VIOLENCE IN CALI ON THE RISE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 009676

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2014
TAGS: EAID MOPS PINR SNAR CO PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE IN CALI ON THE RISE

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Milton K. Drucker for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) In mid September, Emboffs discussed security issues
with local officials in Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca
Department. Despite an overall improvement in most security
indicators, the murder rate in the department has increased
substantially this year. A combination of several factors
has contributed to the highest per capita murder rate in the
country: a violent rivalry between two powerful drug
traffickers, an absence of real legal punishments for minors,
lack of access to adequate employment, and increased gang
related activity. At the same time, Cali's outlook is
improving as security programs and investment work to provide
options and protection for the community. End Summary.

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Homicide Rate Increasing
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2. (C) Homicides in Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca
Department, have increased over the past few years. Cali's
murder rate is now the highest in the country. According to
Colonel Oscar Lopez, acting Commander of the Army's 3rd
Brigade, there had been 1,742 murders in Cali as of September
13, compared with a total of 1,634 in 2003. Cali Police
Commander General Mario Gutierrez said Cali averages 8.3
deaths per day, including criminals killed in shoot-outs with
police and military forces.


3. (C) Municipal authorities attribute the escalating
homicide rate primarily to the rivalry between drug
traffickers Wilber Varela (alias "Jabon") and Diego Montoya
Sanchez. Varela and Montoya finance numerous loosely
organized militias that act as private gangs to conduct
cocaine trafficking, weapons transfers, money laundering, and
selective assassinations. Varela and Sanchez, who inherited
the remnants of the Cali Cartel in the late 1990s, used to
work together but are now competitors. Varela is known to
work with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
and Montoya has confirmed ties with paramilitary groups.
Cali's widespread poverty and unemployment have provided
Varela and Montoya with a ready supply of able-bodied youths
prepared to engage in criminal activities, including
selective assassinations.


4. (C) Increasing violence is also ascribed to conflicts
between neighborhood gangs unrelated to the Varela/Montoya
rivalry, fighting between guerrilla and paramilitary urban
militias, and poverty-driven crime. According to Valle del
Cauca Governor Angelino Garzon, 60 percent of homicides in
the department are a result of clashes between armed
criminals, while 40 percent are attacks on unarmed victims.
On September 14, Governor Garzon's personal driver was
murdered. The motive for the murder is unclear.

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Overburdened Government Resources
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5. (C) Local authorities explained the difficulties of
overcoming rising levels of violence in Cali. Gangs are
abundant and loosely affiliated, making it difficult to
identify them and bring their members to justice.
Downtrodden youth drawn into illegal activities far outnumber
Cali's security forces. 2,000 police and 220 military troops
work in Cali, and are limited by poor logistics and a lack of
transportation, communications, and communications intercept
equipment. The Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia"),
with only 265 prosecutors for the entire department, has a
backlog of approximately 2,500 cases. The Departmental
Fiscalia Director noted that Cali's prosecutors cannot even
come close to investigating each of the approximately eight
murders that happen each day. Prosecutors work under
strenuous conditions, are overburdened by their caseloads,
and regularly receive death threats.

6. (C) Local officials complained that Cali's already thinly
stretched security forces are saddled with the additional
task of combating major counterfeiting rings, who maintain
intricate connections to drug trafficking, arms smuggling,
and militia groups. Cali is Colombia's largest producer of
counterfeit bills, owing to a well developed infrastructure
based in legitimate paper making, graphic arts and
typography, and Cali's strategic proximity to various
criminal entities. Cali's security forces seized nearly 3
million USD in counterfeit money this year, and the
Department of Administrative Security (DAS ) Colombia's
equivalent to the FBI) has established a special team to
investigate and dismantle counterfeiting and money laundering
organizations. Both are supported by U.S. law enforcement
agencies.

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Problematic Policies
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7. (C) Government officials cited the absence of real
punishments for minors as another obstacle to reducing the
murder rate. Interlocutors told us Colombian law does not
allow any person under the age of eighteen to be sent to
jail. Instead, a minor detained by law enforcement
authorities must be delivered to the head of his or her
household, or, in the event the minor does not have family,
turned over to the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF).
Narcotraffickers capitalize on this virtual immunity to
recruit minors to act as their personal henchmen. Contacts
in the Police, Army, and Fiscalia complained that youths
released after being detained for murder or other violent
crimes often commit additional offenses soon after being
freed. The ICBF has only basic infrastructure in Cali and
cannot provide an attractive alternative to a life of crime
for many of Cali's youth.

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Calls For Greater Social Investment
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8. (C) Valle del Cauca Governor Angelino Garzon and Cali
Mayor Apolinar Salcedo emphasized that Cali's endemic
violence calls for greater civic outreach. Marginalized
youth drawn into Cali's gangs live in poverty-stricken and
densely populated neighborhoods with minimal access to
education and employment opportunities. Drug addiction,
prostitution, and armed violence have become a way of life.
The continuing influx of displaced persons, numbering around
38,000 and generally from the violence-torn Departments of
Choco and Narino, exacerbates these basic standard-of-living
deficiencies. According to Garzon and Salcedo, Valle's
already limited resources are compounded by a debt burden
totaling 550 billion Colombian pesos (approximately 220
million USD).


9. (C) Monsignor Juan Zarasti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop
of Cali, said that although the city's leaders are well
intentioned, many of their policies foster criminality and do
not effectively address the real cause of violence. A local
human rights NGO echoed these sentiments, complaining that
the government is too focused on increasing the police and
military presence in the city but is failing to provide even
basic social services.

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A Coordinated Approach
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10. (C) The military, police, DAS, and Fiscalia have formed a
joint security campaign called "Cali Segura" (Safe Cali).
The program is a coordinated effort to decentralize security
and justice services and gain the confidence of the local
population. State institutions aim to encourage residents to
respect the rule of law and cooperate with authorities in
combating illegal militias. The program focuses on the most
violent neighborhoods located in the eastern part of the city
near the Cauca River, collectively referred to as "Agua
Blanca." In a city of almost 3 million people, Agua Blanca
houses over 1 million. As part of Cali Segura, the police
and military provide 24-hour street patrols and security for
school buses and community events. The Fiscalia is working
to strengthen its witness protection program. Agua Blanca
has a U.S.-funded "Casa de Justicia" (Justice House) where
residents can voice legal grievances and seek legal advice,
but the Casa de Justicia does not have an active law
enforcement role.

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The Good News
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11. (C) Despite escalating violence in the region, almost all
other security indicators have improved this year, including
kidnappings, extortion and theft. Local officials claimed
that guerrilla and paramilitary groups have been pushed out
of the city, and that the rate of displaced persons
relocating to Cali, although still high, is decreasing.


12. (C) The Governor touted Valle del Cauca's diverse and
expanding economy. Previously buoyed by powerful drug
cartels, Valle's economy collapsed following their takedown
in the mid-1990s. Although Valle represents the third
largest producer of exports in Colombia, including sugar,
coffee, corn based foods, pharmaceuticals, graphic arts,
cement, electrical and industrial materials, paper, and
leather goods, many of these will be affected negatively by a
free trade agreement. Historically, Cali was a center of
foreign investment, but that has been reduced as Medellin
eclipses Cali. According to Governor Garzon, Valle's
unemployment rate is beginning to fall. As a result of
recent restructuring, the department is on track to pay its
debt in full by 2010. Ana Lucia Jaramillo, Director of the
American Chamber of Commerce in Valle del Cauca, said there
are about 50 U.S. firms in Cali, and foreign investors are
showing renewed interest, largely as a result of improved
overall security.
DRUCKER