VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #2089/01 1822059
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 012059Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9584
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2402
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JUL PANAMA 3797
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 8398
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 9013
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4935
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS PTER CO
SUBJECT: JUNE HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE 
 
REF: A. BOGOTA 2088 
     ¶B. BOGOTA 1845 
     ¶C. BOGOTA 1826 
     ¶D. BOGOTA 1374 
     ¶E. BOGOTA 1338 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  The Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) 
continues to make progress in 'false positive' 
investigations, with 75 people charged for involvement in the 
Soacha scandal and seven members of the Army convicted in 
older cases.  The Fiscalia is currently investigating 1056 
cases--involving 1708 victims--of alleged extrajudicial 
executions committed by security force members between 1985 
and 2009.  Still, the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit registered 
a sharp decline in the number of cases reported in 2008. 
Based on testimony of a former paramilitary, the Fiscalia 
reopened its investigation of the 1989 murders of twelve 
judicial officials in Santander.  The FARC proposed the 
release of two kidnapped soldiers, conditioned on the 
presence of Senator Piedad Cordoba and Gustavo Moncayo.  End 
Summary 
 
INVESTIGATIONS INTO EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  As of May 15, the Human Rights Unit of the 
Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) is investigating 1056 
cases--involving 1708 victims--of alleged extrajudicial 
executions (EJE) committed by security force personnel from 
1985 to 2009.  Forty-two percent of the 1056 cases of 
extrajudicial killings occurred in Antioquia or Meta. 
Members of the Army account for 94% of the 1150 security 
force personnel implicated in the murders.  Still, the Unit's 
extrajudicial killing caseload dropped dramatically in 2008, 
tracking a similar decline in cases reported by the United 
Nations High Commission for Human Rights Office (REFS B and 
C).  The Fiscalia is handling 112 cases from 2008--down from 
a peak of 397 cases in 2007--and has recorded only one case 
so far in 2009. 
 
¶3.  (U)  The Fiscalia continued to make progress in the 
Soacha 'false positive' scandal (REF A).  In total, 72 
members of the army--including three colonels--and three 
civilians have been charged.  In other 'false positive' 
cases, the Fiscalia ordered the preventive detention of three 
marines for the murders of two people in March 2005 in Las 
Palmas (Bolivar).  Two officers and four professional 
soldiers were sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murders 
of two minors from Antioquia in Monteria (Cordoba) on March 
5, 2006.  Army Lieutenant Jose Alejandro Ramirez Riano was 
sentenced to 30 years for the September 2002 'false positive' 
murder of Orlando de Jesus Idarraga Tobon. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Based on the testimony of former paramilitary Alonso 
de Jesus Baquero ("Negro Vladimir"), the Fiscalia reopened 
investigations into the January 1989 La Rochela (Santander) 
massacre of twelve judicial officials by paramilitaries. 
Baquereo testified in March that political leaders, military 
commanders, and paramilitaries had formed a "security pact" 
in the Magdalena Medio.  Former representative Tiberio 
Villarreal and retired generals Alfonso Vacca, Juan Salcedo 
Lora, and Farouk Yanine Diaz (who had already been implicated 
in the crime by the Inter-American Commission on Human 
Rights) have been called to testify. 
 
FARC PROPOSE NEW HOSTAGE RELEASES, 
ATTACK LOCAL GOVERNMENT CARAVAN 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  The FARC proposed on June 28 the release of Sergeant 
Pablo Emilio Moncayo, kidnapped in 1997, and soldier Josue 
Daniel Calvo Nunez, who the FARC claim to have kidnapped 
April 20.  Until the FARC's offer to release Calvo, the Army 
had considered him missing in action.  The FARC conditioned 
the release on the presence of Senator Piedad Cordoba and 
Moncayo's father, Gustavo, but said they would allow the 
International Committee of the Red Cross and the Catholic 
Church to also participate.  Minister of Interior and Justice 
Fabio Valencia Cossio dismissed the new initiative as 
"political grandstanding" and reiterated that all of the 
FARC's hostages should be released immediately.  After the 
FARC's initial offer to release Moncayo to Cordoba in April, 
President Uribe announced that only the Red Cross and 
Catholic Church would be permitted to participate in future 
FARC negotiations (REFS D and E). 
 
¶6.  (U)  The FARC attacked the caravan of San Jose de 
Guaviare Mayor Pedro Arenas on the outskirts of the city on 
June 28.  City Councilman Marcos Baquero is missing, possibly 
kidnapped, and Deputy David Aldana was wounded in the leg. 
The GOC accused the FARC of having conducted the action in 
revenge for eradication efforts that have limited coca 
cultivation in the area. 
 
OTHER NEWS 
---------- 
 
¶7.  (U)  Marino Mestizo, indigenous leader in Caloto (Cauca), 
was killed by two masked gunmen on June 24.  Mestizo had 
reportedly received threats from illegal groups, because he 
opposed cocaine laboratories on the indigenous reservation. 
The situation in Cauca remains tense due to the Fiscalia's 
efforts to prosecute indigenous leaders, including Aida 
Quilcue, for the kidnapping of a policeman during last 
October's disturbances in the region.  Quilcue's husband, 
Edwin Legarda, was killed by Army personnel at a checkpoint 
in Cauca on December 16.  The Fiscalia has arrested seven 
soldiers for the death, but the indigenous remain convinced 
that more senior military officials were also involved. 
 
¶8.  (U)  Sixty-nine members of a Medellin-based human 
trafficking ring were detained June 16; the "Comisionistas" 
ring allegedly forced over 1000 women into prostitution. 
 
Nichols