SUCRE DEPARTMENT: STRUGGLING WITH SECURITY AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 010484

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2014
TAGS: PTER PHUM ASEC PINR SNAR CO
SUBJECT: SUCRE DEPARTMENT: STRUGGLING WITH SECURITY AND
SOCIAL PROBLEMS


Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) During a visit to Sincelejo, capital of Sucre
Department, Embassy officials observed that security is
improving only slowly in this traditionally violent area,
where the Uribe administration briefly gave the police and
military state-of-emergency powers in 2002. The notorious
Montes de Maria region has a permanent police presence,
seizures of illegal drug shipments and civilian road travel
are increasing, and certain acts of terrorism have decreased.
However, murders and attacks on rural estates are on the
rise, and the region is increasingly dominated by a
paramilitary strongman, who has completely disregarded the
AUC cease-fire. The FARC and ELN have maintained a presence
in central Sucre. Socially and economically, the department
faces daunting challenges, including a large internally
displaced population, high unemployment, and illiteracy. End
Summary.

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Former Rehabilitation Zone Struggling for Security
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2. (C) Sucre Department is notorious for guerrilla and
paramilitary violence, especially in the central region of
Montes de Maria, where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) have a strong presence and the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) have been vying for
dominance since about 2000. In 2001, the AUC massacred 21
civilians in Chengue, a small village in the Montes de Maria
region. Violence and instability in the Montes de Maria area
led the Uribe administration to designate central Sucre one
of two "rehabilitation and consolidation zones" in 2002,
which gave the police and military state-of-emergency powers.
These expanded powers were short-lived, however, as the
Constitutional Court abolished the zones several months after
they were established. Since that time, the government has
made slow progress in combating violence and illicit activity
in the department. There are almost 1,500 members of the
Colombian National Police (CNP) in Sucre, and the
departmental commander told us his goal is to work with
department's Marine and Army units to reduce crime and
increase operations by ten percent each.

-- Last year, all six municipalities in the Montes de Maria
received squadrons of rural mounted police ("carabineros").
Several of these municipalities had never had a police
presence and had become accustomed to FARC influence. The
department has one EMCAR (mobile police squadron) of 150
police.

-- The two principle highways leading to Cartagena and
Barranquilla, which illegal armed groups use for drug
trafficking and illegal roadblocks, are closed after 6:00
p.m. Highway police patrol the roads and the police
commander told us that travel, especially by tourists driving
to the coast, has increased. During the trip, Embassy
officials drove several hours from Monteria, Cordoba
Department, to Sincelejo.

-- Drug seizures in the department are increasing. Earlier
this year, the police seized a 700 kilogram shipment of
cocaine -- the largest seizure ever in Sucre -- on its way to
Cartagena.

-- So far in 2004, there have been no reported illegal
roadblocks and only five kidnappings. In 2003, by
comparison, there were five roadblocks and 43 kidnappings,
and 11 roadblocks and 51 kidnappings in 2002.


3. (C) Nevertheless, the department's security situation
remains tenuous, and paramilitary and FARC presence is a
serious problem. Murders increased by three percent between
January and September of 2004, and guerrilla attacks on rural
estates are a growing problem. As of September 1, nine
ranches had been burned.

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AUC Cease-Fire Disregarded
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4. (C) Nearly all our interlocutors emphasized that
paramilitary commander Rodrigo Antonio Mercado Pelufo (alias
"Rodrigo Cadena") exerts significant control over Sincelejo
and most of the department's coastal municipalities and is
vying for dominance in the Montes de Maria region. There
are an estimated 400 paramilitary fighters in Sucre.
Although Mercado is formally a member of the AUC's Northern
Bloc -- commanded by Salvatore Mancuso -- and should be
obeying the unilateral cease-fire the AUC declared in 2002,
all our interlocutors agreed that he is conducting business
as usual: drug trafficking, struggling with guerrillas over
territory, and intimidating the public. The departmental
police commander assured us that Cadena is the police's
number one paramilitary target. Cadena was implicated in the
Chengue massacre and the murder of a judge in 2002.


5. (C) A human rights NGO affiliated with the University of
Sucre, as well as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sincelejo,
questioned the local government's commitment to capturing
Cadena and combating the paramilitaries. The NGO noted that
Cadena is widely known to have a home in Sincelejo's most
posh neighborhood but authorities look the other way. The
Bishop complained that many city government officials are AUC
sympathizers who come from families that have long supported
paramilitary activity. He said guerrilla control over many
rural government officials is equally troubling.

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Guerrillas: Still in Montes de Maria
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6. (C) The FARC's 35th and 37th fronts, with about 200
members each, operate in rural areas of Montes de Maria and
elsewhere in central and southern Sucre. The National
Liberation Army's (ELN) Jaime Bateman Canyon Front cooperates
closely with the FARC. Although the guerrilla presence has
been mostly eliminated in Sincelejo, it is still a major
source of concern for the security forces in rural areas. A
former mayor of one of the Montes de Maria municipalities
noted that in 2000 she was the only mayor who was not forced
to govern her municipality by proxy from Sincelejo. With the
increased police presence today, all six mayors govern from
their towns, although FARC death threats and attacks on
ranches continue.

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Pressing Social Problems
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7. (C) Economically and socially, Sucre is in dire straits.
According to our interlocutors, Sucre has one of the highest
rates of illiteracy and internally displaced persons in the
country. There are between 60,000 and 90,000 displaced
persons in Sucre (primarily in Sincelejo),most of whom have
been displaced by violence elsewhere in Sucre or in the
departments of Antioquia or Choco. Since Sucre's total
population is only 600,000, the displaced population may be
as high as 15 percent. Upon taking office, the mayor
installed streetlights and built several roads in Sincelejo's
poorest neighborhoods and is building or expanding six
elementary schools with assistance from the government of
Japan. However, both he and the governor expressed
frustration at their inability to provide adequate assistance
to the displaced and unemployed.
WOOD