VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #0372/01 0352203
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 042203Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6878
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 8618
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1608
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ FEB LIMA 6951
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 2963
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7656

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000372 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON SENV EAID CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIA'S AMAZON REGION: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, 
BUT CAN AN ECONOMY? 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  The economy of Amazonas Department, which 
borders Brazil and Peru, contributes less than .05 percent to 
Colombia's GDP. Local experts tell us that the Department's 
limited infrastructure and prevalence of protected areas -- 
there are only 25 miles of paved roads in the department and 
the GOC has designated 95 percent of the Amazonas as national 
park or indigenous territory -- prevent it from developing an 
industrial or manufacturing sector.  The urban economy of the 
Amazonas is based upon small-scale retail businesses, GOC 
employment, tourism and fish exports, with all economic 
activity centered in the capital of Leticia.  The GOC is 
banking on ecotourism as the anchor for increased development 
and employment.  However, not all locals desire ramped-up 
economic activity, and regional authorities made clear that 
they will not jeopardize the integrity of the Department's 26 
indigenous communities to promote any sector.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Isolated By Rivers And A Jungle 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  The Amazonas Department in Colombia's southeast corner 
has 48,000 inhabitants (2005 statistics), with 53 percent 
living in the capital Leticia and Puerto Narino, both located 
on the 116-kilometer slice of the Amazon River that flows 
through Colombian territory.  It is one of Colombia's most 
under-populated departments, ranking 30 out of 33.  Despite 
comprising 10 percent of continental Colombia and 23 percent 
of Colombia's Amazon Basin, the Department enjoys merely 25 
miles of paved roads.  (NOTE: The GOC defines Colombia's 
Amazon Basin as 10 departments: Amazonas, Caqueta, Guainia, 
Guaviare, Vaupes, and segments of Cauca, Meta, Narino, 
Putamayo and Vichada.  END NOTE.)  That lack of 
infrastructure inherently limits the Department's economic 
activity, which is centered in Leticia on the border with 
Brazil.  The President of the Amazonas Chamber of Commerce 
(ACOC), Arturo Santos, told us that the Amazonas economy is 
nascent, due to lack of infrastructure ties with the rest of 
continental Colombia and its dependency on river 
transportation.  There is a road connecting Leticia to 
Tabatinga, Brazil, as the cities share an open border, but 
the road in Tabatinga meets jungle after 12 miles.  Santos 
said there are six weekly Bogota-Leticia cargo flights, but 
because of the high cost of airfare goods primarily 
enter/depart Leticia via two routes: cargo ships from 
Cartagena that sail to the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil and 
upriver to Leticia; or truck transport from Bogota to 
Putamayo, with goods then shipped via river to Leticia. 
 
Commercial Vs. Subsistence Livelihoods 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Commercial activity in the Amazonas, which Santos said 
amounted to .01 percent of total Colombian GDP in 2006, 
exists in Leticia and Puerto Narino.  Local experts told us 
that rural populations -- especially the forty percent of 
indigenous who have subsistence livelihoods based on fishing 
and logging -- have few cultivation practices or other 
economic activity, and are heavily dependent on GOC financial 
assistance.  Haroldo Gomez, the deputy to the Amazonas 
Governor, said a GOC economic priority is agricultural 
development within the rural areas of Amazonas.  However, he 
was unable to identify specific products with market 
potential.  Given poor soil conditions and the high costs of 
bringing goods to market, non-subsistence agricultural 
potential is limited to only the most targeted niche products 
or to meet local tourist needs.  Unemployment in Amazonas is 
high -- estimated between 25 and 28 percent -- but Gomez said 
those figures are misleading as many inhabitants have 
subsistence livelihoods and are not technically looking for 
work.  Santos added that many, if not most, indigenous 
communities live subsistence lifestyles by choice. 
 
The Foundation Of The Urban 
Amazonas Economy 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Small-Scale Retail.  The Deputy Director of the GOC's 
Amazon Research Institute (SINCHI), Daniel Fonseca, said 
retail stores of final consumption goods (packaged food, 
electrical appliances, clothes, motorcycles, etc.) account 
for 65 percent of the economic activity within Leticia, the 
heart of the Department's economy.  He added that Leticia has 
only two factories -- a beverage and energy plant -- and that 
the movement of imported goods sustains the Amazonas economy. 
 Santos said transportation costs prevent the Amazonas from 
having an industrial sector, adding that retail stores 
 
comprise 70 percent of the 800 member companies of the ACOC. 
Product sales to GOC officials and to inhabitants in towns 
such as Tabatinga, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru, where prices 
for goods are higher, enable the survival of the high number 
of small businesses.  Aside from some companies in the 
financial sector, the Decameron Hotel and the airlines, the 
remaining businesses in the Amazonas are small, independently 
owned operations. 
 
