VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #0600/01 0481330
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171328Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2843
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000600 

SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PTER PHUM EAID SNAR CO
SUBJECT: JANUARY COLOMBIA STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT INTIATIVE UPDATE 

REF: BOGOTA 186 

Summary 

------- 



¶1. (SBU) The GOC made progress to secure adequate civilian ministry 
commitment to the National Consolidation Plan (PNC) but a great 
deal of work remains to be done.  The Center for the Coordination 
of Integrated Action (CCAI) mapped consolidation regions down to 
the village level, which should facilitate the important tasks of 
creating a plan for permanent citizen security and an operational 
plan for each zone.  The National Parks director highlighted the 
link between security, consolidation, and conservation.  The GOC 
worked towards sustainability in a program designed to generate 
economic opportunities in Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities 
in southern Colombia.  The GOC is aligning its 2010 manual 
eradication strategy with consolidation, but security challenges 
(including four possible electoral events this year) will make 
objectives difficult to achieve.  Three NGOs discussed lack of 
awareness of the PNC among civil society and the need for more GOC 
outreach.  End Summary. 



Civilian Ministries Increasingly Engaged 

---------------------------------------- 



¶2. (SBU) In January, the GOC made some positive steps forward in 
the interagency process, though much work remains to secure 
adequate civilian ministry commitments.  First, the National 
Planning Department (DNP) completed an interagency exercise to 
identify the totality of GOC programs in consolidation zones to 
understand the various channels that resources could take to 
support consolidation.  Second, the PNC was presented to the 
Council of Ministers, with President Uribe's attendance, on January 
27 and deepened interest from several key Ministries including 
Transportation, Mines and Energy, and Interior and Justice (though 
Agriculture was reportedly "inflexible").  Finally, the CCAI (GOC's 
PNC coordinating mechanism) will formalize its Directive Committee 
(vice ministerial level PNC coordinating meeting) discussions with 
signed minutes. 



Mapping Consolidation 

--------------------- 



¶3. (U) CCAI has further defined the PNC's geographic area, mapping 
each of the government's 101 priority municipalities (counties) 
down to the village level and identifying family and population 
numbers in each.  The mapping exercise should facilitate 
identifying key population centers, developing security plans for 
territorial control, and creating comprehensive operational plans. 



National Parks - Consolidation and Conservation 

--------------------------------------------- -- 



¶4. (SBU) National Parks, such as the NudodelParamillo in the 
Northern Band (straddling northern Antioquia and southern Cordoba 
departments) and the Macarena and Tinigua (Meta department) in the 
Central Band, account for a large portion of the ungoverned spaces 
in consolidation zones.  Illegal armed groups and homesteaders take 
advantage of the lack of state presence to operate and grow coca, 
damaging the environment.  At a CCAI Directive Committee, Parks 


Director Julia Miranda lauded her agency's partnership with the 
military and police during the consolidation process to extend 
state presence into more parkland and thus protect reserves.  As a 
continuing challenge, she highlighted the threat to water 
conservation efforts in the Nudo del Paramillo posed by four fronts 
of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).  Miranda also 
advocated for the Institute for Colombian Rural Development 
(INCODER) to advance clarification for titling of fallow lands and 
the relocation of homesteaders out of the Macarena parks. 



Protecting Investment in Afro-Colombian 

and Indigenous Beneficiary Communities 

--------------------------------------- 



¶5. (U) Narino Regional Coordination Center (RCC) Civilian 
Coordinator Ernesto Moreno has been charged with the priority task 
of ensuring the permanent protection of the Productive Ethnic 
Territories (TEP) project beneficiary communities in Narino and 
Cauca to guarantee the sustainability of that investment.  The TEP 
program was designed to generate economic opportunities for 
Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations in southwestern Colombia 
(e.g., Narino, Cauca and Valle del Cauca). 



GOC Aligning 2010 Manual Eradication 

Strategy with Consolidation 

------------------------------------ 



¶6. (SBU) Accion Social has focused its 2010 manual eradication 
strategy on consolidation zones.  The three top priorities will be 
theNudo del Paramillo (in the newly activated CSDI Northern Band), 
the Plan for the Integrated Consolidation of the Macarena (PCIM) 
region, and western Antioquia.  Accion Social officials noted that 
the goal is zero coca in the first two zones and the rest of the 
country's coca efforts would focus on containing cultivation.  A 
pilot program in the Nudo del Paramillo will integrate manual 
eradication with food subsidies and alternative development 
opportunities for coca farmers.  CSDI will be following this pilot 
closely to monitor its success and to what extent it integrates 
into the GOC's consolidation plans for this strategic region.  The 
conflict between the "race for hectares eradicated" and territory 
consolidated still needs to be fully resolved, and the GOC has once 
more set an ambitious 70,000 hectare goal for manual eradication in 
¶2010.  This may mean that manual eradicators are directed towards 
areas where they can quickly boost their numbers instead of 
concentrating activity in places where social and economic programs 
can be jointly implemented. 



¶7. (SBU) Ministry of Defense officials noted that total control of 
coca cultivation in the Nudo del Paramillo region would be 
challenging since security resources for manual eradication teams 
will be stretched thin this year given the possibility of four 
national elections (congressional, referendum, and up to two 
presidential rounds).  Adding to the difficulty were dangerous 
security conditions in coca cultivation zones including active 
combQ and the employment of mines in coca fields.  Local 
commanders in northern Antioquia emphasized the security challenge 
by noting that 640 mines were seized in the area in one week and 
that the 25th Mobile Brigade had suffered dozens of injuries from 
landmine and IED-related incidents, many resulting in amputations, 
over the last year. 



NGOs Discuss Lack of Outreach 

----------------------------- 



¶8. (SBU) In a meeting with international donors on January 19, 
Gloria Florez of MINGA, Nancy Sanchez of INDEPAZ, and Father Rafael 
Castillo of the Development and Peace Network Foundation of Montes 
de Maria discussed Colombian civil society's lack of PNC 
understanding and its need to enter the PNC discussion.  Florez
cited a lack of dialogue when the GOC chose its priority zones and 
established RCCs.  Castillo added that Montes de Maria communities 
do not understand why only four of the fifteen municipalities were 
initially targeted.  He acknowledged that the written plan 
stipulates that consolidation efforts will spread to the other 
eleven municipalities over time but noted this was not well 
understood.  Sanchez explained that there was an overall lack of 
understanding in communities about the PNC structure, objectives 
and implementation as well as little transparency about incoming 
resources.  Castillo said that as written, there is nothing wrong 
with PNC concepts but he has not seen them implemented or explained 
in practice.  All three agreed that there is no access to 
information and more outreach is needed to NGOs. 



CSDI Training Judicial First Responders 

--------------------------------------- 



¶9. (U) NAS sponsored judicial first-responder training to 100 local 
police and military personnel in Tumaco in December.  This training 
improves local authorities' crime scene management and evidence 
collection skills.  As many criminal cases in Colombia cannot be 
built due to poor first-responder work, the police and prosecutors 
believe that such training will increase criminal cases brought to 
court.  This training is also taking place in CSDI Central and 
Northern bands from February to April.
BROWNFIELD