SCENESETTER FOR FEBRUARY 29-MARCH 3 VISIT OF LABOR

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000737



SIPDIS



SENSITIVE

SIPDIS



(C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - ADDED CAPTIONS SIPDIS & SENSITIVE, ADDED

TAGS: ELAB ETRD FIXED NUMBERING FOR PARAGRAPH AND

ADDED TEXT TO PARAGRAPH'S 1 & 19.)



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: ELAB ETRD FIXED NUMBERING FOR PARAGRAPH AND

SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR FEBRUARY 29-MARCH 3 VISIT OF LABOR

SECRETARY CHAO AND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO COLOMBIA



SIPDIS



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Summary

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1. (U) Your visit to Medellin comes at a crucial time in our

relations with Colombia. Labor issues have moved to the center

of our relations and form the heart of the debate on a Trade

Promotion Agreement with Colombia. Colombia finds itself safer,

economically stronger, better governed and more democratic than

it has been in decades. Rates of murder, kidnapping, and violence

nationwide, including against union members, have fallen

dramatically. Increased security has led to an economic boom

that has reduced poverty by 20 percent since 2002, lowered

unemployment 25 percent, and attracted record levels of investment.

More than 40,000 combatants, mostly paramilitaries, have laid down

their arms and are participating in GOC reintegration programs.

Desertions among the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

increased in 2007.



2. (SBU) Nevertheless, Colombia remains a work in progress.

Consolidating recent gains and making further advances on

human rights, security, and poverty reduction--while also

managing increasingly tense relations with Venezuelan

President Hugo Chavez--represent the greatest challenges for

the remaining 2.5 years of the Uribe Administration.

Our continued commitment to Colombia--through approval of the

U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Act (CTPA) and support

for Plan Colombia--will help lock in Colombia's democratic

security gains, promote regional stability, and contribute

to a Colombia that provides security and opportunity to all

its citizens. End Summary.



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CTPA Solidifies Advances:

Investment, Poverty, and Security

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3. (U) President Uribe's democratic security policy and free

market economic reforms have spurred the economy. GDP growth

approached seven percent in 2007 after averaging more than

five percent annually since 2003. Colombia's trade volume

grew more than 65 percent in the same period. The United

States remains Colombia's largest trade partner

(approximately 40 percent of exports and 26 percent of

imports),though Colombia's trade with Venezuela has soared

in the last two years, and Colombia could shift to greater

agricultural imports from Canada and the European Union when

free trade negotiations with them conclude in 2008. Nearly

93 percent of Colombia's exports already receive duty-free

access to the U.S. under the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA),

which expires February 29, 2008, while U.S. exports to Colombia

face an average tariff of 12.5 percent. Investors from

around the world boosting investment in Colombia in anticipation

of the CTPA. In 2007, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

exceeded $7.5 billion, 350 percent greater than FDI in 2002.



4. (SBU) The Colombian Congress ratified the CTPA in 2007 by

a substantial margin, and it remains the Colombian government's

highest economic priority. Delays in U.S. approval or rejection

of the accord would deal severe political and economic blow to

Uribe and his policy of strengthened ties with the United States

-- especially given recent tensions with Venezuela's President Hugo

Chavez. Colombia's second largest trading partner, Venezuela, has

already begun commercial retaliation over Uribe's decision to end

Chavez' formal facilitator role in a humanitarian exchange with

the FARC. Venezuela has restricted automobile imports from Colombia

and deployed troops to the border to stop unofficial cross border

trade.



5. (U) Analysts estimate the agreement with the United States

would add between one and two percent annual GDP growth to

the local Colombian economy. This growth would add the new

jobs in the formal sector employment that Uribe needs to meet

his goal of cutting the poverty rate from 45 percent to 35

percent by 2010. Trade-based formal sector growth will also

provide the GOC with additional fiscal resources to shoulder

a larger portion of its security costs as USG Plan Colombia

support falls.



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Continued Progress on Labor Rights

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6. (U) In response to concerns identified by the

International Labor Organization (ILO),the GOC has

introduced bills in Congress that would bring Colombia's

labor laws closer to ILO





standards. The proposed legislation would: transfer authority

for declaring strikes from the executive to independent labor

judges; make binding arbitration an option rather than a

mandatory process after a strike has lasted 60 days; require

workers' cooperatives to pay into the social security system and

benefits programs; and levy heftier fines for cooperatives that

do not comply with current laws. The GOC has made the bills'

passage a top priority in a special legislative session, which

began this month, with approval expected in April.



