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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000856 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/AND, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL SNAR PHUM CO CI
SUBJECT:  CONTROVERSY OVER FARC CONNECTIONS IN CHILE 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Bachelet administration has come under fire 
from the opposition for not taking action on information provided by 
the Colombian government in May that identified contacts between 
Chilean sympathizers and Colombia FARC rebels.  The evidence 
surfaced from emails found on the computers of deceased FARC leader 
Raul Reyes.  One official at La Moneda resigned (emails describe him 
as a collaborator), but the GOC claims there are no operational FARC 
ties within Chile.  Annoyed over the leaked information, the 
Interior Minister accused opposition Senators Pinera and Espina of 
being duped by Colombian intelligence.  President Bachelet said 
President Uribe promised to investigate who passed the information 
to the opposition leaders.  END SUMMARY. 
 
The "Leaked" Report 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) A series of public revelations about contacts between 
Chilean sympathizers and the FARC has become the source of the 
latest spat between the Bachelet administration and the Alianza 
opposition.  The Head of Chile's National Intelligence Agency (ANI) 
Gustavo Villalobos traveled to Colombia in mid-May to receive a 
Colombian intelligence report detailing Chilean-FARC contacts 
derived from the captured hard drives of deceased FARC leader Raul 
Reyes.  By early September the media began to report on the content 
of the emails. 
 
¶3. (U) In July, Presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera and 
Renovacion Nacional Senators Andres Allamand and Alberto Espina 
traveled to Colombia to meet President Uribe, and during that visit 
press reports suggest they obtained a copy of the Colombian report. 
In turn, Espina on August 5 passed the information to Chile's 
Attorney General to investigate whether a crime had been committed. 
President Bachelet said on September 19 that President Uribe assured 
her that he did not know about or authorize the release of the 
intelligence data to the opposition leaders. 
 
Where's the Beef? 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (U) According to the 35-page Colombian intel report, the emails 
on Reyes' hard drives identified a FARC support structure in Chile. 
Most of the sympathizers are members of Chile's Communist Party, 
including its President Guillermo Teillier and Secretary General 
Lautaro Carmona.  The report also refers to members of the Manuel 
Rodriguez Patriotic Movement (MPMR) and the Revolutionary Leftist 
Movement (MIR).  The support group reportedly maintains the internet 
web page of the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator (CCB). 
 
¶5. (U) The most interesting email is about La Moneda's 
Communications Secretariat employee, Hugo Guzman.  A Mexican FARC 
support cell in April 2005 informed Reyes of a Chilean journalist 
(Guzman) who "helped us a lot" and returned to Chile after having 
worked several years in Mexico.  To keep in touch, a contact in 
Mexico notes that Guzman was taught how to send and receive 
encrypted messages, but he is a "poor student" and did not learn the 
technique.  "Companero" Guzman, Reyes is informed, provided the 
group in Mexico a computer and printer. 
 
¶6. (U) In March 2006, a Chilean contact emailed Reyes asking about 
the possibility of providing "training" to Mapuche groups who want 
to liberate a zone in southern Chile.  Another message told Reyes 
that the MPMR was in the final stages of preparation for the 
six-month training Reyes had proposed.  An email in 2001 mentioned a 
MIR contact who offered up to 8 tons of M-16s, but noted the FARC 
would need to transport the weapons from their hiding place in 
northern Chile. 
 
Opposition: GOC Not Concerned About FARC Ties 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The opposition has criticized the Bachelet administration for 
demonstrating poor judgment and potentially endangering national 
security.  The opposition leaders have highlighted the GOC's failure 
to fully investigate Chilean links to a terrorist organization. 
They are critical of the GOC for maintaining a potential FARC 
collaborator employed at La Moneda since May.  The Alianza also 
points to a lack of GOC concern over presumed FARC ties with Chile's 
Communist Party. 
 
¶8. (U) The opposition has called for the removal of the national 
intelligence chief Villalobos for incompetence and for his delay in 
passing the information to the judiciary (which will determine if 
the FARC sympathizers have broken the law).  Neither Pinera nor 
Espina have revealed who provided them with the controversial 
FARC-Chile information. 
 
Interior Minister Comes Out Swinging 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) The Bachelet Administration is emphatic that there are no 
operational ties between the FARC and Chilean groups.  During a 
Congressional hearing on September 15, Interior Minister Edmundo 
Perez Yoma claimed Colombia's intelligence organizations manipulated 
RN presidential candidate Pinera and RN Senator Espina into 
revealing details of the Colombian report.  Perez Yoma said both 
Pinera and Espina were "victims" of an intelligence operation. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The GOC has been inconsistent in its statements about 
Colombia's role.  Perez Yoma said the Colombian government wants to 
internationalize the FARC problem, and make it appear that the FARC 
issue not only affects Colombia, but also the whole of South 
America.  Perez Yoma noted on September 17 that the Colombians 
performed a similar operation in Brazil.  Foreign Minister Foxley 
considers the issue closed; he spoke with his Colombian counterpart 
who assured him that the Colombian government did not pass the 
report to opposition leaders.  However, some in the Concertacion 
want a formal protest lodged against Colombia.  President Bachelet's 
remarks suggest the GOC is leaving the onus on Uribe to uncover the 
source of the leaked information. 
 
¶11. (U) When the emails about Hugo Guzman hit the press on September 
9, he resigned immediately.  The administration lamented his 
departure, noting the mere appearance of ones' name in an email 
proves nothing and that Guzman's name had been smeared unjustly.  In 
Mexico for nine years, Guzman had worked as the international news 
chief for TV Mexicana (Channel 11) and later for "La Jornada" daily. 
 He denied being a FARC sympathizer, but admitted he had interviewed 
Raul Reyes and other rebels as part of his journalistic duties 
reporting on the Colombian and Central American peace processes. 
 
 
Political Melodrama 
------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment: The FARC-related saga is the latest in a series 
of high-profile disagreements, replacing Transantiago as the lead 
acrimonious issue between the GOC and the opposition.  As on 
previous occasions, the opposition leaders are intent on 
embarrassing the Bachelet administration on security-related issues. 
 The GOC is focusing on how the opposition obtained the report and 
not the substance of the FARC emails.  The publication in March of 
photographs (from Reyes' computers) of two Chilean Communist Party 
youths at Reyes' camp days before his death help bolster the 
opposition's case -- that these emails were more than mere 
solidarity exchanges. 
 
SIMONS