Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LIMA745
2008-04-30 18:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lima
Cable title:  

GOVERNMENT PREPARING FOR PROTESTS DURING EU-LATIN

Tags:  PGOV PTER PREL PINR PE 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
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RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 7839
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PRIORITY 3351
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RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ APR 4851
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO PRIORITY 9509
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 1873
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO PRIORITY 1855
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 000745 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL PINR PE
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT PREPARING FOR PROTESTS DURING EU-LATIN
AMERICAN SUMMIT

REF: A. LIMA 3853


B. LIMA 489

C. LIMA 480

Classified By: POL/C ALEXIS LUDWIG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 000745

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL PINR PE
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT PREPARING FOR PROTESTS DURING EU-LATIN
AMERICAN SUMMIT

REF: A. LIMA 3853


B. LIMA 489

C. LIMA 480

Classified By: POL/C ALEXIS LUDWIG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)


1. (C) Summary: New reporting suggests that radical groups
may be planning unspecified violence during upcoming protests
against the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Lima
Summit (May 13th-17th). According to Congressman Gustavo
Espinoza, political strategist for jailed nationalist leader
Antauro Humala, a group of Antauro's supporters recently
traveled to Bolivia to receive combat training to prepare
them to launch attacks during the summit -- a trip organized
by the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima and a particularly
dangerous Antauro supporter. According to a GOP
counter-terrorism agency (Dircote) report released to an
investigative news program, Dircote penetrated a meeting of
the Venezuelan and FARC-sponsored Bolivarian Continental
Coordinator (CCB) in which participants agreed to coordinate
efforts to undermine the summit. Our EU counterparts point
to the 2005 Summit of the Americas in Argentina where
radicals hijacked anti-summit protests by provoking violent
confrontations, but are coordinating closely with the GOP and
believe security forces here have things in hand. End
Summary.

"Reservistas" Training in Bolivia for Summit Violence
-------------- --------------

2. (C) Congressman Gustavo Espinoza (protect),political
strategist for jailed nationalist leader Antauro Humala, told
poloffs that he recently learned that a group of 48 current
and former Antauro supporters ("reservistas") had traveled to
Bolivia to receive combat training to prepare them to launch
unspecified attacks during anti-summit protests in May. He
said he received the information from a reservista who was
disturbed by what he saw in Bolivia and left before
completing the training or learning specifically what was
planned. According to Espinoza's source, Venezuelan diplomat
Virly Torres organized and funded the trip in collaboration
with a reservista named Roger Chipana Yupanqui. Espinoza
described the men involved in the training as stupid and

crazy, and from the unreformed fringes of Antauro's political
movement. He said he feared they would "seek notoriety"
during the summit and that the entire movement would be
blamed. (Note: Espinoza appeared genuinely worried about the
threat of an attack. End Note.)


3. (C) A March article in the prominent magazine Caretas
appears to support Espinoza's story about military training.
The article describes an investigation by Peru's
counter-terrorism agency Dircote of reservistas that
allegedly received military training in Bolivia. Dircote
officers followed a group of reservistas leaving the Lima
office of the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator (CCB) -- a
group reportedly sponsored by the Venezuelan Government and
the FARC that coordinates radical organizations across Latin
America -- through Puno to La Paz until they entered a
Bolivian military installation. The magazine claimed to have
seen photos documenting the entire journey. Other
circumstantial evidence backing Espinoza's story includes
reported visits to Peru by Bolivian Aymara leader and former
terrorist Felipe Quispe. Quispe has openly associated with
Antauro Humala and his reservistas, and is reported by one
Embassy contact to have provided combat training to Peruvians
in Puno, on the Bolivian border. (REF A) Press reports also
say Quispe is a leader in CCB's Bolivia chapter.

Who is Roger Chipana Yupanqui?
--------------

4. (C) Espinoza described Chipana as a particularly radical
and dangerous reservista who has traveled to Venezuela and a
strong supporter of President Chavez. Because of his
Venezuela ties, Chipana broke with the exclusively Peruvian
nationalist movement that Espinoza claims to have promoted
since linking with Antauro Humala in 2006. According to
press reports, the 23 year old Chipana comes from a peasant
community in Apurimac and currently lives in Lima. He claims
to have participated in the January 2005 reservista assault
on the Andahuaylas police station that left four police and
two reservistas dead, according to a press report, and his

brother Raul Chipana Yupanqui is currently in prison for
charges related to this attack. As of January 2008, Chipana
led an organization of family members of reservistas jailed
for the attack; the organization's purpose was to pressure
the government to speed up their trial or release them.

Evidence the CCB Planning Summit Confrontations
-------------- --

5. (C) The GOP on February 9 arrested seven people returning
from a CCB summit in Quito and accused them of planning
disruptions during the May summit (Ref B). In an attempt to
prove the legitimacy of these charges to the public, Dircote
recently released additional evidence to the investigative
news program "La Ventana Indiscreta". According to the
program, Dircote penetrated a meeting held on February 15th
by Roque Felix Gonzalez la Rosa, head of the CCB-Peru Chapter
and a formerly imprisoned militant of the terrorist group
MRTA. Participants in the meeting included two members of
the radical Uruguayan group "Fogoneros" ("Firestarters"),
described as experts in fomenting violence during protests.
Attendees reportedly discussed improving coordination of CCB
activities with Venezuela, and agreed to work together to
undermine the EU-Latin America summit. On February 21,
Gonzalez la Rosa, the "Fogoneros", and several others
reportedly traveled to Quito for the CCB summit. Although
the GOP arrested Gonzalez la Rosa and six others on their
return, several additional suspects -- including three who
were jailed in the early 1990s on MRTA-related terrorism
charges -- have not been found.

Potential Repeat of 2005 Summit of the Americas Riots
-------------- --------------

6. (C) Our contacts at the EU Mission are concerned that the
long-planned anti-summit may be hijacked by radicals intent
on provoking confrontations with police, much like the 2005
Summit of the Americas in Argentina (Ref C). (Note: In
Argentina, a peaceful "People's Summit" and protest were
followed by a smaller march where protestors threw Molotov
cocktails and lit fires, leaving at least 20 people injured,
according to press reports. End Note.) Anti-summit
organizers have planned their main event -- a mass protest --
for May 17, the second day heads of state will be in Lima.
Organizers reportedly hope 20-30,000 protestors will attend,
and a variety of leftist unions and social movements around
the country have announced plans to march on Lima.
Government Ministers remain relatively confident they can
handle the situation with security measures they have in
place.

Comment:
--------------

7. (C) We believe GOP security services should be able to
handle a protest of this size, even if it involves minor
violence such as molotov cocktails. We are less sure that
the government will be able to deal effectively with a
worst-case scenario involving sophisticated, coordinated
violence. As things stand, our EU Mission counterparts are
coordinating closely with GOP security forces and believe
that, all told, the GOP has things in hand.
MCKINLEY