VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #1701/01 1481128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281128Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8908

UNCLAS BOGOTA 001701 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OVIP PGOV EAID PHUM SNAR ECON PREL CO
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF CODEL MEEKS TO CARTAGENA AND 
TUMACO MAY 28-31, 2009 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Your attendance at the presentation of the Afro-Colombian 
Inter-Sectoral Commission's recommendations to Colombian Vice 
President Santos sends a strong signal of US support for the 
legitimate aspirations of this long-suffering minority.  In addition 
to attending this meeting, you will meet with the mayor of 
Cartagena, visit U.S. assistance initiatives in Cartagena, and on 
Saturday, explore the challenges of Tumaco.  The Tumaco leg of your 
trip is particularly important, as you will be among the only U.S. 
Congressmen ever to visit this impoverished, violence-blighted 
region of Colombia, home to a significant Afro-descendent 
population.  In Tumaco you will see first-hand the difficult 
security situation, meeting with both victims of violence and with 
security providers who will relate their challenges.  Tumaco is a 
pilot area of the Embassy's Colombia Strategic Development 
Initiative (CSDI), and we plan to show you how we are working to 
reduce narco-trafficking that ultimately victimizes Americans in the 
US while simultaneously attacking the roots of violence and poverty 
in Colombia that allows narco-trafficking to thrive here.  You 
should be aware that five of the eight members of the Afro-Colombian 
Afro-Colombian Congressional Caucus (Bancada) are currently under 
investigation for criminal activity; you should be wary of their 
attempts to use you for ends not specifically related to the plight 
of their community.  End Summary. 
 
 
Afro-Colombian Commission Presentation of Recommendations 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Inter-Sectoral Commission for the Advancement of 
Afro-Colombians, chaired by Vice President Francisco Santos, will 
present its recommendations to the public on May 29.  For the past 
year and a half, the Commission has met with over 4,000 
representatives of the Afro-Colombian communities throughout the 
country.  During the event Vice President Santos will sign 
agreements with Colombian political parties to create incentives to 
encourage greater Afro-Colombian political participation, and to 
encourage universities to create incentives that raise the numbers 
of Afro-Colombians in institutions of higher education. The 
agreement with political parties is focused in enforcing the rights 
of Afro-Colombians and by ensuring they are fairly represented in 
elections lists for the Senate, House of Representatives, regional 
assemblies and city councils.  According to the 2005 census, 
Afro-Colombians make up 10.6% of the total population, but 
Afro-Colombian groups claim they account for 25% of all Colombians. 
The agreement with universities is focused in increasing access to 
higher education institutions, conducting assessments on 
competitiveness, and promoting affirmative action to fulfill the 
needs of Afro-Colombians at all levels of education. 
 
¶3. (U) The Commission principal findings as to the causes of 
Afro-Colombian disadvantages are: 
 
-- Low participation and representation in political and 
institutional decision-making processes. 
 
- Restricted access to quality basic and higher education, which 
limits quality employment opportunities and perpetuates poverty. 
Unequal access to the labor market; employment focused on low-wage, 
low-specialization jobs. 
 
-- Racism and racial discrimination. 
 
-- Unequal access to social and economic development opportunities. 
 
-- Low self-recognition and recognition of the value of ethnic and 
cultural diversity. 
 
-- Low availability of information for the Afro-Colombian 
population, hindering development of adequate public policies 
adjusted to ethnic and territorial differences. 
 
¶4. (U) The Commission's principal recommendations are: 
 
-- Increase political representation by providing incentives to 
political parties to favor the election of Afro-Colombian 
candidates. 
 
-- Increase access and create incentives for public and private 
institutions. Focus on inter-cultural education.  Develop quota 
system for scholarships for higher education. Strengthen schools in 
Afro-Colombian municipalities.  Creation of a National Award for 
Inclusion of Ethnic Diversity. 
 
-- Seek participation of Afro-Colombians in labor market that, at 
least, matches the percentage of Afro-Colombians in the country. 
Incorporate ethnic businesses in government procurement. 
 
-- Support legislative projects to penalize racism. 
 
