Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06CARACAS1461
2006-05-22 17:44:00
SECRET
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

BRV VICE MINISTER DISCUSSES TERRORISM, EXTRADITION

Tags:  PREL SNAR PTER KSAF VE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3194
PP RUEHAG
DE RUEHCV #1461/01 1421744
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 221744Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4667
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6501
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 5489
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ PRIORITY 2025
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 0261
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 2105
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 3774
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0718
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PRIORITY 1235
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO PRIORITY 3537
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA PRIORITY 1223
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO PRIORITY 0194
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO PRIORITY 0819
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0222
RUEHMI/USOFFICE FRC FT LAUDERDALE PRIORITY 3144
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0723
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001461 

SIPDIS

SECRET NOFORN

SIPDIS
SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
FOR FRC LAMBERT

E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 05/22/2026
TAGS: PREL SNAR PTER KSAF VE
SUBJECT: BRV VICE MINISTER DISCUSSES TERRORISM, EXTRADITION
WITH AMBASSADOR

REF: CARACAS 01300

CARACAS 00001461 001.2 OF 004


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT R. DOWNES FOR 1.4 (D)

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

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001461

SIPDIS

SECRET NOFORN

SIPDIS
SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
FOR FRC LAMBERT

E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 05/22/2026
TAGS: PREL SNAR PTER KSAF VE
SUBJECT: BRV VICE MINISTER DISCUSSES TERRORISM, EXTRADITION
WITH AMBASSADOR

REF: CARACAS 01300

CARACAS 00001461 001.2 OF 004


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT R. DOWNES FOR 1.4 (D)

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


1. (S//NF) Venezuelan vice foreign minister Maria Pilar
Hernandez called in the Ambassador on May 17 to discuss the
status of BRV extradition requests on alleged terrorist
bombers Jose Antonio Colina, German Varela, and Luis Posada
Carriles. She said her government had taken the position
that the USG defended terrorists because the USG had not
responded. Ambassador stated he had no instructions, noted
that a decision on Colina and Varela was forthcoming but
indicated that there were clear signals that the BRV had not
provided adequate evidence. He confirmed that the USG had
stated willingness to suggest ways to improve the request on
Posada Carriles, but frequent public accusations by the BRV
was making cooperation on legal issues difficult. The
Ambassador told Hernandez that the BRV had ignored over 100
requests for information on possible terrorists transiting
Venezuela during the past four years. He raised the issue of
the Barinas Government's apparent refusal to contribute to
his security during his May 18 visit to the state. He
reminded her that the MFA had not responded to an Embassy
request to reestablish a post in Maracaibo. A request for
payment for damages to the chancery committed by
BRV-sponsored protesters remained unanswered, as well. He
updated her on the radiological incident at Puerto Cabello
(REFTEL). End Summary.

--------------
Extradition Requests
--------------


2. (C) The Ambassador met with Venezuelan vice minister of
foreign affairs for North America Maria Pilar Hernandez on
May 17 at the Ministry (MFA) at her request. Hernandez
called the meeting to discuss the status of BRV extradition
requests on Luis Posada Carriles (accused of bombing a Cuban
airplane) and Lieutenants Jose Antonio Colina and German
Varela (accused of bombing the Spanish Embassy and Colombian

Consulate in Venezuela). Regarding the Colina and Varela
case, she said the BRV had fulfilled all the requirements of
the extradition request, which it had filed over a year ago.
Regarding Posada Carriles, she said she assumed that the
"absurd" claims of prospective torture would affect the
decision. Consequently, the BRV had taken the public
position that the USG was defending terrorists. She added
that the BRV interpreted the USG's failure to detain Colina
and Varela as U.S. collaboration with terrorism.


3. (C) The Ambassador responded by noting that the BRV had
denied four U.S. extradition requests (Note: all wanted on
narco-trafficking charges) in the past two years. The USG
had declined to move on three. Clearly there was a
fundamental problem on extradition between the two
governments. We could try to solve it, or we could
politicize the differences. He said the MFA would receive a
definitive response on Colina and Varela. The Ambassador
warned, however, that the evidence it had supplied hinged on
an alleged witness who had retracted his statement.
Stressing that Posada Carriles remained in a U.S. detention
facility in El Paso, the Ambassador said the case was still
active, but the extradition request was not sufficient in its
current form. The USG could provide guidance to the BRV on

CARACAS 00001461 002.2 OF 004


preparing an adequate request, but the climate of constant
BRV public declarations complicated the matter.


