GOC OFFICIALS DISCUSS URABA MASSACRE CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 002674 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2050 TAGS: PHUM PTER CO SUBJECT: GOC OFFICIALS DISCUSS URABA MASSACRE CASE REF: A. BOGOTA 2348 ¶B. BOGOTA 2156 ¶C. BOGOTA 1999 ¶D. BOGOTA 1918 Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) During her March 6-9 visit to Bogota, WHA/AND Director Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes (LBSH) met with Vice-President Francisco Santos and Elba Beatriz Silva, Director of the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit, to discuss the need to show progress in resolving outstanding human rights cases, as well as the recent massacre of eight civilians in the Uraba region. GOC officials insisted they are committed to a rapid, thorough, and transparent investigation of the latter, but noted their work is made much more difficult by peace community members' refusal to speak with investigators. Also of concern are public assertions by the community and by the GOC as to the guilt or innocence of the FARC and the Colombian military in this massacre. End Summary. -------------- Meeting with Vice President -------------- ¶2. (C) On March 8, WHA/AND Director Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes (LBSH) and Embassy poloffs met with Vice-President Francisco Santos to discuss human rights, particularly the GOC's investigation of the February 21 massacre of eight civilians in the Uraba region of Antioquia Department (refs A, B, C, and D). Santos said the Government has decided to include the case in the Dutch-funded anti-impunity project ("Comite de Impulso"),which takes high-profile human rights cases and makes them a judicial priority. He told LBSH that the GOC understands the importance of a transparent, rapid investigation, but also stated his belief that the perpetrators of the massacre had been the FARC and not, as had previously alleged, the Colombian military. Santos added that the Government also wants to expose links between leaders of the "peace community" of San Jose de Apartado and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). ¶3. (C) LBSH said our first concern had to be for the victims; consequently, the GOC's first priority should be investigating the massacre and bringing those responsible to justice, avoiding public statements that would appear to prejudge guilt or innocence. Santos recognized the need to identify the perpetrators as quickly as possible and added that the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia") sent prosecutors and a special forensic team to the site as soon as it learned about the atrocity. He also told LBSH that the GOC is planning to offer a reward to encourage citizens to provide information and believes the Colombia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) could be more helpful in assisting in the case. -------------- Meeting with the Fiscalia -------------- ¶4. (C) On March 9, LBSH and poloffs met with Elba Beatriz Silva, Director of the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit. Silva gave a brief explanation of the investigators' arrival at the massacre site on February 25. She said the investigators arrived at the site after members of the peace community had already been there, contaminating potential evidence by walking through the murder scene, leaving their belongings throughout the area, and allowing their mules to wander aimlessly. The investigators spent their first 3-4 hours at the mass gravesite where five dismembered bodies were found. The investigators, who videotaped the scene, found the interior of the simple house next to the gravesite ransacked and spattered with blood. Several large pools of blood suggested where the civilians were killed. On February 27, the investigators arrived at the second site (ref C),which was identified for them by members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the peace community. Here three additional bodies were found, including that of peace community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra. The remains of the victims were partially decomposed and had been exposed to the elements and the scavenging of wild animals. However, Silva said they showed no signs of torture or gunshots, so investigators believe the killers either asphyxiated them or slit their throats. ¶5. (C) Silva told LBSH that investigators tried to speak to peace community members, who refused to talk to them. Leaders of the community told investigators that community members would not talk about the case prior to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' previously-scheduled hearing about the peace community in San Jose, Costa Rica, on March 14. Silva added that peace community leaders also told investigators they would only consider speaking to civilian authorities after the Fiscalia successfully resolved all prior criminal cases related to the peace community, dating back to 1997. Regarding potential witnesses' alleged fears of retribution, Silva explained that the Fiscalia hoped to use the witness protection program in this case, which it has used successfully in similarly high-profile cases in the past. She noted, however, that community members had refused to cooperate in previous cases as well, including one involving an alleged rape by a soldier that Silva herself attempted to investigate on the very day the rape was reported. Community leader Sister Clara Lagos, a Roman Catholic nun, refused to allow Silva and her colleagues access to the alleged victim, did not allow the victim to observe a line-up of soldiers working in the area, and later burned the clothes the victim was said to have been wearing. The case remains unsolved, and the community continues to denounce it as an example of impunity. ¶6. (C) Fiscalia investigators have returned from the Uraba region to brief the Human Rights Unit in Bogota, but plan to return to Uraba the week of March 13. Poloff requested Silva's permission to personally interview the investigators, and also to review the videotape depicting the bloody massacre site. Silva nodded her consent, and confirmed that, in order to continue the investigation, the Fiscalia would request that the military and police will continue to provide security for the investigators. In response to a question about an ambush against the investigators (ref B),Silva said the incident occurred roughly 100 yards outside the community, on the road to Apartado, where Embassy officials have passed on their visits to San Jose. She confirmed it was a grenade attack and shared in confidence that the Fiscalia had a phone intercept on the incident. ¶7. (C) Silva explained that the Fiscalia has not formed an opinion about the authorship of the massacre. It has asked the military to make its members available for questioning, not intervene or make statements about the case, and provide security and transportation for the investigators when requested. The military has been cooperative. Silva added that the timeframe of the case will depend on how quickly investigators are able to gather forensic evidence and talk to potential witnesses. She explained that all relevant entities of the GOC agreed on March 8 that the case should be part of the special anti-impunity project. The peace community, however, has emphasized that it will not cooperate. Silva added that comments by the Antioquia Department prosecutor (ref A) were completely inappropriate and that he had been reprimanded. WOOD