ELN PEACE HOUSE AT ONE MONTH: INTERNATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 010106

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2015
TAGS: PGOV MARR MOPS PHUM SNAR CO
SUBJECT: ELN PEACE HOUSE AT ONE MONTH: INTERNATIONAL
INTEREST, DOMESTIC SKEPTICISM

REF: BOGOTA 9257 (NOTAL)

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

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Summary
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1. (C) The "ELN Peace House" was inaugurated one month ago
after the GOC and National Liberation Army (ELN) leadership
released imprisoned ELN spokesperson Gerardo Antonio Bermudez
Sanchez, AKA "Francisco Galan," for three months to help
establish peace talks. Galan has spent his first month under
police and prison security escort in Antioquia Department
outside Medellin scheduling meetings with twenty-seven
sectors of Colombian society, starting with the Colombian
Government and Catholic Church. The international community
has demonstrated a serious interest in the process, while GOC
and church contacts have expressed skepticism about the ELN's
willingness to move forward with the initiative. Secretary
General of the National Reconciliation Council Father Dario
Echeverri (strictly protect) suggested that the ELN establish
contact with those outside the group's normal support base
and cautioned Galan about the possibility of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) acting as
spoilers in the process.

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International Community Keen
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2. (SBU) The international community has expressed its
interest in supporting the GOC-ELN process in public and
private engagements. Mediation offers were first: the
Panamanian, Venezuelan, Swiss, and Norwegian governments all
offered their "good offices" to begin a peace process. ELN
leadership approved Venezuela's offer in a September 23
communique and the Colombian Government has not officially
responded. Neither side has made any public movement to
proceed with Venezuelan mediation since acceptance. (Note:
Embassy Panama, the GOP stated it believed Colombia would
accept its offer since the Panamanians briefly brokered peace
talks in the 1990s.


3. (SBU) More concretely, Norwegian and Swiss embassy
officials met with the five Colombian facilitators of the
consultative process (Norway, Cuba, France, Switzerland, and
Spain) on October 13. Another meeting is planned for early
November. Norwegian Charge Sigurd Endressen told PolCouns
that the GON had donated USD 25,000 to Planeta Paz, a local
NGO, to underwrite the consultation process. We understand
that Norway plans to further pledge between one and two
million Krone (USD 150,000-USD 300,000) to support the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as an indirect
means to support the demobilization process. Endressen
reported that the Swiss also planned to donate USD 20,000 to
Planeta Paz for the consultative process and the Spanish
government was considering making a donation. A decision
from Madrid is pending. (Note: our contacts at the OAS told
us October 26 that Spain has pledged USD 1 million to the OAS
mission in Colombia. End note.)


4. (SBU) European assistance was not clearly defined,
according to the Norwegian Charge. He remarked that Norway's
policy of petroleum revenue wealth distribution had impressed
the ELN and that Norway could offer a secluded location for
GOC-ELN negotiations. He said the GOC had not responded to
the offer as positively as the ELN.

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Domestic Response Less Enthusiastic
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5. (C) Colombian participants have had a more muted response
to the Peace House and its prospects. The ELN, High

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Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo, and local media
have for the most part publically ignored the talks.
Restrepo's communique on the issue calls for the ELN to
select a negotiation site outside Colombia but makes no
reference to the GOC's role in the Peace House. The ELN's
website similarly is silent on the proceedings.


6. (C) National Reconciliation Council Secretary General
Dario Echeverri told French about the Catholic Church's
meetings at the Peace House on October 22. Echeverri said
Church representatives were the first civil society
interlocutors to meet with the ELN at the Peace House. Galan
asked the six bishops in attendance to forgive the ELN's sins
) in particular the murder of an archbishop, the kidnapping
of a bishop, and recent "mistaken" assassinations of two
parish priests. Echeverri said he had rebuffed the apologies
by reminding Galan of the ELN's lesser known victims, such as
civilians. He urged the ELN to get in touch with the
Colombian public to reacquaint itself with Colombians' true
interests. He stressed that the meetings Galan planned with
twenty-seven sectors of Colombian society only played to the
ELN's traditional base. Echeverri said he had pressed Galan
to seek meetings with the U.S. Embassy, paramilitaries, and
Colombian military officials to make the most of his
consultation parole months.

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FARC Intervene as the Spoiler
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7. (C) Echeverri believes that the FARC will be the spoiler
and prevent any peace talks from flourishing between the GOC
and ELN. "Everyone has an agenda and will try to manipulate
you," Echeverri told Galan. He said the FARC and ELN have an
understanding only to negotiate humanitarian accords, such as
prisoner exchanges, with the Uribe Administration, so other
advances would inspire the FARC to retaliate against the ELN.
Nevertheless, Echeverri doubts that the ELN would be willing
to broker a peace deal, even without FARC interference. He
listed past efforts, including the Mexican-facilitated
attempt, which fell apart once peace discussions became a
concrete possibility.

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ELN Not Tempted to Desert
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8. (C) Echeverri stressed that Galan would benefit the most
from any peace negotiations since it would elevate his status
among disenfranchised ELN members and possibly allow him to
shorten his prison sentence under the Justice and Peace Law.
However, he said ELN leader Antonio Garcia held the true
power position within the ELN and had a fragile, newly
established relationship with Galan. In response to French's
question about ELN members' interest in individual
desertions, Echeverri commented that the demobilization and
reinsertion program was not attractive enough to encourage
most rank and file members to desert. He said the GOC did
not have the economic or judicial resources to cope with the
long-term psychological issues of former terrorist fighters
readjusting to civilian life. Although he recognized that
the GOC could not possibly offer ongoing social and
psychological support to almost 20,000 demobilized fighters,
he stressed that more ELN members would gladly depart if the
program appeared more successful in reintegration efforts.
He warned Emboffs against underestimating the ELN's popular
support despite its diminished military capacity.


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