VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #2051/01 1581321
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061321Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3065

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002051 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL/LP 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR SENV KCRM PTER CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIA: NARCOTICS MAJORS LIST CERTIFICATION 
 
REF: STATE 029120 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  Though Colombia remains a major producer and 
trafficker of illicit narcotics, the Government of Colombia (GOC) 
continues as an unwavering ally in the fight against both narcotics 
production and trafficking.  Our core bilateral counternarcotics 
eradication and interdiction programs in Colombia are producing 
record results.  Extraditions, desertions, and justice programs also 
contribute to the success of counternarcotics programs and 
operations.  U.S. assistance to Colombia continues to be a success 
story and the Embassy recommends full narcotics cooperation 
certification for Colombia in 2008. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
----------- 
Eradication 
----------- 
 
¶2.  (U) In 2007 the GOC eradicated 219,529 hectares of coca.  This 
is a new record for total eradication. 
 
-- For the year the Colombian National Police (CNP) aerially sprayed 
153,133 hectares of coca, and the GOC manually eradicated 66,396 
hectares.  In 2008, the GOC's goal for total eradication is 230,000 
hectares.  This will be a new record if reached. 
 
-- The GOC continues to expand its manual eradication program.  In 
2007 the GOC manually eradicated 66,396 hectares of coca, a 59 
percent increase from 2006.  For 2008 the GOC plans to manually 
eradicate 100,000 hectares-- The GOC continues to conduct monitoring 
and verification missions to ensure the aerial eradication program 
is conducted without undue risk to human health and the environment, 
as required under Colombian and U.S. law.  The Environmental 
Management Plan for aerial eradication specifies verification on a 
semi-annual basis, and the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) has 
increased the monitoring using a gyroscopic camera (gyrocam). 
 
-- Spray verification and Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC) analysts 
confirm that growers are adapting to aerial eradication by planting 
smaller, irregularly shaped fields to evade successful chemical 
application, and seeking out eradication free zones in isolated, 
politically sensitive areas.  Spraying and increased public security 
presences have also removed coca from more densely populated areas 
where cultivation had been practiced for years in the absence of law 
enforcement efforts.  This marginalization of the coca trade to 
outlying areas is eating away at Colombia's cultural acceptance of 
coca cultivation and increasing the costs of narcotics production, 
but it also strains eradication flight hour and infrastructure 
costs.  The GOC is constantly changing tactics and strategies to 
deal with this phenomenon. 
 
-- In 2008 the CNP began to assign judicial police to manual 
eradication teams to gather evidence for asset forfeiture 
investigations against property owners who use their land for the 
cultivation or processing of illegal crops.  Despite legal, 
procedural, and security obstacles, this asset seizure initiative is 
a crucial step towards real deterrence of cultivation and replanting 
after eradication. 
 
------------ 
Interdiction 
------------ 
 
¶3.  (U) Interdiction continues near record levels. 
 
-- In 2007, Colombia's security forces, led by the police and navy, 
seized over 190 metric tons of cocaine and coca base.  In addition, 
security forces destroyed 141 cocaine HCl laboratories and over 
2,000 base labs. 
 
 
-- The Colombian Army's Counterdrug Brigade conducted interdiction 
missions and High Value Target (HVT) operations and contributed 
significantly to improved ground security for spray aircraft again 
in 2007.  This unit also seized a substantial amount of cocaine, 
coca base, precursor chemicals, and coca seedlings. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Extradition and High Value Targets (HVT) 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) 2007 were both record years for extradition and HVT missions 
and 2008 is on track to be another record year. 
 
-- The USG has no better international partner in the area of 
extradition than the Government of Colombia.  Colombia has 
extradited 621 individuals to the United States between the 
beginning of President Uribe's administration in August of 2002 and 
the end of 2007.  In 2007 the GOC extradited 164 people to the 
United States, including major drug traffickers.  Through May 2008, 
another 54 individuals have been extradited.  Furthermore, Colombia 
is actively investigating and prosecuting cases against major drug 
traffickers and cooperating with U.S. judicial authorities to 
provide evidence and witnesses for prosecutions of extradited 
Colombian nationals facing trial in the United States. 
 
-- In 2007, the GOC security forces captured or killed a number of 
High Value Targets (HVTs) that included high level FARC members 
and/or narcotraffickers, many of whom have been, or are awaiting 
extradition to the United States.  In 2008, three members of the 
FARC Secretariat have died, including the numbers one and two. 
 
------------------------------- 
Rule of Law, Peace, and Justice 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5. Colombia continues to expand governmental presence and the 
government is now able to provide justice and other services due to 
the improved security situation in many areas. 
 
-- Contributing more broadly to the effort to combat illicit 
narcotics production, Colombia has maintained a police presence in 
every municipality.  To further improve Colombia's security 
situation, Mobile Carabineros Squadrons continue to actively patrol 
rural Colombia.  Increased law enforcement and expansion of 
government control into previously hard-to-govern areas is a 
dramatic success story.  Homicides are at their lowest level in more 
than twenty years.  During Uribe's administration, kidnappings have 
decreased more than 80 percent, homicides by 45 percent, and acts of 
terrorism by 63 percent. 
 
-- In 2008 the GOC completed the final phase of its implementation 
of a new criminal procedure code and a transition to an efficient 
and transparent oral accusatory justice system.  The initial 
indicators of the transition are very positive, with the time to 
resolve criminal cases reduced by more than 75% and an increase in 
prosecutions in criminal cases from 3% to over 60%.  By year end 
2007, Colombia had trained, with USG support, more than 40,000 
judges, investigators, public prosecutors, forensic experts, and 
defenders in the new system. 
 
-- The Uribe administration continued its peace process efforts in 
¶2007.  To date, over 15,000 members of the FARC, ELN, AUC, and other 
illegal armed groups have individually deserted, and another 31,000 
have been demobilized in groups through negotiations with the GOC. 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
A Great Partner and A Success Story 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) The GOC is a great partner and has met or exceeded all of 
its identified narcotics cooperation certification criteria set 
forth in section 481(h)(2)(A) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
for eligibility for United States assistance.  The GOC is firmly 
committed to fighting the production and trade in illicit drugs and 
remains a key USG ally in the fight against narcoterrorism. 
President Uribe has repeatedly emphasized in public that the 
narcotics threat is the single biggest enemy of democracy in 
Colombia, and security forces have responded accordingly.  U.S. 
assistance to Colombia continues to be a success story and the 
Embassy recommends full narcotics cooperation certification for 
Colombia again in 2008. 
 
BROWNFIELD