ECUADOR: GITMO TALKING POINTS DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 001817 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2015 TAGS: KISL KPAO PGOV PREL EC SUBJECT: ECUADOR: GITMO TALKING POINTS DELIVERED REF: A. SECSTATE 142348 ¶B. QUITO 1804 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires AI Larry Memmott for reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d). ¶1. (C) Charge delivered talking points in reftel A to Palacio on August 3 during a private session with the President (reftel B). Palacio promised to review them. ¶2. (C) Guayaquil PolOff and Quito PolIntern delivered talking points in reftel A to MFA Subsecretary for Bilateral Affairs Alejandro Davalos on August 4. Davalos indicated that he understood USG efforts to thwart international terrorism and believed that enemy combatant's rights were being respected in the Guantanamo detention facility. He agreed that the detainees could not be considered lawful combatants as described by the Geneva Conventions owing to al-Qaeda not being a state actor. However, Davalos expressed concern that the detainees' resided in a "legal limbo" since they were not covered under the Geneva Conventions, nor did they fall under the auspices of the U.S. judicial system. In addition, he questioned the length of time detainees would be kept at the facility. MEMMOTT