INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS RECOVERS BODIES OF FARC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 006461 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2017 TAGS: MARR PGOV PREL PTER CO SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS RECOVERS BODIES OF FARC HOSTAGES REF: A. BOGOTA 4716 ¶B. BOGOTA 4741 Classified By: Political Counselor John S. Creamer. Reason: 1.4 (b,d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) The FARC and GOC agreed after six weeks of negotiations that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would recover the bodies of the 11 legislators killed in June and that the OAS would coordinate an international forensic team to examine the cadavers. The FARC claims the legislators were killed in a cross-fire with an unidentified military group; the GOC asserts they were executed by the FARC. The ICRC recovered the bodies on September 3, and is transferring them to Cali for the forensic exam. End Summary. -------------- Bodies Recovered, OAS Team to Examine -------------- ¶2. (U) On September 3, the ICRC recovered the bodies of 11 local legislators killed while being held hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Bad weather delayed the transfer of the bodies to Cali. Weather permitting, the bodies will arrive in Cali on September 4. The FARC claims the legislators died during a firefight with an unidentified military group in Narino department on June ¶18. The GOC said its security forces were not operating in the area, and charges the FARC executed the legislators (reftels). The FARC kidnapped the legislators in April 2002. ¶3. (C) Local ICRC delegate Barbara Hintermann told us it took six weeks of tough negotiations before the FARC and the GOC agreed on the terms of the handover. The GOC accepted that the ICRC and FARC intermediary Alvaro Leyva would recover the bodies without GOC participation. The FARC agreed the OAS would coordinate the work of an international forensic team, whose members were chosen by Spain, France, and Switzerland, to examine the cadavers and determine the cause of death. Leyva told us after the bodies' recovery, the ICRC would transport them to the Medical Examiners office in Cali where the forensic team would examined them. He said the international forensic specialists include a ballistics expert and an anthropologist. -------------- A Difficult Agreement -------------- ¶4. (C) Leyva speculated that President Uribe did not want the bodies returned, alleging the GOC consistently introduced conditions which it knew the FARC would find hard to accept. He claimed Uribe thought the FARC would never agree to OAS participation in the forensic team due to its verification role in the paramilitary peace process. When the FARC agreed to an OAS role, the GOC demanded that a member of the Fiscalia (Prosecutor General's Office) accompany the ICRC to the grave sites. Leyva said the GOC only dropped this demand, because it feared the ICRC, or Leyva, would tell the legislators' families the GOC was blocking agreement. GOC officials tell us the FARC delayed a deal to make it more difficult for the forensic team to determine the circumstances of the deaths. ¶5. (C) Leyva said the return of the legislators' bodies is not linked to Venezuelan President Chavez' efforts to promote a humanitarian exchange of FARC-held hostages for FARC members jailed by the GOC. Still, he predicted the popular emotion generated by the bodies' return--and their subsequent burials--would put increased pressure on Uribe to move forward on a humanitarian exchange. Brownfield