VISAS VIPER MONTHLY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2007

id: 101791 date: 3/23/2007 18:32 refid: 07BOGOTA1903 origin: Embassy Bogota classification: SECRET//NOFORN destination: 07BOGOTA1390 header: VZCZCXYZ0002 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHBO #1903/01 0821832 ZNY SSSSS ZZH R 231832Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3568 INFO RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 4878 RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT GEORGE G MEADE MD RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC//INTD/CTD/CT WATCH -------------- header ends -------------- S E C R E T BOGOTA 001903 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS VISAS VIPER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2016 TAGS: ASEC CMGT CVIS KVPR PINR PTER CO SUBJECT: VISAS VIPER MONTHLY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2007 REF: BOGOTA 01390 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: CDA Milton Drucker, reason 1.5(d). ¶1. (U) Post's Visa Viper Committee met on March 7, 2007, and the meeting was chaired by the CDA, Milton Drucker. Post's Viper Coordinator is Fraud Prevention Unit officer Jenny Cordell. ¶2. (C) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Horacio Duque Giraldo, former advisor to then-Minister of Interior Horacio Serpa during the presidential administration of Ernesto Samper. Duque was arrested on February 28, 2007 for his alleged ties to a drug trafficking organization that conducts business with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),a Named Foreign Terrorist Organization. Reports characterize Duque as the right-hand man of FARC spokesperson "Raul Reyes," and Post's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office confirms that, according to 2005 reporting, Duque is a finance man for the FARC. ¶3. (SBU) Name: Duque Girlado, Horacio DOB: 18-MAY-1954 Colombian Cedula Number: 4406725 Colombian Passport: PO47719 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on March 7, 2007 under INA Section 212(a)(2)(C)(i). ¶4. (C) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Denys (aka Denis) Silva Ruiz, who was arrested on February 18, 2007 for membership in and activities on behalf of the FARC. Silva played a key role in a 1998 operation, negotiated by former Peruvian security chief Vladimiro Montesinos, wherein 10,000 AK-47 rifles from Jordan were bought and transferred to the FARC. Silva faces international drug and arms trafficking charges. DEA confirms that Silva is a member of the FARC's 16th Front. Although there are CLASS hits which appear to correspond to Silva, Colombian security officials confirm that Silva's nationality and date of birth are different from those shown in CLASS. ¶5. (SBU) Name: Silva Ruiz, Denys (or Denis) DOB: 31-MAY-1969 Peruvian Passport Number: 0679757 Country of Birth: Peru Gender: Male ¶6. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Rosa Stella Ibanez Alonso, who was arrested on February 12, 2007, for her alleged involvement in diverting the equivalent of USD 2.7 million in municipal funds to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC, a Named Foreign Terrorist Organization). Ibanez, the former Mayor of Soledad in Colombia's Casanare Department, remains in custody. ¶7. (SBU) Name: Ibanez Alonso, Rosa Stella (or Estella) DOB: 29-AUG-1969 Colombian Cedula Number: 32828433 Colombian Passport: AJ140391 Gender: Female CLASS Hits: None ¶8. (S/NF) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Bertulfo Trujillo Fuentes. Post's Office of Regional Affairs (ORA) reports that according to Colombian Army Intelligence, noncommissioned officer Trujillo is actively involved with the FARC and has attempted to facilitate the kidnapping of several unit mates. Until he was recently terminated from his post, Trujillo was a part of the Intelligence Unit, as well. ¶9. (SBU) Name: Trujillo Fuentes, Bertulfo DOB: 05-OCT-1969 Colombian Cedula Number: 75001768 CLASS hits: None ¶10. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Alvaro Araujo Castro, Colombian Senator from Cesar Department who, on February 15, 2007, upon the order of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice, was arrested for his alleged ties to the AUC. Araujo has been charged with conspiracy and aggravated kidnapping. Araujo remains in custody. ¶11. (SBU) Name: Araujo Castro, Alvaro DOB: 07-NOV-1966 Colombian Cedula Number: 80411143 Colombian Passport: PO038731 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶12. