VZCZCXYZ0018
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0297/01 0881022
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281022Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8682
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7464
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3876
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2962
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 2507
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3441
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000297 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER MARR EC CO VE
SUBJECT: SFRC STAFFDEL CARL MEACHAM VISIT TO QUITO 
 
Classified By: CDA Douglas Griffiths for Reasons 1.4 (b&d). 
 
1...



id: 147622
date: 3/28/2008 10:22
refid: 08QUITO297
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 
header:
VZCZCXYZ0018
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0297/01 0881022
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281022Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8682
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7464
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3876
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2962
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 2507
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3441
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000297 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER MARR EC CO VE
SUBJECT: SFRC STAFFDEL CARL MEACHAM VISIT TO QUITO 
 
Classified By: CDA Douglas Griffiths for Reasons 1.4 (b&d). 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Senior Professional Staff Member of the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Carl Meacham, during a 
visit to Quito on March 19, focused on the March 1 attack on 
a FARC camp in Ecuador and on Ecuador-Colombia relations. 
Meacham met separately with officials of the Ministries of 
Foreign Affairs, Government and Police, and Defense, and held 
a roundtable discussion with non-governmental analysts.  The 
Ecuadorian interlocutors stressed that the Colombian 
incursion was a violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty, that the 
FARC were not welcome but that the border is impossible to 
control, and that Colombian-Ecuadorian relations would 
improve only with Colombian commitment never to repeat such 
an attack.  GOE and non-governmental opinions differed on the 
GOE's commitment against the FARC.  (End Summary) 
 
Opposition to "Preventive War" 
 
¶2.  (SBU) All of Meacham's interlocutors (in and out of 
government) agreed that the Colombian attack was premeditated 
and an unacceptable violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty.  MFA 
Under Secretary for Bilateral Affairs Diego Stacey stated 
that the GOE was against the concept of "preventive war", and 
that it was not an acceptable justification for Colombia's 
attack against the FARC within Ecuadorian territory. 
 
Zero Tolerance for "Irregular Forces", but Unable to Prevent 
Incursions 
 
¶3.  (C) Ministry of Defense Principal Under Secretary 
Carvajal said that the GOE had a policy of zero tolerance of 
"irregular" or illegal forces in Ecuador, and gave a detailed 
description of the logistical challenges and degree of effort 
by Ecuador and Colombia.  He noted that, unlike Colombia, 
Ecuador had cities close to the Colombian border, including 
Quito (which is roughly the same distance from the border as 
Pasto, Colombia).  He said that Colombian military control 
along the border was sporadic, using mobile patrols from 
their few posts near the border, while the Ecuadorian 
military had 14 military posts in its border region, covering 
the region more consistently.  Minister of Coordination of 
Internal and External Security Fernando Bustamante stressed 
that the Ecuadorian military had destroyed 47 FARC camps 
since 2007, and that the GOE fought narcotics trafficking 
diligently.  He also reiterated an earlier statement by the 
Minister of Defense that the GOE calling the FARC terrorists 
would make Ecuador a target for FARC reprisals. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Under Secretary of Defense General Jorge Pena said 
that the problems along the border could not be solved by the 
military alone, pointing out that FARC members in civilian 
clothes who presented identification could legally cross the 
border.  He added that he considered FARC actions terrorism, 
and that he was glad to see Reyes dead.  Referring to Plan 
Ecuador, Minister Bustamante discussed the GOE's desire to 
increase its presence in the border area using social and 
economic programs and police presence, with the objective of 
reducing incentives for Ecuadorians to work with irregular 
forces.  Under Secretary Carvajal said that Ecuadorians 
living in the border region claimed they made $3,000 each 
working in coca fields in Colombia, but that they would not 
plant coca within Ecuador because they considered it 
prohibited here.  Under Secretary Stacey said that the GOE 
currently spent approximately $6 million annually on border 
protection. 
 
Ecuador-Colombia Relations Will Mend, but Only Under Certain 
Conditions 
 
¶5.  (C) Under Secretary Stacey stated that relations with 
Colombia would be normalized, that the two countries had many 
common project and interests, and that the GOE wanted to work 
with Colombia.  He stressed, however, the GOE wanted 
"guarantees that this (a cross border military incursion) 
would not happen again."  Minister Bustamante claimed that 
the GOE never once received satisfactory results through the 
Binational Border Commission (COMBIFRON) with Colombia.  He 
said the GOE sought compensation for properties that were 
destroyed and impartial investigations when Ecuadorians were 
killed, but with no result.  He stressed that given the 
failure of bilateral mechanisms, observers representing a 
third party (such as the Rio Group and OAS) were needed to 
ensure the rule of law. 
U.S.-Ecuador Relations 
 
¶6.  (C) Under Secretary Carvajal said that the GOE had lost 
political confidence in the U.S. because of accusations by 
the U.S. of GOE collaboration with the FARC.  In contrast, 
Under Secretary Pena said that the Ecuadorian military had 
good relations with the U.S., and that it infuriated him to 
hear Ecuador being compared to Venezuela.  Meacham asked each 
of his government interlocutors what U.S. support would be 
useful.  Minister Bustamante stressed that Ecuador would 
welcome economic, social and police assistance more than 
military assistance.  Asked about military needs, Carvajal 
expressed reluctance to depend on the U.S., but after 
Carvajal left the meeting, General Pena sounded receptive to 
U.S. assistance. 
 
Analysts' Views 
 
¶7.  (C) Political analyst Cesar Montufar said that the USG's 
comments in support of Colombia were interpreted in Ecuador 
as directed against Ecuador, resulting in "polarization, with 
Venezuela and Ecuador on one side and the U.S. and Colombia 
on the other."  Montufar told Meacham that this political 
polarization had "allowed the more radical elements in the 
GOE to have a larger voice, which prompted the President's 
more radical posture."  Military analyst Berta Garcia added 
that anti-American sentiment was a source of political 
capital in Ecuador, and emphasized that Ecuadorians were very 
protective of sovereignty.  Franklin Barriga Lopez, Academic 
Director of the Ecuadorian Institute of International 
Relations Studies, commented that the presence of what he 
termed "Cuban doctrinists" within the Ministry of Education 
had spread leftist ideas, that he believed radical elements 
within Ecuadorian society had launched verbal attacks on the 
Manta Forward Operating Location (FOL) due to its 
counter-drug success, and that political advisors from 
Venezuela had what he considered close access to the Correa 
administration. 
 
Laptops and Investigations 
 
¶8.  (C) Minister Bustamante stressed that Ecuador would have 
confidence in the documents allegedly contained in Reyes' 
computers "only if they were analyzed by an impartial source 
and handled in a transparent manner, rather than for 
political ends as Colombia was doing."  He further asserted 
that once the GOE had access to the computer documents, it 
would investigate. 
Griffiths 

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