MEETING WITH AFRO-COLOMBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000440

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV CO
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH AFRO-COLOMBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
AFRODES

REF: BOGOTA 0032

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) On January 17, Polcouns and Poloff visited the
Bogota offices of the Association for Internally Displaced
Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) to discuss specific threats against
AFRODES' office in Cartagena, as well as land, displacement,
and general security issues facing Afro-Colombians. AFRODES
President Geiler Romana appreciated Embassy efforts to obtain
additional GOC security for the Cartagena office. He said
AFRODES was satisfied with land titling under Law 70 of 1993
in the Pacific Coast Departments; the main threat to
Afro-Colombian lands in this region is the lack of public
order. Romana claimed the GOC's census methodology was
flawed, estimating the Afro-Colombian population to be 25
percent of Colombia's total population as opposed to the 10
percent found in the 2005 census. End Summary.

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SECURITY ISSUES
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2. (SBU) In response to a letter to the Ambassador from
several U.S.-based human rights groups, we met with AFRODES
President Geiler Romana to discuss threats against the
group's Cartagena office. The meeting followed Embassy
outreach to the Vice President's Office for Human Rights and
the Ministry of Interior and Justice' (MOIJ) Protection
Program to obtain more security for the office. Romana
thanked the Embassy for its efforts to enhance protection of
the Cartagena office. He said pamphlets were distributed in
a low-income Cartagena neighborhood in December 2006,
identifying AFRODES as a "military target." Romana had met
with officials from the Vice President's Office for Human
Rights and the MOIJ protection program to discuss these
threats. The GOC had offered to conduct a risk assessment of
the Cartagena office to determine if it should receive
protection measures. Although AFRODES' Bogota office and
national directors receive GOC protection measures, Romana
feared this assessment would result in an "ordinary" to "low"
risk finding, as it had in the past for AFRODES' regional
offices/personnel. We promised to remain engaged with the GOC.


3. (SBU) Romana said Afro-Colombians--and human rights groups
defending their interests--continue to suffer violence and
threats throughout Colombia. He said approximately 30
percent of all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in
Colombia are of Afro descent; UNHCR puts this number at 25
percent. Some 35 percent of the population of Choco's
capital Quibdo are Afro-Colombian IDPs. In addition to the
Cartagena threats, Romana said AFRODES personnel were
reluctant to visit Afro-Colombian IDPs in Soacha, south
Bogota, due to a "large" former paramilitary presence. Given
these dangers, he suggested the GOC designate a seat for an
Afro-Colombian IDP on its inter-agency and
inter-institutional Committee on Risk Regulation and
Evaluation (CRER). He said there is no Afro-Colombian
representative on the CRER.

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LAND ISSUES
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4. (U) Romana said the GOC has collectively titled 5.2
million hectares of land in Choco and the other Pacific Coast
departments for Afro-Colombian communities under Law 70 of

1993. Only a small portion of land remains to be titled in
this region. The main threat to Afro-Colombian lands in the
Pacific Coast is the lack of public order, not legal title.
He explained that land titling in Choco was effective because
the GOC had previously designated this territory as federal
land reserves. In contrast, Romana said future collective
titling, especially in urban centers, on the Caribbean coast
and on the Eastern plains, would be problematic as the
Instituto Colombiano de Desarrollo Rural (INCODER) would have
to purchase land in order to grant titles to Afro-Colombian
communities.


5. (SBU) He also expressed concern that a new, comprehensive,
rural development bill under consideration in the Colombian
Congress (reftel) might undercut the protections provided
Afro-Colombian lands under Law 70, explaining that such
protections did not enjoy constitutional status. (Note: The
current version of the bill explicitly states that it does

not modify any provisions of Law 70.)

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AFRODES: CENSUS PROCESS IS FLAWED
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6. (SBU) Romana said the census process was flawed, arguing
that the Afro-Colombian population accounts for 25 percent of
Colombia's total population rather than the roughly 10
percent found in the 2005 census. Romana attributed the
undercount to discrepancies between how Colombians of Afro
descent identify themselves in practice and the description
of "Afro-Colombian" under the census, as well as a weak sense
of ethnic identity in general among Afro-Colombians. He
complained the GOC has not been receptive to proposals to
revise the census form to alleviate this problem.
WOOD