MASS GRAVE EXHUMATION UNCOVERS GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 006208

SIPDIS

NOFORN

DRL FOR WALTERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2015
TAGS: PHUM PTER PGOV SNAR CO AUC
SUBJECT: MASS GRAVE EXHUMATION UNCOVERS GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS

REF: 04 BOGOTA 10484

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

Summary
--------------


1. On June 22, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner
hosted an international delegation visit to Sucre Department.
The group visited mass gravesites in San Onofre, met with
victims' families and NGOs in Sincelejo, and spoke with local
government and military officials about human rights
concerns. The interagency investigative team uncovering
graves estimated that up to 200 bodies might be found in the
exhumations. San Onofre's Mayor claimed the worst was over,
and criticized the GOC for attempting to keep the history of
massacres and terror alive. Several locals and NGOs reported
that officials failed to respond to complaints or protect
vulnerable populations. The Catholic Church Bishop for Sucre
agreed, saying the area remained dangerous and that
criticizing the drug trade could get one killed in Sucre.
Sincelejo's Acting Naval Commander Salcedo painted a more
positive outlook but admitted they still did not enjoy the
confidence of the population. End summary.

Background
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2. (SBU) The "Montes de Maria" region on the Caribbean coast,
which crosses Sucre and Bolivar departments, has
traditionally been a rural, cattle-farming area. Beginning
in the late 1970s, the mountains became a refuge and then an
operating base for several guerrilla groups including the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),the National
Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN),and the Popular Liberation
Army (ELP). In the late 1990s, the United Self-Defense
Forces (AUC) established a presence in the areas around the
mountains. Local Navy officials estimate that almost 1,000
active terrorists live in the northern third of Sucre alone.
Northern Sucre has three major ports that offer illegal armed
groups access points to transport supplies and drugs.

Paramilitary Mass Graves Uncovered
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3. (SBU) On June 22, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights led an international delegation
composed of one representative from the British, Austrian,
and U.S. embassies to Sucre Department to discuss human
rights concerns. Since early March, San Onofre municipality,
in northern Sucre made news with the findings of mass graves
and evidence of gross human rights violations perpetrated by
the "Heroes of Montes de Maria," a local paramilitary bloc
under the command of Eduardo Cortes Trellez ("Diego Vecino")
and his deputy, Rodrigo Antonio Mercado Pelufo ("Rodrigo
Cadena"). Both leaders are currently in Rialto, Cordoba
Department participating in the United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC) peace negotiations with the Colombian
government.


4. (C) Exhumation team leader Maria Rocio Cortes, from the
Cartagena Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia),briefed the
group on the history of the GOC investigation. She noted
that, although locals claim they had known of paramilitary
torture and murder for years, the government first received
the information in a police statement in late February. A
fifteen-person interagency team made up of the Prosecutor
General's office, the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI),
forensic experts and a human rights representative entered
the area under Colombian military protection and began to
uncover graves on March 7. The AUC allegedly buried most of
the bodies on El Palmar Ranch, seven kilometers away from
Sucre's town hall. The Fiscalia submitted the first criminal
cases charging torture and murder on June 7 and is preparing
more as the team locates and identifies remains. Cortes said
the AUC had taken El Palmar Ranch from the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1995 and had kept it to
limit access to the gravesites and avoid a criminal
investigation. As of June 22, the team had located 68
remains, 54 on El Palmar. Cortes commented that she believed
the area might have as many as 200 bodies buried on former
AUC-controlled ranches. Although most of the remains were
buried four or five years ago, some were killed as recently
as six to eight months ago.


5. (C) CTI Representative Wilmar Baretto told the delegation
that the team had security concerns and had difficulty
locating some of the bodies. He noted that the AUC's
practices of hiding graves in the brush and dispersing them
across a 200 square meter ranch had made the discovery
process difficult. He admitted that it would become
increasingly challenging to find bodies when the team ran out
of eyewitnesses and reports on possible grave locations.
While the delegation viewed the evidence around the ranch,
Baretto pointed out the stack of personal effects found with
the bodies, and the sacks of processed cocaine stashed in
holes near the graves. In a separate, private meeting,
Cortes and Baretto told UN representatives they had also
uncovered tapes with conversations linking San Onofre's Mayor
and Sucre's Governor to Cadena's band. The tapes reportedly
included discussions of the politicians paying the AUC for
protection and offering to ignore the AUC's drug trafficking
and other illegal activities.

