mexican passport and is presumed to be a Mexican 
national. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On March 6, two additional bodies were discovered 
approximately 800 meters from the site of the Colombian 
operation.  That same day, the Ecuadorian military captured 
five presumed FARC members.  Minister Larrea announced that 
"the insurgents were detained in the Chanangue river, that 
opens into the San Miguel river, a few meters from the 
Colombian border." 
 
PROTESTS AND PUBLIC OPINION 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Demonstrations have taken place in Quito during the 
week following the Colombian incursion, most passing in front 
of the Colombian embassy.  Most have been limited to just a 
few hundred; most have been directed against the Colombian 
action but some have also been against the FARC.  On the 
evening of March 6, approximately 1,200 participants 
demonstrated peacefully in front of the U.S. embassy, 
chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Colombian slogans.  Ecuadorian 
authorities prevented a smaller protest group from reaching 
the U.S. embassy earlier in the day.  A larger, government 
sponsored demonstration is planned for March 13. 
 
¶7.  (C) The GOE, seeking to ensure domestic support, 
organized a large meeting with civil society representatives 
on March 5, where it made a detailed presentation on the 
March 1 events.  Our contacts in the government and academia 
have expressed a range of views on the prospects for 
repairing the rupture.  MFA North America DG Santiago Chavez 
was by far the most optimistic, expressing his (apparently 
personal) view that things could be patched together over the 
next few weeks.  Professor Grace Jaramillo of the Latin 
American Social Sciences Faculty (FLACSO) was far more 
pessimistic; she told us that the determinant whether Ecuador 
would shift permanently to a position closer to Chavez would 
be U.S. willingness to condemn Colombia's violation of 
Ecuadorian sovereignty. 
 
¶8.  (C) Many of our contacts, while supporting Correa's 
position on the incursion, have expressed regret at the break 
in diplomatic relations with Colombia.  For example, NGO 
Citizen Participation Executive Director Ruth Hidalgo told us 
it was unfortunate given all that the Ecuadorian and 
Colombian people have in common.  A Cedatos poll found that 
50% of respondents did not agree with the break in diplomatic 
relations.  Commentators have noted that Ecuador did not 
break off relations with Peru even during two wars they 
fought in the last 20 years.  Specifically consular functions 
have apparently been allowed to continue. 
 
FOL INVESTIGATION BY ASSEMBLY 
 
¶9.  (C) Alberto Acosta and other Constituent Assembly leaders 
have stated that the Assembly's Committee on Sovereignty, 
International Relations, and Latin American Integration will 
decide whether to investigate if the U.S. Forward Operating 
Location (FOL) was involved in supporting the Colombian 
attack on March 1 (reftel).  The Constituent Assembly sent a 
letter on March 6 to the FOL Commander requesting information 
on flights originating from the FOL.  The Embassy is working 
to communicate transparency, stressing that the FOL flight 
arrival and departure information is available from the 
Ecuadorian civil aviation agency that mans the Manta airport 
control tower, as well as through the Ecuadorian liaison 
officer stationed at JIATF-South.  On March 6, thirteen 
opposition Assembly members visited the FOL and received a 
full tour and command briefing. 
 
QUITO BOLIVARIAN CONGRESS TIES TO FARC 
 
¶10.  (S) There is reason to suspect that some of those in the 
Raul Reyes camp at the time of the Colombian attack had 
entered Ecuador to attend the Second Bolivarian Continental 
Congress in Quito February 24-27.  At least two passports 
recovered from the attack site show that the insurgents 
entered Ecuador shortly before the Bolivarian Congress.  The 
Bolivarian Congress was also attended by three Basque 
 
Homeland and Freedom (ETA) members from Spain.  A video 
address by Raul Reyes was played at the beginning of the 
Congress.  The FARC helped sponsor and fund the event by 
paying the $4,200 deposit on the Culture House, the venue. 
The Caribbean Bloc Coordinator of the Bolivarian Continental 
Coordinator, Luciano Marin Arango (aka Ivan Marquez), passed 
the funds for the Congress through Audrey Millot, a known 
French FARC affiliate. 
 
¶11.  (C) Maria Augusta Calle, President of the sovereignty 
committee in the Constituent Assembly, signed a petition 
along with numerous others requesting the use of the Culture 
House for the Bolivarian Congress.  An article in the March 6 
edition of the weekly Vistazo magazine shows photos of Calle 
with the daughter of Raul Reyes, Lidia Carmenza Devia 
Collazos, who it said had been living in El Quinche, 
northeast of Quito.  In the article, Calle was quoted as 
saying she had met many people as a journalist but denying 
any knowledge of contact with Reyes' daughter. 
BROWN 

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