GRANDA DISPUTE UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000485 SIPDIS NSC FOR CBARTON HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2014 TAGS: PREL PTER VE SUBJECT: GRANDA DISPUTE UPDATE REF: A. A) CARACAS 00293 ¶B. B) CARACAS 00471 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR 1.4 (D) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) One of five Venezuelan national guard officers in custody for his alleged involvement in the capture of FARC leader Rodrigo Granda has accused the GOV of torturing him and denying him due process. GOV spokespersons have continued to rail against Washington for fomenting the crisis and have prevented the opposition from shifting the terms of the debate to terrorism. Bilateral commerce remains disrupted as the Venezuelan military inspects commerce and indigenous groups block the border. End summary. -------------- Torturing the Accused? -------------- 2 (C) One of five National Guard soldiers alleged to have participated in the capture of FARC international representative Rodrigo Granda on December 13 has protested ill-treatment and denial of due process by the government. The attorney for accused Lt. Col. Jose Humberto Quintero told poloff February 10 that his client was tortured by threat of asphyxiation into making a video confession. He added that both military and civilian prosecutors were investigating Quintero for the same charge of treason. The GOV had also charged Quintero with abuse of authority and illegal deprivation of (Granda's) liberty, the lawyer told poloff. The attorney said Quintero did provide the Colombians information on Granda but did not accept payment, adding sarcastically that "even if he had, you have to ask if the traitors are the those who gave Granda citizenship or those who gave him justice." Quintero wrote a three-page statement outlining the success his anti-extortion and kidnapping group had had against guerrillas, refuting the charges against him, and asking whether it was a sovereignty violation for foreign armed groups to enter Venezuela to kidnap and murder. -------------- Floodgates Open for Blaming the US -------------- ¶3. (U) Since President Hugo Chavez's remarks late January alleging US involvement in the Granda crisis (REF A),his administration's criticism of Washington has continued. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told the press February 2 that the United States "played the devil's role" in the dispute. Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez warned the same day that the White House's statements of "concern" had been precursors to armed intervention in the past. National Assembly deputy Luis Tascon (MVR) told the media in an interview that the only motive for Granda's capture was the US attempt to force Chavez from office. Washington, he said, was trying to convert Colombia into the "Israel of Latin America." National Assembly Iris Varela excused the Colombian rebels, saying in an interview published February 9 she would have become a guerrilla if "gringos" had meddled in her country. -------------- Opposition: You Forgot About the Terrorists -------------- ¶4. (U) Challenging GOV charges that the Colombian list of guerrillas in Venezuela was not factual, a Miranda state legislator told the media he had obtained a report prepared in part by Venezuelan intelligence that outlined the locations and descriptions of FARC fronts and ELN networks in Venezuela. The report, he said, also contained information about a guerrilla congress in Cojedes State attended by MVR National Assembly deputy Dario Vivas. Separately, an Accion Democratica spokesperson asserted that the Granda case would remain unresolved until the GOV cleared up the issue of Granda's citizenship. Granda, meanwhile, issued the media a handwritten note from prison that buttressed the opposition's claims. He wrote that the "occasional members" of the FARC's armed wing were active in Venezuela, the continent, and beyond. The identity documents he used in Venezuela, he averred, were authentic and legally issued by government authorities without the use of intermediaries. ¶5. (U) The GOV has curtly dismissed the opposition charges while keeping rhetoric focused on the sovereignty issue. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said February 3, "it is not easy for people--much less terrorists--to enter Venezuela." Minister of Interior and Justice Jesse Chacon told the media that military and civilian intelligence patrols were verifying that there were no guerrilla camps in the country. The GOV has also benefited from media neglect of the terrorism issue over the past few days as the press has focused on the destructive rains plaguing the Venezuelan coastline (REF B). Indeed, the capture of FARC 10th front "comandante" Cristobal Guillen by Venezuelan intelligence went unnoticed except by a Tachira State newspaper, which mentioned the arrest briefly on February 11. -------------- Border Trade Still Sticky -------------- ¶6. (C) On February 10, a leading customs broker advised us that the border at Paraguachon (Zulia State) remained closed to international commerce and that at San Antonio (Tachira State) goods were being cleared only with lengthy delays. (DAO contacts affirmed that members of the local Wayuu indian tribe had not fulfilled their agreement to remove their roadblock on the border between La Guajira Department, Colombia and northern Zulia in protest of the crackdown on gasoline smuggling, and that a heavy National Guard presence at the border crossing at San Antonio continued to cause long lines.) The customs broker added that, given the interruption to operations at Venezuela's main seaports, Puerto Cabello and La Guaira, freeing up commerce on the Colombian border could become important in coming days to avoid shortages in some supplies. According to the Colombia-Venezuela chamber of commerce, the Granda dispute has shrunk bilateral trade 15 percent. Brownfield