PBI REPRESENTATIVES CONFIRM PEACE COMMUNITY WILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 002348

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2030
TAGS: PHUM PTER CO
SUBJECT: PBI REPRESENTATIVES CONFIRM PEACE COMMUNITY WILL
NOT SPEAK TO FISCALIA INVESTIGATORS

REF: A. BOGOTA 2156

B. BOGOTA 1999

C. BOGOTA 1918

D. 2002 BOGOTA 10751

Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) On March 4, Embassy officials met with local
representatives of Peace Brigades International (PBI),who
described their visit to the massacre site of eight civilians
in the Uraba region of Antioquia Department and confirmed
that the "peace community" to which the victims belong will
not cooperate with Government authorities in their
investigation of the crime. PBI representatives continued to
echo peace community claims that the Colombian Army was
responsible for the killings, but said the perpetrators were
probably members of the 17th, not the 11th, Brigade. Embassy
officials will continue to follow up on this case and plan to
travel to the region in the near future. End Summary.

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PBI Volunteer Describes Visit to Massacre Site
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2. (C) On March 4, Embassy officials met with representatives
of Peace Brigades International (PBI),a UK-based NGO whose
members accompany local NGOs and human rights organizations
threatened by illegal armed actors. PBI, which has
representatives living in the port of Turbo, in the Uraba
region of Antioquia Department, has increased its twice
weekly accompaniment of the "peace community" of San Jose de
Apartado to full time since the February 22 massacre of eight
community members (ref C). Erica, a Canadian citizen who
lives in Turbo, traveled with the investigative commission
that visited the massacre site on February 25 (ref C). She
said approximately 100 members of the peace community,
accompanied by members of PBI and the San Francisco-based
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR),traveled to the massacre
site near the town of La Resbalosa in three groups. She
claimed that when her group arrived at the site, the soldiers
stationed there surrounded the group with weapons raised.
This intimidating display ended on the commanding officer's
orders. Erica said the investigative team from the
Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia") arrived at the site
immediately thereafter.


3. (C) Erica told Emboffs the dismembered bodies of Alejandro
Perez, Alfonso Bolivar, and his wife and two children all
appeared to show signs of torture. Additionally,
investigators found an ax and two machetes at the site. She
said the mass grave appeared to her to be undisturbed, but
she understood from others that a young man had found the
site earlier and replaced the cocoa bean shells he had
removed. Erica added that Fiscalia representatives and some
soldiers were taking pictures, but that the NGO
representatives were not allowed to do so.


4. (C) As the Fiscalia exhumed the bodies of the five,
another member of the community who had been separated from
the group arrived to report that she had seen another body by
the Mulatos River. The FOR representatives and 15-20 members
of the peace community traveled to the new site and found the
bodies of Luis Eduardo Guerra and his wife and son, along
with two machetes. They reported this information to the
group at the first site. Fiscalia representatives arrived at
the second site on the morning of February 27, following
logistical problems that prevented an earlier arrival. While
members of the community waited for the Fiscalia team, they
reported that a soldier from the 33rd Battalion of the Army's
17th Brigade picked up one of the machetes and wiped it clean
in the river. PBI said this incident was reported to the
Fiscalia. PBI also alleged that the mother of Luis Eduardo
Guerra told members of the peace community that soldiers from
the 17th Brigade had detained her and other members of her
family in their nearby home, allowing them to leave only
after representatives of the peace community stopped by the
house on their return from the gravesite.

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Peace Community Will Not Cooperate with Fiscalia
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5. (C) PBI confirmed that peace community leaders have no
intention of cooperating with the Fiscalia and will not give
their full version of the massacre until the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights' hearing on the peace community already
scheduled for March 14 in San Jose, Costa Rica. In response
to Emboff's question, the PBI representatives said they did
not know how many of the alleged witnesses to the massacre
would attend the hearing on behalf of the peace community.
They said the peace community's decision not to cooperate
with the Government was based on security concerns and their
opinion that talking with Government investigators was
useless, since no progress had been made in previous
investigations in which peace community residents had
cooperated. Emboff asked if witnesses would be willing to
speak with Fiscalia authorities if their official statements
could be signed on their behalf by a lawyer, thus preserving
their confidentiality and, presumably, their personal
security. PBI said alternatives had not been discussed.


6. (C) On March 3, the sectional director of the Fiscalia in
Antioquia Department, Francisco Galvis, attributed the
massacre to the FARC and said "this irregular group (FARC)
uses the peace community as a rest and relaxation spot."
Francisco Galvis is not involved in the investigation of this
crime, as it is being handled by the Bogota Human Rights Unit
of the Fiscalia. Elba Beatriz Silva, Director of the Human
Rights Unit, told poloffs (septel) that this comment was
completely inappropriate, that Galvis had been reprimanded,
and the Fiscalia was continuing its impartial investigation.

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PBI Blames the Army's 17th Brigade
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7. (C) Erica explained that the alleged witness to the
killings, who is mentioned in the various communiques the
peace community has released, was a worker on a farm near the
massacre site. She said he is currently in hiding, but spoke
to members of the peace community before he left. Erica said
the first allegations were made against the 11th Brigade
because it had operations in the area. Erica said she was
unaware that the original communique from the peace community
claimed the witness said the perpetrators specifically
identified themselves as members of the 11th Brigade. She
said PBI now believes the perpetrators were members of the
33rd Counterguerrilla Battalion of the Army's 17th Brigade.
These allegations, which have been categorically denied by
the GOC and Ministry of Defense, have been echoed publicly by
former Apartado mayor Gloria Cuartas and Father Javier
Giraldo, director of the Center for Investigations and
Popular Education (CINEP). Erica claims to have no knowledge
of any presence by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) in the San Jose de Apartado area.

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Additional Information
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8. (SBU) PBI has met with various foreign embassies in Bogota
and has a meeting scheduled with Vice-President Francisco
Santos on March 9. In response to Emboff's question on the
role of civilian authorities in the peace community, Erica
said that although new local representatives of the Human
Rights Ombudsman's Office ("Defensoria del Pueblo") and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had not
been visiting the community as frequently as their
predecessors, their visits had increased when the issue was
raised at higher levels.

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Comment
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9. (C) The Embassy will continue to insist on a rapid,
transparent and full investigation, and try to restrain the
tendency on both sides to politicize the issue and sink into
political name calling. The peace community's refusal to
cooperate with the same civilian investigators it denounces
for failing to effectively prosecute crimes against it will
make a swift and thorough investigation of this case
difficult. PBI representatives' denial of the
well-documented FARC presence in the area (ref D) is also
disturbing, as are the public statements of the Antioquia
Department prosecutor citing peace community connections to
the FARC; whatever the political facts, the investigation
much be impartial. We will continue to follow this case
closely, calling it as we see it. Emboffs plan to visit the
city of Apartado in the near future.
WOOD