4. (C) Hernandez asked if the USG would prosecute those
officials it refused to extradite. The Ambassador replied
that if the USG judged there was insufficient evidence for an
extradition, it was likely to find the evidence insufficient
for a trial, as well. Hernandez said the BRV was
constitutionally prohibited from extraditing the four
officials mentioned by the Ambassador because the USG had not
provided guarantees that they would not receive more than
30-year sentences. The Ambassador added that the U.S.
decisions on extradition would likewise be made in accordance
with domestic laws. The USG remained ready to dialog on a
legal level but not on a politicized level, he said.

--------------
Terrorism Determination
--------------


5. (S//NF) Hernandez said her government rejected the
Secretary's March 15 determination that the BRV was "not

SIPDIS
fully cooperating" against terrorism. The action was
politically motivated, she asserted. The Ambassador noted
that besides the reasons for the decision outlined in the
country report, the BRV had failed to respond to over 100
Embassy requests for information on the movement through
Venezuela of people with suspected ties to terrorism over the
past four years. Hernandez asked for an informal list of
concrete examples of such requests for information. She said
she wanted to find out whether the requests were rejected
because of human error or because they came from the Embassy.
Noting that such correspondence was supposed to go through
intelligence, law enforcement, and military channels, the
Ambassador agreed to look into sending a sanitized non-paper
of a few requests she could check.

--------------
Ambassadorial Security
--------------


6. (C) The Ambassador said that the Barinas Government had
told us it would not be responsible for the Ambassador's
security during his trip to the state May 18. Rather, it
referred the Embassy to Venezuelan intelligence (DISIP). The
Ambassador noted that his experience from previous travel
suggested that when state governments eschewed
responsibility, violent protests were organized. Hernandez
said that she could not give orders to the state government,
but would work through other channels to ensure there were no
incidents. (Note: DCM reiterated concern for the
Ambassador's security in a call to the Vice President's chief
of staff, Rene Arreaza, who said he would approach the state
government on the issue. The Barinas Government did provide
security during the May 18 visit (SEPTEL).)

--------------
Embassy Vandalism
--------------


7. (C) The Ambassador raised the MFA's lack of response to
the Embassy's March 20 diplomatic note, which requested
reimbursement for vandalism to the Chancery committed during
protests on March 8. The Ambassador emphasized that the USG
was asking for repayment for the first time because the BRV,
through the Ministry of Communications and several other
senior government officials, clearly and publicly sponsored
this march. The Embassy had not protested the damage left by

CARACAS 00001461 003.2 OF 004


several other marches. Hernandez said the MFA had been
silent on the issue because no standard operating procedure
existed for repaying an Embassy for vandalism. She added
that the Foreign Ministry was not involved with the marches.
The Ambassador indicated that the USG would be forced to take
some reciprocal action to recoup costs incurred by the BRV if
the BRV failed to respond.

--------------
Maracaibo Consulate
--------------


8. (C) The Ambassador also raised the issue of our April 12
diplomatic note, which solicited permission to reestablish a
consulate in Maracaibo. He noted that we were facing some
concrete issues that were becoming more urgent as time
passed. First, contracts for the building space needed to be
settled. Second, apartments needed to be found. Third,
other issues surrounding the arrival in a few months of two
new employees had to be resolved. Ambassador said there
would be "certain pressure" from the USG on the BRV if a
response were not received within another month. Hernandez
took note of the request without response.

--------------
Cobalt-60 Issue
--------------


9. (C) The Ambassador brought Hernandez up-to-date on the
issue of the unprotected Cobalt-60 device that had exposed
several NAS and BRV employees to radiation (REFTEL) in Puerto
Cabello. He said that Oak Ridge medical personnel--in
consultation with the IAEA--visiting Post had determined that
affected U.S. and Venezuelan personnel had undergone a
negligible risk of radiation poisoning. Hernandez noted that
some Venezuelan personnel had been exposed for days. The
Ambassador assured her, however, that given the low level of
radioactivity, the evidence suggested a person would have to
be almost touching the source for such an extended time to
have been in danger, according to the Oak Ridge experts.

--------------
Counterdrug Accord
--------------


10. (C) Hernandez said her government still had a problem
with the latest version of the counternarcotics addendum,
transmitted to MFA by dip note in March. The Spanish
document was an inaccurate translation, she said. She
proposed that her ministry translate the English version of
the text and provide its version to the USG as early as next
week for approval.

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


11. (C) Vice minister Hernandez was on her best behavior.
Charged only with raising the extradition issue, she was in
much better spirits this time. She may have wagered that the
Ambassador would have difficulty explaining why Venezuela had
not received replies to its extradition requests. She joked
that the "not fully cooperating" designation was intended to
place Venezuela in "purgatory." The forthcoming response to
the extradition requests on Colina and Varela will clear an
issue off our bilateral agenda, and fit nicely with our line
that the BRV has also been nonresponsive on extradition.


CARACAS 00001461 004.2 OF 004


BROWNFIELD