Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BOGOTA9963
2005-10-21 21:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bogota
Cable title:  

KIDNAPPING OF ORLANDO VALENCIA RECEIVES WIDE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PINS CVIS CO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0030
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #9963/01 2942141
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 212141Z OCT 05
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9055
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6313
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 6626
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ OCT LIMA 2814
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 3324
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1296
RUCNDTA/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1790
C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 009963 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS CVIS CO
SUBJECT: KIDNAPPING OF ORLANDO VALENCIA RECEIVES WIDE
ATTENTION; AMBASSADOR CALLS ON SENIOR GOC OFFICIALS


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

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 009963

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS CVIS CO
SUBJECT: KIDNAPPING OF ORLANDO VALENCIA RECEIVES WIDE
ATTENTION; AMBASSADOR CALLS ON SENIOR GOC OFFICIALS


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

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


1. (U) Post learned from NGO sources that Afro-Colombian
leader Orlando Valencia was reportedly kidnapped on Saturday,
October 15. Post has raised Valencia's case at all levels of
the GOC to press for quick action to ensure his safety. End
summary.

--------------
Initial NGO Reports of Kidnapping
--------------


2. (U) On Sunday, October 16 Embassy received a call from the
U.S. NGO Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance (CSMA),who
reported that Afro-Colombian leader Orlando Valencia had been
kidnapped on October 15 on the border of Choco and Antioquia
Departments. The initial NGO reports were that the police
had stopped a convoy in which Valencia had been traveling and
accused him of being associated with the FARC. After
questioning, the police released Valencia, who reportedly was
subsequently followed by what the NGOs said were "known
paramilitaries," and forced to go with them on a motorcycle.
The NGOs said Valencia had been missing since Saturday
afternoon, October 15.

-------------- --------------
Post Acts to Press GOC for Valencia's Safe Return
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Embassy contacted (in some cases numerous times) the
offices of the Human Rights Unit of the Fiscalia, the Human
Rights Unit of the Ministry of Defense, the Central
Directorate of the Judicial and Investigative Police (DIJIN),
and the Vice President's Office on Human Rights and
Humanitarian International Law. The Ambassador raised the
case with Attorney General Mario Iguaran and Minister of
Defense Camilo Ospina. Polcouns briefed Vice President
Santos. GOC officials reported that as soon as they heard
about the kidnapping the police formed a search party
consisting of members of the Technical Investigative Corps
(CTI),the Police and the Army. Col. Oscar Naranjo, director
of the DIJIN, told Deputy PolCouns that the Judicial
Investigations Section of the Police (SIJIN) was also

involved in the search. Since it began at approximately 1:30
p.m. on Saturday, October 15, the search has yielded no
results.


4. (C) Embassy also contacted Carlos Franco, the Vice
President's Representative for Human Rights, who was in
Washington to attend human rights hearings at the
Organization of American States. Franco was already aware of
the case and contacted representatives of the Catholic
Church, who spoke to paramilitary representatives in the area
and learned that the paramilitaries claimed not to have been
involved with Valencia's abduction.

--------------
Embassy Meets with NGO for First-Hand Account
--------------


5. (C) On October 19, Deputy Polcouns invited representatives
of the NGO Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz
("Justicia y Paz") to the Embassy for a first-hand account of
the circumstances surrounding Valencia's disappearance.
According to Rafael Figueroa, an attorney accompanying
Valencia for Justicia y Paz, while returning to his home town
near Chigorodo, Choco Department, the police stopped Valencia
at a road block at approximately 11:30AM. In addition to
Figueroa, Valencia was traveling with nine members of the
Jiguamiando indigenous community and a Canadian
representative from Justicia y Paz. The police asked them to
provide identification and explain the purpose of their
travel. The Police said they were looking for a reinserted
FARC guerrilla traveling in the region, and they believed
Valencia was that person. In the meantime, said Figueroa, a
"well-known, active paramilitary" in the region who had
passed by the road block started to hang around the police
station, entering and leaving during the interrogation
process. Different members of the traveling party were
released over the next hour, and Valencia was released around

12:30 p.m. As he attempted to enter the house of Mr. Enrique
Petro and rejoin the eleven others he was traveling with,
some 200 yards from the police station, he was stopped by two
men who arrived on a motorcycle. One of the men had a
revolver and told Valencia that he would have to go with them
or they would kill him there. Valencia went with the men.
Deputy Polcouns provided the national police with a copy of
Justicia y Paz's October 18 official complaint about this
matter, which Justicia y Paz had already sent to the
Fiscalia, Foreign Ministry, and Defensoria del Pueblo.

--------------
NGO Speculation on Motives for Kidnapping
--------------


6. (C) Justicia y Paz said that Valencia was a member of an
indigenous community for which the InterAmerican Court of
Human Rights had ordered "protective measures." According to
the NGO Peace Brigades International (PBI),Valencia is a
prominent Afro-Colombian leader, perhaps on his way to
becoming elected the next legal representative of the Consejo
Mayor of Curvarado. In a meeting last September in the
municipality of Murnido, Valencia reportedly directly
confronted Carlos Franco, demanding an answer from the State
regarding the protection of the lives of the
African-Colombians in the region. We understand he asked for
accountability of and protection from the "palmicultores,
state and para-state agents."

--------------
NGOs Head to Region
--------------


7. (C) PBI will participate in a delegation to Bajira and
Jiguamiando on October 20 to meet with the local and regional
police, the 17th Brigade of the Army, and the local offices
of the Fiscalia, Procuraduria and the Defensoria. The
delegation will consist of members of the NGOs Justicia y
Paz, PBI, Christian Aid, and the Colombian Commission of
Jurists; officials from the local offices of the Fiscalia,
Procuraduria and Defensoria; and two officials from the
Ministry of the Interior who deal with communities at risk
and human rights issues.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (C) Valencia wanted to attend a conference in Chicago
organized by the NGO "Chicagoans for a Peaceful Colombia."
While the consular officer who interviewed Valencia was able
to verify the destination and purpose of his proposed trip,
Valencia was unable to overcome Section 214(b) ineligibility.
End comment.
WOOD