VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #4310/01 3371943
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021943Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5900
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1382
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC PANAMA 2743
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7488
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4701
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS BOGOTA 004310 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CO
SUBJECT: MAPP/OAS COMMENDS PEACE PROCESS, HIGHLIGHTS 
ILLEGAL GROUP THREAT 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The MAPP/OAS (OAS Mission in Support of the Peace 
Process) twelfth draft report commends GOC progress made 
under the peace process, including increased victim 
participation, expanded services for ex-combatants, and 
advances in investigations of paramilitary crimes.  The 
report recommends GOC actions to consolidate these successes, 
including expanding services to the demobilized and to 
victims at the municipal level.  MAPP/OAS stresses the 
wide-ranging threat posed by emerging criminal groups which 
undermine citizen security, limit victims participation in 
the Justice and Peace Law (JPL) process, and forcibly recruit 
or kill demobilized paramilitaries.  MAPP/OAS applauds the 
GOC's strategy to negotiate with the National Liberation 
Army's regional fronts rather than national commanders.  End 
Summary 
 
Twelfth MAPP/OAS Report: 
Commends Progress, Presents Recommendations 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The MAPP/OAS twelfth draft report (please protect 
until public release) evaluates the implementation of the 
JPL, and the achievement of the three pillars of the 
paramilitary peace process -- security, reintegration of the 
demobilized, and protection of victims' rights.  MAPP/OAS 
favorably reviews the results to date -- 160,000 victims 
participating in the process; 2709 confessions; increasing 
acceptance of the process by initial critics; special 
attention to new criminal groups' youth recruitment; and the 
demobilization of a National Liberation Army (ELN) splinter 
group.  To consolidate these successes, MAPP/OAS recommends 
that the GOC expand services for both ex-combatants and 
victims.  The report also urges the GOC to increase action 
against new illegal armed groups, warning that these groups 
threaten the success of the paramilitary peace process. 
 
Illegal Armed Groups: 
A Multidimensional Threat to the Peace Process 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS stresses that emerging criminal groups 
threaten communities and undermine the peace process.  The 
report identifies 153 municipalities with significant 
emerging group criminal activity.   Violence fell in most of 
the 153 municipalities after demobilization, but has recently 
increased as new groups compete for drug routes.  A key area 
is the corridor starting in Uraba near the Panamanian border 
and extending eastward through southern Cordoba, southern 
Bolivar, Santander, southern Cesar, and ending in Norte de 
Santander. Over half of Cordoba's municipalities have seen 
their murder rates double compared with last year. Fighting 
for narco-routes between Daniel Rendon Herrera (alias Don 
Mario) and the Medellin-based Envigado Office also placed 
Antioquia ahead of the national average for homicides. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS highlights successful GOC efforts to 
confront emerging criminal group activity in Montes de Maria 
and elsewhere, including the capture of numerous mid-level 
commanders and seizures of weapons and precursor chemicals. 
Still, MAPP/OAS points to GOC data for 2006 through September 
2008 that shows the number of new criminal groups falling by 
52%, but their territorial presence declining only by 15%. 
MAPP/OAS proposes that the GOC shift its strategy from 
targeting specific groups to reducing aggregate territorial 
influence. 
 
Reintegration: 
Success Hinges on Employment, Curtailing Illegal Groups 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS recognizes the "enormous efforts" 
conducted by GOC institutions to promote reintegration, and 
praises the High Commission for Reintegration's (HCR) 
expansion of outreach services.  MAPP/OAS considers the 
inclusion of reintegration services in municipal plans to be 
one of its greatest achievements in the past quarter.  Still, 
the report calls for increased HCR efforts to ensure 
effective reinsertion of the demobilized.  HCR provides a 
high percentage of educational and health services, but 
employment assistance remains weak.  MAPP/OAS contends the 
 
lack of jobs for demobilized paramilitaries jeopardizes 
successful reintegration. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS judges illegal armed groups to be the 
greatest risk to successful reintegration -- ex-combatants 
have been subjected to forced recruitment in Antioquia 
(Uraba), Bolivar, Santander, Antioquia, Magdalena, Cordoba, 
and Choco.   MAPP/OAS reports that approximately 50% of the 
demobilized incarcerated for recidivism were active in HCR 
services when they were arrested.  The report notes that 
7,000 demobilized -- out of 31,000 demobilized -- do not 
participate in the reinsertion program.  In northern 
Antioquia (Bajo Cauca), Santander, and Norte de Santander, 
some demobilized groups are both active in the program and 
engaged in criminal activity. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Violence targeting the demobilized threatens the 
peace process -- 1658 of the demobilized have died, the 
majority murdered.  Threats against reinsertion are greatest 
in southern Cordoba, Bajo Cauca, southern Bolivar and 
Santander.  In August in Barrancabermeja (Santander), an 
emerging criminal group attacked a group of ex-combatants 
participating in an HCR activity.  Ex-combatants were 
displaced from Santander and southern Bolivar after they 
refused to join armed groups. 
 
Victims Participation: 
Growing Steadily as Assistance Improves 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS links advances in the JPL process to the 
steady growth in victim participation.  Fully 160,000 victims 
are now active in the process.  MAPP/OAS points out that 
increasing victim engagement in the JPL enhances the 
legitimacy of the peace process in the eyes of initial 
critics.  Still, a large number of victims are not 
participating, the majority of whom live in zones under the 
influence of criminal groups. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS underscores the importance of local 
engagement in victims' assistance programs, and applauds the 
inclusion of victims' services in many departmental and 
municipal plans.  The report indicates local action may lead 
to further victims' participation in the JPL.  The report 
highlights the successes of local authorities in Medellin and 
Bucaramanga, who have encouraged participation through 
expanded services and enhanced security measures. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS also congratulates the Human Rights 
Ombudsman (Defensoria del Pueblo) for providing greater legal 
services to victims, but notes that the current volume -- 
with each legal advocate covering an average caseload of 300 
victims -- requires more staff.  Additional progress includes 
significant advances in investigations:  2709 confessions; 
more than 1328 graves exhumed; 1698 cadavers discovered; 538 
preliminary identifications; and 223 remains returned to 
their families. 
 
Expanding the Scope: 
Services at the Local Level 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) MAPP/OAS applauds the expansion of HCR and the 
National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, but 
calls for further outreach to ensure successful reintegration 
and increased victims' participation.  In particular, 
MAPP/OAS maintains many victims in violent zones receive 
little GOC information on their rights. 
 
ELN Demobilizations: 
GOC Implements a New Strategy 
----------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) During the period of the report, MAPP/OAS verified 
the disarmament of an ELN faction that had operated in the 
municipality of Carmen de Atrato (Choco).  The newly 
demobilized will benefit from the JPL process.  MAPP/OAS 
commends the GOC's new strategy to initiate dialogue directly 
with ELN regional structures, rather than continuing the 
fruitless on-again off-again negotiations with national 
commanders. 
BROWNFIELD