Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03GUATEMALA555
2003-03-03 16:48:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

MEETING WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL DE LEON

Tags:  PGOV PREL SNAR PHUM GT CACS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000555 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR PHUM GT CACS
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL DE LEON


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000555

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR PHUM GT CACS
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL DE LEON



1. (SBU) Summary: In a dinner conversation February 28, De
Leon told the Ambassador that he would seek to energize
investigations of murdered American citizens and labor
leaders, to beef up his office on money laundering
investigations and said that, if invited, he would attend the
next high-level meeting on counter-narcotics cooperation with
the Ambassador. He professes to be a big supporter of the
proposal to investigate clandestine groups, but opposes the
human rights, ombudsman,s key role in the selection of
members. End summary.


2. (SBU) De Leon and his wife hosted the Ambassador and Mrs.
Hamilton to dinner February 28. This was mostly a social
occasion, but covered the following substantive topics:

Murdered American citizens
--------------

3. (SBU) The Ambassador briefed De Leon on his meeting,
February 27, with the special prosecutor assigned to American
citizen cases (septel),commenting that she and her two
assistants seemed sincere and well-intentioned, but
over-whelmed by the difficulty of the cases (to which she was
assigned after initial investigations were bungled or
non-existent). Would it be possible to take her out of the
normal duty rotation, in order to lighten her caseload? De
Leon avoided saying yes, but did agree to another suggestion,
that he meet with her to review progress in the cases every
month or two. The Ambassador said he would continue to meet
with her every two months, noting that progress in these
cases is a high priority for us and that they could figure
prominently in Congressional debates on CAFTA approval and
the like.

Labor rights
--------------

4. (SBU) The Ambassador briefed De Leon on the AFL-CIO GSP
petition, telling him that unresolved cases of threats and
violence against labor leaders figure centrally in the
petition. To date, none of the cases of the last two years
has been resolved. Could he take an interest in these cases
and seek to energize the prosecutors handling them? De Leon
said he would.

Clandestine Group Investigation Proposal
-------------- --------------

5. (SBU) De Leon professed to be a strong supporter of the
need to investigate and prosecute clandestine groups but,
toward the end of the evening, returned to this topic to say
he opposed having the Human Rights Ombudsman produce the
slate of names for three members (as proposed by Human Rights
Watch official Jose Miguel Vivanco). De Leon was so adamant
about this seemingly innocuous feature of the proposal that
it belied his claim to favor it.

Counter-narcotics meeting
--------------

6. (SBU) The Ambassador tweaked De Leon for pledging
personally to attend the February 21 high-level meeting on
drug cooperation only not to be represented at all. Looking
sheepish, De Leon said he had meant to come but got tied up
in the teachers, strike and that, in any event, the public
ministry had not been invited this time. The Ambassador said
we would check with the foreign ministry about participation.

Money laundering investigations
--------------

7. (SBU) The Ambassador told De Leon frankly that his office
on money laundering investigations is seriously understaffed,
that the financial analysis unit in the tax superintendency
is raring to go but has a weak partner in the public
ministry. De Leon acknowledged the point and promised to
beef up the office significantly, when he gets a total of 150
new auxiliary prosecutors in about another month.


8. (SBU) In an unsolicited comment, De Leon gave our visa
revocation of Attorney Fernando Linares a big thumbs up.

Bio note
--------------

9. (SBU) De Leon,s wife, Maria del Maria Carpio Nicole, is
the daughter of former vice president Roberto Carpio Nicole
(1985-1990) and the niece of politician and newspaper editor
Jorge Carpio Nicole, who was assassinated in 1993. Her first
cousin, Jorge Carpio,s son, was married to Karen Fischer, De
Leon,s special prosecutor on corruption. The De Leon,s
have a 15-year-old daughter, Michelle, who lives with Mrs. De
Leon's sister and two cousins in Boston, attending high
school there, out of the De Leons, concern that his job puts
her security at risk in Guatemala. The De Leons spent a year
at the Kennedy School at Harvard in the late 1980s; he was a
classmate of Jose Maria Figueres, who was subsequently
(1994-1998) President of Costa Rica. The De Leon's live in
a modest home 15 kilometers outside Guatemala City.
HAMILTON