¶5.  Government Employment.  The GOC -- federal and regional 
branch offices, as well as the military -- is the second 
largest employer in the Amazonas.  Its officials support the 
small-scale retail stores, and the GOC is the principal 
source of professional employment in the region.  Santos said 
government jobs are coveted in Leticia and Puerto Narino, 
which are the only two cities with a federal presence, and 
that acquiring such positions requires personal ties more 
than a sound professional background.  Gomez agreed that 
neither Leticia nor Puerto Narino could exist without 
government employment.  He said the strong GOC presence 
results from the high number of indigenous communities -- 
which require management of federal preference programs -- 
and the city's proximity to neighboring countries.  Both the 
Colombian Army and Navy have bases in Leticia, although local 
experts agreed that diplomatic disputes rarely trickle down 
to the area. 
 
¶6.  Tourism Continues To Grow.  Tourism, especially 
ecotourism, is the primary potential growth sector.  The 
Manager of AeroRepublica, Javier Delgado, told us that in 
2008 AeroRepublica began offering twice-daily flights from 
Bogota to Leticia during the December-January holiday season, 
as tourist travel had greatly increased over the past few 
years. (NOTE: AeroRepublica is a Colombian carrier that 
offers daily service into Leticia.  Satena, a smaller 
Colombian carrier, has flights three times a week. END NOTE.) 
 Delgado said 75 percent of tourists to Leticia are 
Colombian, with 25 percent traveling from overseas.  Leticia 
received 12,000 tourists during the first half of 2008, 
compared to 13,900 during the entire year of 2003. 
Representatives from the Governor's Office told us they were 
taking steps -- developing strategies to increase 
international tourism, constructing a convention center, 
outreaching to indigenous communities about the economic 
potential of tourism -- to make it the long-term driver of 
Leticia's economy. 
 
¶7.  Exports of Fish, Fruit and Artisan Goods.  Fishing 
products are the primary Amazonas export.  According to the 
Colombian Institute for Rural Development (INCODER), Leticia 
exported 2,500 tons of fish to other parts of Colombia during 
the first half of 2008, an 8 percent increase over 2007. 
Santos said the majority of fishermen are from Brazil and 
Peru, as few live within the urban areas of the Amazonas, but 
that Colombians serve as middle-men for foreign products 
shipped to Bogota.  Fishermen from neighboring countries 
prefer to export out of Leticia because Bogota is the nearest 
major urban city -- with Manaos being second -- and because 
Leticia has the best cold storage facilities.  The ACOC is 
also striving to develop export industries of unique 
Amazonian fruits and artisan products, noting that 
transportation costs will still prevent the products from 
having a major impact on the area's economic landscape. 
 
Contributions To Broader Economy Minimal 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  Amazonas contributes less than .05 percent to Colombia's 
GDP.  Forty percent of Amazonas inhabitants are indigenous, 
with ninety-five percent of the Department's territory 
federally designated as indigenous reserve, forest reserve or 
protected area.  Gomez indicated that this land factor 
severely limits Amazonas's economic contribution, but 
explained that the principal role of the region is to 
preserve Colombia's environmental and cultural legacy, a role 
that may well benefit Colombia economically in the future. 
He added that Amazonas Governor Felix Acosta is most 
concerned with promoting sustainable development in the 
Department's 26 indigenous communities.  Specifically, he is 
working toward the incorporation of environmentally sound 
cultivation practices in order to limit extractive 
activities.  The Governor believes that sustainable 
preservation of indigenous communities should be the GOC 
economic priority, followed by tourism and environmental 
research. 
 
Comment: Can Colombia Balance Economic Growth 
With Environmental/Cultural Integrity? 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  With 25 miles of paved roads, surrounded by dense jungle, 
and sitting 1200 kilometers from Bogota, it is clear that the 
Amazonas will never be an economic hub.  This isolation has 
certain benefits, as residents told us that guerrilla 
activity and drug trafficking have been traditionally minimal 
due to the distances and inhospitable conditions in the 
interior.  However, given its strategic geopolitical location 
and vast unemployment, the GOC is looking for means to 
incorporate the region more into the economic mainstream. 
Tourism is the sector with the most potential to generate 
low-impact growth, and the Colombian Amazon should continue 
to attract increasing numbers of travelers if overall 
security conditions in the country remain stable.  However, 
not all local communities have embraced its benefits, noting 
that creating jobs and growth while maintaining cultural and 
environmental integrity is a careful balancing act, and one 
that Colombia has not historically managed with aplomb. 
BROWNFIELD