FARC DOCUMENTS INDICATE THAT ERADICATION FINANCIALLY HURTS

UNCLAS BOGOTA 001921 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR INL/LP DEPT FOR WHA/AND E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR SENV KCRM PTER CO SUBJECT: FARC DOCUMENTS INDICATE THAT ERADICATION FINANCIALLY HURTS THE ORGANIZATION REFS: A) BOGOTA 800 NOTAL B) BOGOTA 1014 NOTAL ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Documents recovered from the laptop computers of two recently killed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC in Spanish) Secretariat members and subsequently released to the press indicate that coca eradication causes financial hardship for the organization. In essence, the FARC itself provides concrete proof that aerial eradication negatively impacts on FARC operations. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) On March 1, Colombian security forces launched a successful operation against a FARC camp located just across the border in Ecuador. During the operation the organization's second in command and FARC Secretariat member, Luis Edgar Devia Silva (aka Raul Reyes),was killed, and a number of computers seized (REF A). ¶3. (U) Shortly thereafter, El Tiempo, Colombia's leading daily, ran an article on its website with a collection of documents taken from Raul Reyes' computers. One was an e-mail to Reyes dated February 16, 2008 from alias Edgar Tovar, a FARC front commander making reference to the negative effects that aerial spray and eradication have had on the organization's ability to generate income. Mr. Tovar says, "We have not been able to do any good business deals, we are just now trying to close some deals, we have done some small things, but the situation is difficult due to the eradication and fumigation." ¶4. (U) On March 6, Manuel Munoz Ortiz (a/k/a Ivan Rios),another member of the FARC general secretariat and commander of the FARC's central block, was killed by one of his own bodyguards. The bodyguard turned over Rios' laptop computer along with Rios' severed right hand to prove that Rios was dead (REF B). According to a March 12th article in the Colombian weekly magazine "Cambio," documents on Rios' computer show that he was concerned with eradication because it decreased his organization's ability to generate revenue from narcotrafficking activities. An email sent to a subordinate said, "Make me a proposal on distribution percentages that we receive from this business, taking into account the needs of all fronts and also taking into account that the crisis in this zone is worse than others, because the part where we would make a lot of money charging our tax is subject to massive aerial eradication, and the units there are living off of very small tax collections and the funds for the radio station, workshops, schools, emergencies, and war material are all at zero." ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: The latest public estimates are that the FARC generates at least 80 percent of its revenue from narcotics production and trafficking. The information found on Reyes' and Rios' computers demonstrates that eradication is effective in not only reducing the productive capability of Colombia's coca producers, but also in taking its toll on the finances of Colombia's oldest terrorist organization. Destroying the coca of the FARC destroys the funding that it would use to buy arms, ammunition, explosives, food, and equipment. It also denies the FARC funding to try and intimidate or corrupt public and private officials. Now that Interpol has confirmed that the computers were not manipulated, it is our hope that other documents regarding aerial eradication will come to light. END COMMENT Brownfield