COLOMBIA HAS NO PLANS FOR REPRESENTATION IN IRAQ

UNCLAS BOGOTA 004875 SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO NEA AND PMAT. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT PREL IZ CO SUBJECT: COLOMBIA HAS NO PLANS FOR REPRESENTATION IN IRAQ REF: STATE 089241 As instructed by reftel, post briefed the GOC on U.S. plans for our mission to Iraq, and asked for their plans for representation. The MFA's Director for Asia, Africa, and Oceania, Ambassador Guillermo Orjuela, advised post that GOC has no plans for representation. He noted that the MFA has closed several embassies, including their mission to Iran in 2002, as part of austerity measures introduced by the Uribe Administration. He said that the GOC did not have relations with Iraq prior to the war. Drawing on memory, he added that in the late 1970s the GOC conducted relations with Iraq via their mission in Vienna. We will advise of any changes in the GOC position. WOOD