LEGAL OBSTACLE TO FARC DEMOBILIZATIONS NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 004397

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ECON SOCI CO
SUBJECT: LEGAL OBSTACLE TO FARC DEMOBILIZATIONS NOT
RESOLVED BY ISAZA CASE

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

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) President Uribe announced that all Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) members, including senior
leaders, would avoid prosecution for human rights crimes if
they assisted in hostage releases. Local legal experts said
despite Uribe's assurances, the Wilson Bueno Largo (Isaza)
case does not provide a legal precedent to allow senior FARC
leaders to escape jail time--a key obstacle to senior FARC
demobilizations. Defense Ministry legal advisor Monica
Cifuentes privately told us the facts of Isaza's case--in
which the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) ruled that
Isaza did not commit the crime of kidnapping--would not apply
to FARC leaders. End Summary.


2. (U) President Uribe announced on December 11 that all
FARC members, including senior leaders, would escape jail
time--even for human rights abuses--if they assisted in
hostage releases. Presidential Peace Commissioner Luis
Carlos Restrepo said the GOC would consider such
demobilizations/hostage releases a form of a humanitarian
exchange. Uribe's comments follow a decision by the Fiscalia
not to prosecute FARC member Isaza for kidnapping. Isaza
helped former congressman Oscar Lizcano, held by the FARC for
eight years, to escape from a FARC camp on October 26. Isaza
received a cash reward of about 420,000 USD, and traveled on
December 11 with his girlfriend (also a former FARC member)
to France, where they received political asylum.


3. (U) Local legal experts said there are no legal grounds
to support Uribe's commitment. They said the Isaza case does
not provide a legal precedent to allow senior FARC leaders to
avoid prosecution for gross human rights violations--a key
obstacle to high-level FARC demobilizations. Restrepo said
he was tasked with finding the legal means to make Uribe's
proposal viable. Under Colombia's Constitution, perpetrators
of human rights violations cannot be pardoned or benefit from
an amnesty.


4. (C) Cifuentes told us Isaza did not face human rights
charges, because Lizcano testified that Isaza's intent from
the moment he gained custody of Lizcano was to free him.
Hence, the Fiscalia determined that Isaza had not committed
the crime of kidnapping--thereby clearing the legal hurdle to
his departure to France. She said that in the case of senior
FARC leaders, it would be almost impossible to show they had
not committed human rights crimes. In many instances, senior
FARC leaders have already been convicted and sentenced for
human rights crimes. Cifuentes said the basic legal
framework for demobilization remains the Justice and Peace
Law (which provides for reduced jail time in exchange for
truth and reparations by the perpetrator.)
NICHOLS