VICE PRESIDENT SANTOS ELATED ABOUT REELECTION;

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 010055

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CO EC
SUBJECT: VICE PRESIDENT SANTOS ELATED ABOUT REELECTION;
CONCERNED ABOUT CHAVEZ


Classified By: DCM Milton Drucker; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


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Summary
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1. (C) Director of Andean Affairs Philip French and DCM
Drucker called on Vice President Francisco Santos and MFA
Acting Vice Minister for Bilateral Affairs Mauricio Gonzalez
separately on October 19. Santos, speaking minutes after the
announcement that the Constitutional Court approved
reelection, urged the United States to continue strong
support for Colombia, saying that, with U.S. help, Colombia
could be a different place in 2010, after Uribe's second term
as President. Santos said his goal was to work with the U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights to create Colombian
institutions capable of handling human rights issues on their
own so that the U.N. presence could gradually be decreased.
Santos also expressed concern about the growing influence of
Chavez in the region. Acting Vice Minister Gonzalez, who
covers Latin American and Caribbean issues, focused on
regional issues. Gonzalez said a politically weak Defensor
del Pueblo is the motivating force behind Ecuador's case
against aerial spraying of coca crops at the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights (IACHR). Gonzalez said last week's
Ibero-American Summit in Salamanca was more challenging than
expected. The GOC would have preferred to call the FARC, ELN
and AUC "terrorist groups," but was satisfied with the
decision to label them "illegal armed groups who commit
terrorist acts8 in the final declaration.

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Reelection: Colombia Has a Chance Now
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2. (C) Vice President Santos was elated by the news that the
Constitutional Court approved reelection. Minutes after the
decision was announced, he urged the United States to
continue its strong support for Colombia. Santos said if
Uribe is reelected, Colombia will be a different place in
2010, but the United States would be essential in reaching
that goal. According to Santos, with a comparatively small
investment of resources, the United States had the
opportunity to help Colombia get on the right track for the
foreseeable future.

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Need for a New Plan to Counter
Growing Chavez Influence in the Region
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3. (C) Santos said Chavez has &infiltrated8 many countries
in both the Andean and Caribbean regions, demonstrating that
the current containment policy is not effective. Santos,s
concerns were heightened after a recent meeting with the
Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, who said Chavez
is using both bribes and threats to infiltrate the political
and labor arenas. Santos urged the United States, Great
Britain, Spain and the Netherlands ) parties who are
concerned about the growth of Chavez,s influence ) to start
thinking about a new, more aggressive approach to Chavez.
WHA/AND Director French replied that Chavez feeds off any
U.S. comments on Venezuela posturing and suggested the need
for a Latin American-led effort against Chavez, to garner
wider European support. DCM Drucker agreed. Santos did not
reply.

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Santos: U.N. Must Work With Colombia
to Create Human Rights Institutions
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4. (C) Santos expressed frustration with the growing size of
the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in
Bogota. He expressed frustration that little progress is
being made in creating Colombian institutions capable of
dealing with human rights issues while the U.N. mission
continues to grow. Santos said that the GOC knows that it
must improve its human rights record and that it needs help.
However, he believes that the U.N. does not work with
Colombia on human rights issues so much as joins the chorus

of NGO detractors. Santos said he spoke to High Commissioner
Louise Arbour frankly about these issues while in Europe last
month. He was disturbed that she did not know the situation
in Colombia and was unfamiliar with important aspects of the
Law of Justice and Peace. Santos said the GOC plans to
renegotiate the mandate of the office, which runs out in
October 2006. He noted that, as the GOC had invited the
UNHCHR into the country ten years ago, a new mandate would
not require approval by the Commission on Human Rights.
Santos,s goal is to create an exit strategy for the office
of the High Commissioner.

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Meeting with MFA Acting Vice Minister
Ecuador: IACHR Case is Motivated by Defensor del Pueblo
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5. (C) According the Acting Vice Minister Gonzalez, the
Ecuadorian complaint before the IAHCR about aerial spraying
along the border is an emotional issue, colored by political
instability in Ecuador and motivated by the Defensor del
Pueblo. He said the highest levels of the GOE understand
that fumigation is critical to Colombia and that glyphosate
is not harmful to human health. He said the two sides have
had numerous technical meetings on aerial spraying and that
initial Ecuadorian reactions were positive. He blamed the
current IACHR case on an overzealous Defensor del Pueblo and
not the GOE. In his opinion, the questionable election of
the Defensor has motivated him to bring the case before the
IACHR to bolster his legitimacy.

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Uribe,s Victory - of Sorts - in Salamanca
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6. (C) Turning to the topic of last week's Ibero-American
Summit in Salamanca, Gonzalez said the Summit was very
complicated and not the unmitigated success reported in the
Colombian papers. Colombia was surprised at opposition from
other members of the Rio Group on the issue of calling
illegal armed groups in Colombia &terrorists.8 He said the
GOC was also surprised at the ambiguous position of the
Spanish hosts, who had supported the &terrorist8
designation after the four party (Colombia, Spain, Venezuela
and Brazil) meeting on this issue in Ciudad Guyana, Venezuela
earlier this year. After much effort on the part of
President Uribe, the Summit participants compromised, calling
these groups &illegal armed groups that have committed
terrorist acts8 in the final declaration. Gonzalez said the
GOC is satisfied with this result.


7. (U) This message has been cleared by WHA/AND Director
Philip French.
WOOD