SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN COLOMBIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 009686 SIPDIS SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2014 TAGS: PGOV PHUM SNAR ECON CO SUBJECT: SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN COLOMBIA Classified By: CDA Milton K. Drucker, Reasons: 1.4 B & D. ¶1. (U) The following are short capsule overviews of significant political and human rights events in Colombia during the week of September 13. -------------- Meta Notables Murdered -------------- ¶2. (U) On September 14, the bullet-riddled bodies of former El Dorado (Meta Department) Mayor and National Peace Prize winner Euser Rondon Vargas, former Governor Carlos Javier Sabogal, and ex-member of Congress Nubia Sanchez were found in an abandoned car on the road between the cities of Briceno and Zipaquira, Cundinamarca Department, near Bogota. All three were members of the Colombia Team ("Equipo Colombia") Party, which opposes current Meta Governor Edilberto Castro Rincon. The deceased had challenged Castro's eligibility for office and questioned overspending on a project to provide school supplies to children. The three had left Bogota on September 13 for an appointment in the town of Tocancipa. Rondon told his bodyguards it was not necessary to accompany him, because the meeting was with someone he trusted. There are no leads in the case. -------------- -------------- Academic Assassinated After Being Cleared by Fiscalia -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Critics of the Uribe Administration's Democratic Security Policy have seized on the September 17 murder of Professor Alfredo Correa by presumed paramilitaries as an example of the dangers of using information from confidential informants to arrest suspected guerrilla collaborators. Correa was arrested by Department of Administrative Security (DAS) agents on June 17 after reinserted guerrillas identified him as a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) Caribbean Front. He was released in early September after the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. Human rights NGOs labeled Correa's arrest an "arbitrary detention." The Colombia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has called for an investigation into his murder. -------------- Indigenous March on Cali -------------- ¶4. (U) Over the course of four days, 60,000 indigenous persons from Cauca, Narino and Putumayo Departments marched 44 miles from the town of Santander de Quilichao, Cauca Department, to Cali, Valle del Cauca Department, to protest violence perpetrated against indigenous communities by illegal armed groups and alleged abuses by security forces. The peaceful march also protested lack of indigenous representation and participation in FTA negotiations. President Uribe had asked the indigenous groups not to march for security reasons and out of concerns about the potential disruption of public order and traffic flow on a major highway. Nonetheless, Uribe explicitly recognized the indigenous groups' right to march peacefully, only insisting on keeping the roads open. During the event, the roads remained open and security forces acted with restraint. -------------- High Profile Resignations -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Vice-Minister of Defense Andres Soto submitted his letter of resignation on September 16, notifying the Minister of Defense of his intent to leave his post by the end of September. Soto's resignation comes as no surprise given his reportedly deteriorating health, waning influence within the Ministry, and speculation that his family's business ventures represented a conflict of interest. Many observers had predicted that Soto's departure would coincide with the UNGA session, although it is unclear why he chose this particularly time to resign. He will be replaced by Jorge Mario Eastman, who has been senior adviser to outgoing OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria for the past two years. SIPDIS Prior to working at the OAS, Eastman served in several posts in the Pastrana Administration, including as liaison to the National Liberation Army (ELN). ¶6. (U) The director of the National Statistics Department (DANE),Cesar Caballero, resigned on September 16 after claiming he had received -- and not for the first time -- inappropriate political pressure from the Office of the President. DANE had recently released, to the GOC's apparent displeasure, the results of its latest "Survey of Victimization" in which only one-third of respondents in Colombia's three largest cities (Bogota, Cali, Medellin) said they felt more secure than a year ago, and two-thirds said they would not report a crime because they did not believe the police would respond. Editorialists fretted about the effects on foreign investment of suggestions that GOC statistics, including economic data, might be politically-motivated. -------------- GOC Seizes La Rebaja Drugstores -------------- ¶7. (C) On September 16, thousands of police, prosecutors, and Government auditors took control of 442 "La Rebaja" drugstore outlets in the GOC's largest seizure of suspected drug trafficking assets. The GOC's Drug Control Office (DNE) is now responsible for administering the chain of stores still technically owned by the notorious Rodriguez Orejuela family. The chain employs about 4,100 workers. Relatives of the jailed Rodriguez Orejuela drug bosses failed to convince the GOC that ownership of La Rebaja had passed to the firm's employees. OFAC and US Customs agree that the Rodriguez Orejuela family continues to control and use La Rebaja. Thousands of the chain's employees demonstrated against the GOC action, either out of fear for their jobs, or prompted by their former employers. Seizure of the chain, however, did not transfer ownership. That transfer can take place only after a lengthy legal process. -------------- Reelection Advancing -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Legislation to authorize presidential reelection continues to grab headlines, as former presidents and pundits debate the issue in public. Several senators plan to introduce a separate bill to transform Colombia into a parliamentary democracy, ostensibly after the next presidential election (2006). Only two steps remain in the legislative process for the reelection bill -- passage by the House Constitutional Affairs Committee followed by the full House. House passage is highly probable, in spite of attacks on reelection by the likes of former President Andres Pastrana. The Constitutional Court, which is composed of justices generally unsympathetic to Uribe, will have to rule on whether the Congressional action complied fully with every aspect of the law. The Court may have the last word. DRUCKER