UNITED STATES, COLOMBIA AND MEXICO MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 007470

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC ECIN PTER SNAR MX CO
SUBJECT: UNITED STATES, COLOMBIA AND MEXICO MEETING
REINFORCES COUNTER-NARCOTICS COOPERATION

REF: A. BOGOTA 418

B. 06 BOGOTA 9382

Classified By: Political Counselor John S. Creamer
Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Karen
Tandy met with Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Manuel
Santos Calderon and Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina
Mora Icaza on October 9 to promote increased counternarcotics
cooperation. The meeting was part of a series and led to
agreement to incorporate Colombian and Mexican staff into
DEA's El Paso Intelligence Center, share law enforcement
information, and create a joint "intelligence gap" document.
President Calderon's aggressive domestic counter-narcotics
efforts have facilitated stronger international cooperation,
including efforts to learn from Colombia's experience with
extradition. Calderon will visit Bogota on November 7, and
counternarcotics issues will be a key agenda item. END
SUMMARY.

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CARTAGENA ROUND - COMMON GROUND
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2. (C) Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator
Tandy has supported efforts to boost Colombian-Mexican
counternarcotics cooperation, emphasizing that long-term
success in reducing the flow of drugs into the United States
depends on these countries' collaboration. After initial
meetings in Madrid and Washington in May and July 2007, Tandy
attended a third meeting with Colombian Minister of Defense
(MOD) Santos and Mexican Attorney General (AG) Medina Mora in
Cartagena on October 9. The meetings build on then
President-elect Calderon's visit to Bogota in October 2006.
At that time, Calderon said he wanted to benefit from
Colombia's "lessons learned" in fighting narcotrafficking, as
well to as improve the exchange of intelligence and law
enforcement information. Since his inauguration, Calderon has
made the fight against illegal drugs a top priority.
Calderon will meet with President Uribe in Bogota on November
7, and counternarcotics cooperation will feature prominently
on the agenda.


3. (C) Tandy, Santos and Medina Mora agreed on the need to
deepen information-sharing on narcotrafficking. The meeting
reinforced existing areas of cooperation including:
coordinating extradition efforts, sharing intelligence
information, targeting aviation trafficking, and combating
money laundering. The parties also agreed to consider adding
other partners in Latin America, such as Venezuela, to
develop long-term counter-narcotics strategies. Medina Mora
recognized the difficulties in dealing with Venezuela, but
said it would be important to do so.


4. (C) The tripartite partners agreed on implementing four
deliverables between now and mid-2008 including: 1)
"embedding" Colombian and Mexican police representatives in
the DEA-lead El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC),a
multi-agency intelligence and monitoring clearinghouse; 2)
sharing highly sensitive information with a designated
representative of each partner country to maintain a flow of
strategic information; 3) developing jointly an "Intelligence
Gap" document during the first quarter of 2008; and 4)
continuing close collaboration through the Drug Flow Attack
Strategy (DFAS),an international intelligence operation
spanning multiple countries.


5. (C) The three also agreed on the need to target law
enforcement efforts against trafficking facilitators,
including maritime/aviation transport coordinators and money
handlers. Disrupting the network of facilitators, considered
the "weak links" in narco-organizations, would reduce
trafficking. All agreed it is critical to target financial
sectors, noting the FARC sustains its activities through drug
trade revenue.

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MEXICAN-COLOMBIAN COLLABORATION
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6. (SBU) Colombian and Mexican counterparts recognized their
"symbiotic relationship" in developing and sharing best
practices. Mexican officials expressed interest in learning
about Colombia's use of extradition and judicial wire
intercepts, while Colombia noted its desire to adapt Mexican
legislation on methamphetamines. The GOM will assign three
Mexican federal police officers to its Embassy in Bogota to
increase coordination with Colombian law enforcement.


7. (C) Mexican Embassy intelligence specialist Rafael Ortiz
told us Mexican-Colombian cooperation is good, but is not
without friction. He said a long-term GOM investigation of a
Mexican-based political group, Nucleo Mexicano de Apoyo a las
FARC, came to a halt when sensitive information involving the
group's receipt of funds from the Venezuelan Government and
its meetings with Senator Piedad Cordoba was leaked to the
Colombian press. Ortiz blamed the GOC for the leak and said
the GOM had to withdraw undercover agents that had penetrated
Nucleo Mexicano. Ortiz believed the GOC leaked the
information to discredit Senator Cordoba. In addition,
Mexican Charge Sandoval reiterated the GOM's commitment to
cooperate with Colombia, but complained that Colombian
Prosecutor General Mario Iguaran's public reference to
Colombian "undercover agents" working in Mexico had created
problems for the GOM.

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FUTURE MEETINGS AND PARTICIPANT LIST
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8. (SBU) The fourth and fifth tripartite meetings are
scheduled in Mexico in early 2008 and in Istanbul at the
International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) in May 2008.



9. (SBU) PARTICIPANT LIST

DEA Delegation:
Chief of Staff
Assistant Administrator, Chief of Operations
Assistant Administrator, Chief of Intelligence
Chief of Financial Operations
Regional Director, Colombia
Regional Director, Mexico
Assistant Regional Director, Colombia

Colombian Delegation:
Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos Calderon
Prosecutor General Mario Iguaran
Commander of the Armed Forces, General Freddy Padilla
Navy Commander, Admiral Guillermo Barrera
Vice Minister of Political Affairs and International
Thematics Sergio Jaramillo Caro
Director of the Colombian National Police, General Oscar
Adolfo Naranjo Trujillo
Vice Admiral Alvaro Echandia
Sub-Director Colombian National Police Antinarcotics Colonel
Jorge Miguel Gutierrez Penaranda

Mexican Delegation:
Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora
Director for the CENAPI Ardelio Vargas
Brownfield