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Labor Violence

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7. (U) Labor violence and impunity remain major concerns,

with the government making greater progress than is regularly

reported. Since 2002, labor union data demonstrates that

murders of unionists for political reasons or common crime

have fallen more than 75 percent. A resident International Labor

Organization (ILO) representative arrived in Colombia in

January 2007 to help implement the tripartite agreement committing

the GOC to provide $4 million to finance the ILO Special Technical

Cooperation program and to provide $1.5 million a year to the

Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia). The Fiscalia operates

as an independent agency responsible for prosecuting cases of

violence against trade unionists. The additional funding

enabled the Fiscalia to create a special sub-unit with nearly

100 prosecutors and investigators to investigate 187 priority

cases. Since 2001, the Fiscalia has resolved 56 cases of

labor violence, leading to 118 convictions. For 2008, the

Fiscalia has received an additional $40 million in GOC funds

that has allowed it to add 1,072 new positions, including 175

prosecutors and 200 investigators.



8. (U) In addition to gains stemming from its democratic

security policy, the GOC has taken specific steps to protect

labor leaders and other vulnerable individuals. In 2007, the

Ministry of Interior and Justice's $34 million Protection

Program helped protect more than 6,900 human rights

activists, journalists, politicians, and other threatened

individuals, including 1720 trade unionists. The murder rate

for unionists is now lower than that for the general

population.



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Pro-CTPA Unions Work to Support Agreement

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9. The three main Colombian labor confederations -- whose

members largely come from the public sector unions -- oppose

the CTPA, fearing that it will cost Colombian workers jobs.

However, a substantial number of private sector based unions

support the CTPA, believing it will foster economic growth and

FDI in Colombia. On February 14, representatives from over

60 unions who support the CTPA proposed forming a new labor group

(central) as an alternative to the three main labor confederations

that oppose the CTPA. The 60 unions -- which represent more that

45,000 workers -- said the existing confederations do not represent

all members' interests. They plan to lobby for permanent access to

U.S. markets and better workers' benefits. Leaders of the three

existing confederations dismissed the group, saying there was

"no room" in Colombia for another labor central. The pro-CTPA

group expects its central will include members from unions and

other labor federations, as well as individual workers. The

organizers hope to form the labor central by August.



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Democratic Security

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10. (U) The establishment of greater Colombian government

territorial control and the paramilitary demobilization have

created the space for civil society and political parties to

operate more openly than ever before. The GOC maintains a

police presence in all 1099 municipalities for the first time in

history. Increased security of roads and highways have allowed for

greater freedom of movement for people and commerce. Murders fell

from over 29,000 in 2002 to less than 17,000 in 2007, and kidnappings

fell from over





2800 a year to less than 600 during the same period. Local

elections in October 2007 reflected the improved security with

over 86,000 candidates participating. The leftist Polo

Democratico Party (PDA) won 1.2 million more votes than in

2003, and its candidate won the key Bogota mayoral race.



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Human Rights Record

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11. (SBU) The Uribe Administration continues to make progress

on human rights cases involving military abuse or

collaboration with paramilitaries. All members of the

military and police receive mandatory human rights training.

In October 2006, Defense Minister Santos named the first

civilian -- and the first woman -- as director of the

Military Criminal Justice System. Santos has strongly backed

initiatives to deter extrajudicial killings, changing

promotion criteria to favor demobilization or capture of

illegal fighters and ordering military personnel to

facilitate civilian investigations of all combat deaths.

Human rights groups allege that security forces committed 955

extrajudicial killings over the last five years.



12. (U) The Fiscalia has made advances in prosecuting

military personnel alleged to have committed human rights

abuses. In August 2007, a court convicted three military

personnel for the murder of three unionists in Arauca in

2004. In November 2007, the Fiscalia ordered the detention of

Army Captain Guillermo Gordillo for his participation in the

massacre of eight civilians near San Jose de Apartado in

February 2005. The Fiscalia has set up a special

prosecutorial team to investigate cases of alleged

extrajudicial killings.