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Dieb Nicolas Maloof Cuse, Colombian Senator from Atlantico Department who, on February 15, 2007, upon the order of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice, was arrested for his alleged ties to the AUC. Maloof has been charged with conspiracy, and remains in custody. ¶13. (SBU) Name: Maloof Cuse, Dieb Nicolas DOB: 19-APR-1964 Colombian Cedula Number: 8736863 Colombian Passport: PO031658 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶14. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Mauricio Pimiento Barrera, Colombian Senator from Cesar Department who, on February 15, 2007, upon the order of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice, was arrested for his alleged ties to the AUC. Pimiento has been charged with conspiracy, and remains in custody. ¶15. (SBU) Name: Pimiento Barrera, Mauricio DOB: 17-MAR-1961 Colombian Cedula Number: 19434067 Colombian Passport: D031184 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶16. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Luis Eduardo Vives Lacouture, Colombian Senator from Magdalena Department who, on February 15, 2007, upon the order of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice, was arrested for his alleged ties to the AUC. Vives has been charged with conspiracy, and remains in custody. ¶17. (SBU) Name: Vives Lacouture, Luis Eduardo DOB: 10-DEC-1957 Colombian Cedula Number: 12544261 Colombian Passport: PO029013 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶18. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Alfonso Antonio Francisco Campo Escobar, Colombian Representative from Magdalena Department who, on February 15, 2007, upon the order of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice, was arrested for his alleged ties to the AUC. Campo has been charged with conspiracy, and remains in custody. ¶19. (SBU) Name: Campo Escobar, Alfonso Antonio Francisco DOB: 05-DEC-1966 Colombian Cedula Number: 85449946 Colombian Passport: PO038616 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶20. (SBU) Post's Visas Viper Committee submits Jorge Luis Caballero Caballero, Colombian Representative from Magdalena Department, whose arrest has been ordered by the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice due to his alleged ties to the AUC. Caballero has been charged with conspiracy, but has fled Colombia and is reportedly seeking asylum in Europe. ¶21. (SBU) Name: Caballero Caballero, Jorge Luis DOB: 21-APR-1967 Colombian Cedula Number: 5056056 Colombian Passport: PO034270 Gender: Male CLASS Hits: None Subject's B-1/B-2 visa was revoked on December 22, 2006 under INA Section 221(i). ¶22. (SBU) The Visas Viper Committee also discussed the status of the Colombian Supreme Court investigation into Colombian Senators' and Representatives' alleged ties to AUC paramilitaries and others involved in the "parapolitics" scandal (reftel). Specifically, the Committee reviewed the cases of Alvaro Araujo Noguera, Jorge de Jesus Castro Pacheco, Miguel Angel Duran Gelvis, Hernando Cesar de Jesus Molina Araujo, Ciro Ramirez Pinzon, and Oscar Leonidas Wilches Carreno. The Committee determined that additional information is needed before submission to Visas Viper. Given that these individuals are currently under criminal investigation, however, the Consular Section, in concurrence with the Visas Viper Committee, is taking action to revoke the visas of those who hold them, as these individuals currently pose a flight risk. ¶23. (SBU) The Committee discussed the cases of six sitting mayors who have been called for questioning by a prosecutor with the National Anticorruption Unit. The mayors are under investigation for alleged ties to the ACC (Casanare Peasant Self-Defense Group),having signed a document in which they agreed to channel part of their towns' budgets to paramilitary coffers. Those implicated include: Raul Cabrera Barreto, Mayor of Villanueva; Aleyder Castaneda Avila, Mayor of Monterey; Mauricio Esteban Chaparro, Mayor of Sabanalarga; Jorge Eliecer Lopez Barreto, Mayor of Tauramena; Henry Montes Montes, Mayor of Mani; and Leonel Roberto Torres Arias, Mayor of Aguazul. The subjects' ties to the AUC and the circumstances under which they signed the document remain unclear. As such,the Committee determined that additional information is needed before submission to Visas Viper. None of the mayors currently hold visas, and CLASS Lookouts have been added for each of them. Drucker =======================CABLE ENDS============================