EXTRADITION: PARAS TRY TO SHIFT PUBLIC PERCEPTION

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000900 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KJUS KCRM SNAR PGOV PREL KPAO CO SUBJECT: EXTRADITION: PARAS TRY TO SHIFT PUBLIC PERCEPTION USING MEDIA ¶1. (SBU) On January 21, a large advertisement appeared in Bogota daily El Tiempo purporting to be from concerned families of people detained in Combita (a maximum security prison in Boyaca department, and popularly known as the "waiting room" before extradition to the United States). The cost of an advertisement of this size and placement is approximately USD 9000 to 10,000. The advertisement follows similar efforts by paramilitary front entities (such as newly formed NGOs),which claim to be promoting "debate" on the fairness of the GOC extradition policy. ¶2. (SBU) There have been nearly 400 extraditions approved under the Uribe Administration, and 134 cases in 2005 alone. Average Colombians disagree with the Uribe administration's policy toward extradition, according to public opinion polls. ¶3. (U) Begin informal Embassy translation of newspaper advertisement. WHAT IT IS HIDDEN FROM THE COLOMBIAN PEOPLE The mothers, fathers, spouses and children of the prisoners awaiting extradition in Combita ) Boyaca, denounce the following before national and international audiences: FIRST: That any Colombian who has trafficked narcotics or is completely innocent and without a criminal record, can be requested in extradition by the United States. Far too easily, without considering their innocence, the Department of State asks for the extradition of the Colombian with a simple diplomatic note that demands the arrest warrant be issued by the Prosecutor General's Office of our country, based on an &indictment8 with false, ambiguous, futile, and untruthful charges. SECOND: The person requested for extradition is confined in the penitentiary of Combita, where his/her rights are restricted and his/her communication with the media is denied. THIRD: The Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Justice &looks8 at the documentation sent by the United States and opens the evidence per Article 518 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Even when the accusations are determined to be false, the Supreme Court of Justice rejects the evidence and orders that the case be approved. In the requesting country, they deny justice and commit the crime of prevarication. Invariably, the Supreme Court of Justice rules in favor of the extradition. FOURTH: The file gathered with ignorance of the presumption of innocence, of equality before the Law, of the right of defense and of due process, all of these fundamental rights, goes to the President of the Republic who invariably orders the delivery of the required person to the United States, ignoring the power of our justice to investigate, to judge and to sentence the Colombians. FIFTH: We, the families of the extraditable persons, without the legal forum to express our concerns, demand respect for the family unit, which is broken by the expatriation of the father. He abandons his children and spouse, who will not see their loved one again because the United States denies their visas and does not allow permission to visit them. SIXTH: The inalienable right as fathers, mothers and children, should allow us to demand the uninterrupted permanence of the family nucleus. Our loved ones, if they have violated the law, should serve their sentences in Colombia, to conserve the protection of the family that is the vital building block of the society. SEVENTH: With careless disregard, a visa was denied to a Colombian mother that wanted to travel to the United States to pick up the body of her son who was killed in an accident. Also, the decision in the case against Colombian citizen Juan Carlos Gmez Luna, whose extradition to the United States was approved by the Supreme Court of Justice and ordered by President Uribe Vlez, was eventually rejected by the prosecutor of the United States. It was discovered that this compatriot was not the person that they required in extradition. What does the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Justice actually examine? What does the President of the Republic evaluate in this process? EIGHTH: Cases like the one mentioned above are numerous, with more than 400 Colombians extradited up to date under the Administration of President Alvaro Uribe Vlez. Until when Mr. President? Until when Honorable Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice? Until the Colombian family is entirely disintegrated? NINTH: The only country in Latin America that gives its children to foreign courts is Colombia. FOR A SOVEREIGN STATE. End informal Embassy translation of the advertisement. WOOD