VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #4547/01 3582145
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 232145Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6264
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1456
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC LIMA 6851
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 2813
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7548
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4742
RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS BOGOTA 004547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CO
SUBJECT: QUARTERLY HUMAN RIGHTS CERTIFICATION CONSULTATIONS 
FOCUS ON EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS AND VIOLENCE AGAINST 
INDIGENOUS 
 
REF: A. BOGOTA 4485 
     ¶B. BOGOTA 4457 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Post's quarterly consultations with human 
rights groups focused on recent violence against indigenous 
communities and extrajudicial killings.  Participants 
highlighted the recent killing of Edwin Legarda--husband of 
Cauca indigenous leader Aida Quilcue--by military forces as 
evidence of violations of some certification criteria.  The 
representative of Afro-Colombian group CIMARRON told us the 
military must do more to boost the number of Afro-Colombian 
officers in the military.  The group also criticized the 
GOC's slow progress in investigating extrajudicial killings 
(EJEs) by security forces, adding that reports of secret 
military Directive 29 of 2005 raised questions about 2008 
progress generated by new directives and reforms. 
Participants acknowledged work by the GOC (and Embassy 
efforts) to transfer cases from the military justice system 
to civilian judicial authorities, and said they remain eager 
to continue their dialogue with the Embassy.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  On December 19, post hosted our quarterly consultations 
with human rights groups.  As agreed previously with the 
groups, the discussion focused on issues dealing with general 
criteria for the Human Rights Certification process. 
Attendees included: Alberto Yepes of the Coordinacion 
Colombia-Europa Estados Unidos (CCEEU), Juan de Dios Mosquera 
of the Movimiento Nacional por los Derechos Humanos de las 
Comunidades Afrocolombianas (CIMARRON), Fatima Esparza of the 
Comision Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ), and Gisel Paternina of 
the Comision de Solidaridad de Presios Politicos (CSPP). 
---------------------- 
DEATH OF EDWIN LEGARDA 
---------------------- 
 
¶3.   Participants expressed concern over the December 16 
killing of Edwin Legarda (the husband of Cauca indigenous 
leader Aida Quilcue) by the military in Cauca (reftels). 
Alberto Yepes of CCEEU claimed the killing was deliberate, 
and said Legarda's car was well known in the region.  He 
claimed soldiers had fired seventeen shots at the vehicle. 
Yepes said the killing came less than a week after Vice 
President Francisco Santos offered an apology for illegal 
killings by military forces to the UN Human Rights Commission 
in Geneva, and was evidence that the GOC was reneging on 
their promises.  Yepes questioned whether the order to shoot 
at the vehicle came from a commander, and asked 
(rhetorically) whether operational legal advisors had signed 
off on the orders.  Yepes claimed that 68 indigenous had been 
killed in 2008, 29 more than the previous year, and 
questioned whether newly announced reforms would have an 
impact on violence against indigenous.  The killing raised 
questions as to whether the USG could certify the military on 
human rights, he added. 
 
---------------------------- --------------- 
EXCLUSION OF AFRO-COLOMBIANS IN THE MILITARY 
---------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶4.  Juan de Dios Mosquera of CIMARRON said that racial 
exclusion within the Ministry of Defense (MOD) remained a 
serious problem, and questioned why Afro-Colombian officers 
were being passed over for promotion.  Mosquera said that at 
a November 10 officer graduation and promotion ceremony, 42 
lieutenants and 58 captains graduated--none Afro-Colombian. 
He added that of the 36 majors who graduated, two were 
Afro-Colombians; those two entered the military in a special 
program in 1996 designed to increase Afro-Colombian 
participation.  Of the 12 officers who entered the program, 
six were now majors, but lagged behind their peers in terms 
of time to promotion.  Mosquera stressed that the special 
program had not been repeated since 1996, and said that the 
military needed to address the situation. 
 
---------------------- 
EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  Participants criticized the GOC's slow progress in 
investigating extrajudicial killings (EJEs) by security 
forces, and said that recently published press reports of a 
 
 
classified MOD directive, (Directive 29 - of 2005) raised 
questions as to whether any progress had been made through 
other recent directives and reforms.  Yepes claimed that 
human rights groups registered 535 EJEs between January 
2007-June 2008.  UN officials have told us separately that 
their numbers are lower for the same period, though declined 
to release specific figures.  Yepes said the Soacha cases 
were not unique, and that the military used EJEs to increase 
enemy killed in combat numbers.  Yepes added that Directive 
29 gave the military tacit permission to commit EJEs through 
a system of monetary incentives to emphasize body count. 
Fatima Esparza of CCJ said the promotion of new Army 
Commander General Oscar Gonzalez Pena represented an example 
of an officer promoted based on body count--with no 
consideration for human rights.  Participants said that the 
GOC must publicly repudiate Directive 29 if it expects to be 
taken seriously on the issue of EJEs.  The group acknowledged 
that the firing of 27 officers in connection to the Soacha 
case was a positive development and starting point. 
 
¶6.  Gisel Paternina of CSPP raised concerns about military 
justice involvement in the investigations of EJEs.  We 
highlighted recent work with the MOD and the Prosecutor 
General's office (Fiscalia) on creating standards and 
protocols for investigations and projects to build confidence 
between military and civilian justice officials, and noted 
that 600 cases were transferred from military to civilian 
jurisdiction in 2008--compared to only 33 in 2007.  The group 
requested continued work in this area.  Esparza and Yepes 
also asked the Embassy work with the Fiscalia to protect 
victims' families and NGOs that file complaints on behalf of 
the EJE victims.  Participants told us they wanted to 
maintain an active dialogue with the Embassy, and thanked the 
USG for openness and advocacy on human rights issues. 
BROWNFIELD