-- Foster entrepreneurship amongst Afro-Colombian population. Create 
tax incentives for private sector companies who develop diversity 
policies.  Create social responsibility certification for companies 
that develop diversity policies.  Include Afro-Colombians in 
companies that have agreements to conduct business in Afro-Colombian 
territories. 
 
-- Special mention of inclusion of Afro-Colombians to the Armed 
Forces. 
 
-- Develop ethnic diversity promotion campaign.  Re-write 
Afro-Colombian history.  Create centers that promote Afro-Colombian 
cultural memory. 
 
-- Differentiated approach in governmental information system. 
Government information systems should be more inclusive of ethnic 
groups. 
 
The full text of the commission's findings will be available upon 
your arrival in Cartagena. 
 
¶5. (U) USAID provided a grant to The Afro-Colombian Commission to 
fund 14 workshops in diverse municipalities.  The Afro-Colombian 
Commission has also requested assistance delivering a public policy 
proposal to the GOC to create "sustainable" living conditions for 
Afro-Colombians.  The total USAID support for the Afro-Colombian 
Commission is approximately USD 280,000. 
 
U.S. Assistance to Las Islas del Rosario 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) USAID provides support for internally displaced persons 
and other vulnerable communities in Colombia.  In Cartagena, you 
will visit Las Islas del Rosario.  Through the Pan American 
Development Foundation, USAID has provided USD 240,000 to develop 
eco-tourism and other investment for Islas del Rosario and other 
municipalities in Bolivar and Sucre.  The assistance has focused on 
health, education, psycho-social assistance, basic sanitation, 
income generation, and institution-strengthening.  You met with 
representatives from the island and the project during one of your 
recent visits to Cartagena. 
 
U.S. Assistance to Tumaco, Narino 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Tumaco municipality, where you will spend Saturday, May 30, 
is in many ways a case study both of the challenge to the U.S. of 
ending narco-trafficking in Colombia, and to the broader --but 
closely related-- challenges facing rural Colombia.  Ninety-two 
percent of the population of Tumaco is Afro-Colombian.  As a result 
of coca cultivation and trade, Tumaco's residents suffer serious 
security problems and economic dislocations that prevent the port 
city from taking advantage of its favored location near the Ecuador 
border on the Pacific coast to promote economic growth.  The city 
experienced serious flooding in early February that affected over 
30,000 people.  The floods destroyed thousands of homes and an 
estimated 20,000 hectares of productive agriculture, much of it 
African palm.  We provided over USD 300,000 in flood assistance to 
the affected communities. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Tumaco and the broader Narino/Putumayo border region are 
vital to building a safer, more secure Colombia.  Only by 
definitively bringing rule of law and the prospect of economic 
development to rural areas of Colombia can we assure that they 
voluntarily leave narco-trafficking behind.  Tumaco municipality is 
the size of the state of Rhode Island, yet has only ten percent of 
Rhode Island's population.   With only one decent road, which you 
will overfly on Saturday, and a lengthy, lawless, and porous border 
with Ecuador, police and security forces scarcely penetrate outside 
of the urban core of the municipality.  Over 15,000 hectares of coca 
are grown in Tumaco municipality annually, and this illegal 
agriculture is closely intertwined with the exploitation of 
Afro-Colombian peasants. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Under these challenging conditions, the Embassy's decision 
to implement a pilot project of the Colombia Strategic Development 
Initiative (CSDI) is an integrated attack on the roots of 
narco-trafficking in the worst problem areas in Colombia.  In 
choosing Tumaco we are aware of the challenges we face, but believe 
that the potential benefits are enormous.  Our strategy is focused 
on a simple premise: given security, and economic alternatives, 
people will abandon criminal coca-growing activity and seek to enter 
a licit economy that provides far wider opportunities for 
themselves, their children, and their grandchildren.   To achieve 
this paradigm shift, the Embassy is undertaking the following 
activities in Tumaco, as well as beginning others: 
 
Improving Security For All 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Embassy, through the Narcotics Affairs Section, is 
comprehensively strengthening the ability of Colombian police forces 
 
to assert security in Tumaco and drive out illicit actors: 
 
-- We are strengthening training for police officers, improving 
police stations, and providing basic equipment to improvement their 
ability to enforce the law. 
 
-- We are continuing a comprehensive aerial eradication program that 
seeks to eliminate the financial viability of growing illegal crops, 
therefore reducing incentives for illegal actors to remain in 
Tumaco. 
 
