AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP OF CALI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 006222

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREF PHUM PINR CO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP OF CALI

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


1. (C) Summary. During a trip to Cali on June 23-24, the
Archbishop told the Ambassador that the Mayor's office was
struggling with corruption limiting its ability to act, and
that the USG should find ways to help support the municipal
police. He credited the increase in violence in Cali last
year to infighting among different factions of the Norte del
Valle Cartel. End summary.


2. (C) Archbishop Monsignor Juan Francisco Zarasti, a Cali
native who returned to the city two years ago, said his
office has been expanding to meet the needs of the growing
community of displaced persons coming to Cali to escape the
violence of narcotrafficking and the poverty caused by poor
government administration.


3. (C) While praising Governor Angelino Garzon's actions as
generally clean, correct and successful, he lamented the many
problems Cali Mayor Apolinar Salcedo Caicedo faced.
Corruption in the Mayor's office -- which he defined as a
problem of ambitious people with low rank wanting to amass
power -- limited the effectiveness of the Mayor's office, and
the support that it should enjoy from citizens of all
economic strata. "Basic problems with things like trash
collection are symptoms of a much greater problem," he said.
While claiming not to be politically aligned, Zarasti said
that the Church felt obliged to respond to political problems
that hurt his diocese.


4. (C) When asked by the Ambassador which team of "angels"
the USG should support to fight the "demons" of Cali, Zarasti
first pointed to the police. Plagued by deep corruption and
a chronic lack of funding -- whether the cuts originated in
the Mayor's office or at the federal level in Bogota --
Zarasti said the current commander of the Cali Metropolitan
Police (Colonel Jesus Antonio Gomez Mendez) is doing his best
with limited resources, and could use any support the USG
could give. Zarasti recommended ethics training in
particular. He also saw hope in the efforts of the Carvajal
Foundation and private groups helping the thousands of IDPs
arriving in Cali.


5. (C) Zarasti believed that the Norte del Valle Cartel had a
major influence on Cali. He said that just removing the
heads of the cartel would not render it ineffective. He
credited the increase in violence in Cali in 2004 to
infighting among different factions in the Cartel.


6. (C) Zarasti said he doubted the FARC had much influence in
the city of Cali, though he was sure there were FARC elements
in the mountains south of the city. He also doubted that
there was much paramilitary activity in Cali beyond
commercial participation in the ubiquitous narcotics trade.
He regretted that paramilitary activity was much broader and
destabilizing in neighboring Buenaventura, where corruption
was deeper and the coca trade more extensive.
WOOD