GOC SUPPORTS PSI IN THEORY; UNLIKELY TO ENDORSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 003995 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NP, T AND WHA/AND E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016 TAGS: MNUC PARM PGOV PHSA PREL KNNP CO SUBJECT: GOC SUPPORTS PSI IN THEORY; UNLIKELY TO ENDORSE BEFORE JUNE REF: STATE 50811 Classified By: Political Counselor Jeffrey DeLaurentis; Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 4. ¶2. (C) Poloff delivered reftel points urging the GOC to endorse the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to MFA Coordinator for the U.S. and Canada Patricia Cortes on April ¶7. In a May 3 follow up meeting that included Coordinator for Disarmament Daniel Avila, Cortes said the GOC supports PSI in theory, but is unlikely to endorse PSI in time to receive an invitation to attend the meeting in Poland in June. Avila noted the Polish Ambassador to Colombia had recently met with various people at MFA to encourage GOC endorsement of PSI. ¶3. (C) Avila reiterated that the GOC supports complete disarmament as well as efforts to stop trafficking in all arms, including weapons of mass destruction. He said GOC hesitation to support PSI stems from uncertainty as to how PSI works in practice. Specifically, the GOC is concerned about the mechanisms of interdiction efforts, particularly those that occur outside the context of the United Nations: who decides intelligence is sufficient to warrant action; who asks other countries to participate in an interdiction action? According to Avila, ministers and vice ministers from both the MFA and the Ministry of Defense are involved in high-level meetings about endorsing PSI. He said information about the functioning of a real PSI interdiction would help the GOC in making a final decision. In addition, he asked whether Colombia could attend the Poland meeting as an "observer." ¶4. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Post requests permission to share information about an actual PSI interdiction effort with the GOC. In addition, Post requests information on the possibility of countries attending the June meeting as an observer. WOOD