-- We are supporting GOC efforts to manually eradicate illegal crops 
as well. 
 
-- Through our Pacific Coast Initiative, we will spend USD 10 
million on the Pacific Coast to enhance the ability of the GOC to 
capture illegal traffickers and crack down on violent actors who use 
the seas to transit up and down the coast. 
 
 
¶11. (U) In Tumaco, you will visit several USAID supported programs 
including a travelling family health clinic--Profamilia.  Profamilia 
and USAID have a long history together, reaching back to 1969 when 
USAID began to support Profamilia's then cutting-edge family 
planning program.  Since 2000, USAID's funds have been used to 
expand Profamilia's work into some of Colombia's most remote and 
conflict-riddled regions. USAID's current program with Profamilia is 
valued at USD 9.8 million and is active in 169 Colombian 
municipalities.  The IDP Community Association of Cristo Rey in 
Tumaco also receives assistance from USAID IDP and Alternative 
Development programs for the construction of their 105 unit housing 
project. USAID/Colombia is reprogramming up to an additional USD 
30,000 of IDP and ADO funds, based on continued need, through 
existing USAID grants.  Existing USAID partners in the area, along 
with input from the MDRO, are looking at means to address 
medium-term food security concerns through existing grants and 
contracts.  In Tumaco you will also meet with two women's clam 
harvesting associations supported by USAID's MIDAS program to gain 
their perspective on economic opportunities. 
 
The Promise of Tumaco 
--------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) While our Tumaco CSDI projects are still in their infancy, 
our desire is to show you what we plan to do to implement them in 
the months to come.  You are coming at an opportune moment during 
which you will both be able to see the violent reality of today and 
the hopeful contours of a policy which should pay dramatic dividends 
as we begin to implement.  We hope you will return to the United 
States both from the Cartagena and Tumaco portions of your trip with 
a deeper understanding of the need for an integrated approach to 
Colombia's problems that tackles our narco-trafficking challenge 
while at the same time helping Colombia develop in a way that 
assists poor Colombians develop themselves out of the conditions 
that have allowed narco-trafficking to fester here.  We believe the 
key to the challenges facing both the Afro-Colombian communities, 
poor communities such as Tumaco, and Colombia itself, are best 
addressed by a comprehensive security plus development approach that 
provides people both the security tools to make their own decisions 
without coercion as well as the tools to turn these choices into 
reality though economic development. 
 
 
Legal Problems in the Afro-Colombian "Bancada" 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Over 70 members of the Colombian congress have been 
implicated in links to paramilitary groups with more than 30 in 
jail.  Five of the eight members of the Afro-Colombian Congressional 
Caucus (Bancada) have been implicated in criminal activity.  While 
some charges are related to the tortuous political landscape of 
Colombia, and include allegations of association with human rights 
violators, other charges appear to be affairs of simple corruption. 
The various scandals have severely damaged the Bancada's image among 
the Afro-Colombian community.  While the nature of their 
responsibilities requires you to work with these commission members, 
you should be wary of their attempts to use you for ends not 
specifically related to the Afro-Colombian community.  The specific 
cases are: 
 
-Rep. Odin Sanchez (Chocs): Investigated by the Supreme Court for 
relationship with the ELN (guerrilla group) and AUC (paramilitary 
group). 
 
-Rep. Edgar Torres (Chocs): Investigated by the Supreme Court for 
relationship with the ELN (guerrilla group) and AUC (paramilitary 
group). 
 
-Rep. Silfredo Morales (Afro-Colombian special seat-Bolivar): 
Investigated by the Supreme Court for misuse of state funds, 
corruption, and contracting without due legal process while he was 
Mayor of Marialabaja, Bolivar. E 
 
-Rep. Julio Gallardo (San Andrs Island): Investigated by the 
Supreme Court for misuse of state funds for over cost purchase of 
vehicles for congress. 
 
-Sen. Juan Carlos Martnez (Valle del Cauca): Quit his seat at the 
senate due to Supreme Court investigation for close relationship 
with paramilitary groups and narco-trafficking organizations.  He is 
currently incarcerated awaiting trial. 
 
BROWNFIELD