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U.S. Assistance

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13. (SBU) In January 2007 the GOC government presented a Plan

Colombia "consolidation strategy" pledging a Colombian

investment of $78 billion through 2013. The proposal

emphasizes the importance of building social cohesion,

assigning substantial resources to help strengthen local

governance, protect human rights, and help displaced people,

Afro-Colombians, and indigenous communities. It also aims to

reintegrate more than 45,000 demobilized ex-fighters and

deserters and to promote Colombia's licit exports. The GOC seeks

funding from the United States and European countries to complement

its own resources.



14. (SBU) Under Plan Colombia, the USG has provided more

than $5 billion in assistance, including $800 million in

economic and social assistance. USG security assistance

combats drug trafficking and terrorism through training,

equipment, and technical assistance. It supports Colombian

military aviation, essential for all programs - civilian or

military - outside Colombia's major cities. U.S. social and

economic aid focuses on alternative development, displaced

and other vulnerable communities, human rights and democratic

institutions, and reintegration of demobilized fighters.



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Drug Eradication and Interdiction

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15. (SBU) Eradication of coca and poppy crops and

interdiction of cocaine and heroin reached near-record levels

in 2007. President Uribe supports greater manual

eradication, but understands that manual eradication cannot

replace aerial eradication without a sharp increase in

spending. He seeks a complementary approach using both

methods. In 2007, the National Police and military forces

seized almost 150 metric tons of cocaine and coca base, and

destroyed 200 cocaine laboratories. We continue to work with

the Colombian government to refine our eradication strategy

and determine how best to transfer key tasks from the USG to

the GOC.



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Extradition

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16. (SBU) Since taking office, President Uribe has approved

over 614 extraditions to the United States, including a

record number of 164 in 2007. Among those extradited in 2007

were 11 members of the FARC and three members of the

United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).



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Demobilization and Peace Process

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17. (SBU) Over 32,000 former paramilitaries have demobilized

since 2002, and a further 14,000 have deserted from other

illegal armed groups (about one-half from the FARC). The OAS

estimates there are 30 emerging criminal groups with a

combined membership of over 3000 persons. Reintegration

programs and targeted law enforcement are working to counter

these groups. Under the Justice and Peace Law (JPL) process,

over 50 former paramilitary leaders have been jailed, and

many have confessed their participation in violent crimes. To

date, the JPL process has revealed the location of the

graves of almost 1200 paramilitary victims and provided

information on 3600 crimes. Almost 100,000 victims have

registered under the JPL, with the GOC working on measures to

accelerate the payment of reparations. The Supreme Court

and the Fiscalia--with GOC support--continue to investigate

politicians with alleged paramilitary ties. Fifty-two

Congressmen, 19 mayors and 11 governors have been implicated

in the scandal.



18. (SBU) The National Liberation Army (ELN) has negotiated

with the Colombian government for over two years on a

cease-fire agreement, but ELN infighting and FARC pressure

have prevented a deal. The ELN kidnap civilians to fund its

operations, but its military capability is declining. The

FARC has rebuffed GOC initiatives to engage in any meaningful

peace talks, and killed eleven state legislators held hostage

in July 2007. The GOC authorized Venezuelan President Chavez

to facilitate peace talks between the Colombian government

and the FARC and ELN in late August 2007, but subsequently

suspended his role after Chavez intervened in Colombia's

internal politics. The GOC issued a communiqu in January

2008 urging Chavez to "stop his aggression towards Colombia"

after Chavez proposed that the international community grant

the FARC "belligerent status" and remove the group from

worldwide terrorism lists. Chavez subsequently announced the

militarization of Venezuela's 2200 kilometer border with

Colombia.



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U.S. Hostages

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19. (SBU) The three U.S. contractors captured by the FARC in

February 2003 are the longest held U.S. hostages in the

world. A November 2007 video seized by the GOC from a FARC

urban cell showed proof-of-life of the three Americans.

Their safe release remains a top priority. A February 26 FARC

communique referred to the three Americans as "spies" and

threatened to hold them for 60 years in retaliation for the

U.S. conviction and sentencing of FARC Commander Simon

Trinidad. President Uribe has assured us that any humanitarian

exchange will include the U.S. hostages. In January, the Colombian

Government authorized the International Committee of the Red Cross

(ICRC) -- working with Venezuela -- to recover two FARC-held

hostages. The FARC released four additional Colombian hostages on

February 27, again working with the ICRC and Venezuelan Government.





Brownfield