Mayor Outraged by GOC Criticism
--------------


6. (C) San Onofre Mayor Jorge Blanco denounced the GOC for
allegedly punishing municipality residents for paramilitary
crimes. He told the delegation he sympathized with the
victims but wanted San Onofre to move past its dark era. He
denounced the mayor's office from 1997-1999 (the peak of the
murders according to Blanco) for failing to stop the murders.
Blanco did not explain why he had not heard about the
murders during his own fifteen-year tenure with the mayor's
office before becoming mayor, or why he did not know any of
the basic details of the interagency exhumation. He stressed
that Senator Gustavo Petro had made things worse by
publicizing his findings nationally in the weekly periodical
"El Espectador" before revealing the information locally.
"It makes me sick that Petro is blaming San Onofre citizens
for this and alleging that we all have ties to guerrilla
groups or to the paramilitaries," he said. He added that
crime levels in the area had improved significantly during
his tenure and remarked that he believed the worst was over.

NGOs and Church Pessimistic about Future
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7. (C) Victims and NGO representatives met the delegation an
hour away in Sucre's capital, Sincelejo, claiming that
meeting in San Onofre would put them in danger. In contrast
to the Mayor's remarks that the town was "moving forward,"
both victims and NGOs asserted that the public was vulnerable
to attacks by illegal armed groups. In separate meetings,
both reported that the military stationed in the area failed
to take citizens seriously when they reported crimes.
According to the NGOs and violence victims, only Colonel
Colon, the head of the first Mobile Brigade (BRIM 1),
responded to citizen concerns and attempted to protect
locals. Nevertheless, several citizens remarked that the
mass roundups and arrests of 2004 had only reinforced
existing mistrust of the Colombian military's intentions.


8. (C) Six NGOs, including the Deacon of Peace; the
Franciscan Saint Somas Moro Foundation; the Life, Justice,
and Equity Corporation; and the Community and Communal
Women's Network presented a list of the most critical
problems facing northern Sucre populations. For example they
stressed that many municipalities' residents were confined to
town limits and prevented from leaving. Displacement was
also a serious issue for municipalities -- they estimated
that an average of ten Sucre residents were newly displaced
every day. NGO representatives claimed that some demobilized
paramilitaries from La Mojana Bloc (demobilized in February
2005) remained active in the area and terrorized the
population.


9. (C) Bishop Nel Beltran, in charge of all Catholic Church
congregations in Sucre, hosted the meetings with victims and
NGOs in his residence. He told the delegation that the
illegal armed groups had shifted from conducting massacres to
carrying out individual assassinations targeted against the
military or a rival terrorist group. In particular, he
mentioned the story of two young local women who were
murdered while eight months pregnant because the babies'
fathers were Colombian soldiers. Beltran also opined that
the illegal groups avoided direct clashes with rival groups
but rather focused their aggression on the local population.
In a private meeting, he told the group that AUC Commander
Salvatore Mancuso had saved his life by advising him against
criticizing narcotrafficking in the region. Beltran said the
Catholic Church was allowed to criticize illegal armed groups
in general, but raising the drug trade in Sucre could prove
fatal.

Local Military Maintain Order
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10. (C) Colonel Salcedo of BRIM 1 briefed the group on
military strategy and the actions his unit takes to protect
the population. He said the mountains between San Onofre and
San Isidro municipalities were home to almost 430 guerrillas
from the National Liberation Army (ELN) "Nelson Bloc", the
Popular Liberation Army (EPL),and the FARC's 36 and 37th
Fronts. In addition, Salcedo estimated that roughly 500
active AUC fighters under Diego Vecino control the plains
surrounding those mountains. Despite the high concentration
of terrorists, Salcedo said landmines were the greatest
threat to the Navy presence. At the end of the brief, a UN
employee asked Salcedo why the Navy had not discovered the
AUC murders in San Onofre sooner. Salcedo replied that
locals did not trust the Navy but said the situation was
improving thanks to social outreach programs. He commented
that he thought it would be difficult to maintain order once
the AUC demobilized in the area. "We will have to protect
everyone then," he concluded.
WOOD