JUNE HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002089 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS PTER CO SUBJECT: JUNE HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE REF: A. BOGOTA 2088 ¶B. BOGOTA 1845 ¶C. BOGOTA 1826 ¶D. BOGOTA 1374 ¶E. BOGOTA 1338 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) continues to make progress in 'false positive' investigations, with 75 people charged for involvement in the Soacha scandal and seven members of the Army convicted in older cases. The Fiscalia is currently investigating 1056 cases--involving 1708 victims--of alleged extrajudicial executions committed by security force members between 1985 and 2009. Still, the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit registered a sharp decline in the number of cases reported in 2008. Based on testimony of a former paramilitary, the Fiscalia reopened its investigation of the 1989 murders of twelve judicial officials in Santander. The FARC proposed the release of two kidnapped soldiers, conditioned on the presence of Senator Piedad Cordoba and Gustavo Moncayo. End Summary INVESTIGATIONS INTO EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) As of May 15, the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) is investigating 1056 cases--involving 1708 victims--of alleged extrajudicial executions (EJE) committed by security force personnel from 1985 to 2009. Forty-two percent of the 1056 cases of extrajudicial killings occurred in Antioquia or Meta. Members of the Army account for 94% of the 1150 security force personnel implicated in the murders. Still, the Unit's extrajudicial killing caseload dropped dramatically in 2008, tracking a similar decline in cases reported by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights Office (REFS B and C). The Fiscalia is handling 112 cases from 2008--down from a peak of 397 cases in 2007--and has recorded only one case so far in 2009. ¶3. (U) The Fiscalia continued to make progress in the Soacha 'false positive' scandal (REF A). In total, 72 members of the army--including three colonels--and three civilians have been charged. In other 'false positive' cases, the Fiscalia ordered the preventive detention of three marines for the murders of two people in March 2005 in Las Palmas (Bolivar). Two officers and four professional soldiers were sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murders of two minors from Antioquia in Monteria (Cordoba) on March 5, 2006. Army Lieutenant Jose Alejandro Ramirez Riano was sentenced to 30 years for the September 2002 'false positive' murder of Orlando de Jesus Idarraga Tobon. ¶4. (U) Based on the testimony of former paramilitary Alonso de Jesus Baquero ("Negro Vladimir"),the Fiscalia reopened investigations into the January 1989 La Rochela (Santander) massacre of twelve judicial officials by paramilitaries. Baquereo testified in March that political leaders, military commanders, and paramilitaries had formed a "security pact" in the Magdalena Medio. Former representative Tiberio Villarreal and retired generals Alfonso Vacca, Juan Salcedo Lora, and Farouk Yanine Diaz (who had already been implicated in the crime by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) have been called to testify. FARC PROPOSE NEW HOSTAGE RELEASES, ATTACK LOCAL GOVERNMENT CARAVAN -------------- ¶5. (U) The FARC proposed on June 28 the release of Sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo, kidnapped in 1997, and soldier Josue Daniel Calvo Nunez, who the FARC claim to have kidnapped April 20. Until the FARC's offer to release Calvo, the Army had considered him missing in action. The FARC conditioned the release on the presence of Senator Piedad Cordoba and Moncayo's father, Gustavo, but said they would allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Catholic Church to also participate. Minister of Interior and Justice Fabio Valencia Cossio dismissed the new initiative as "political grandstanding" and reiterated that all of the FARC's hostages should be released immediately. After the FARC's initial offer to release Moncayo to Cordoba in April, President Uribe announced that only the Red Cross and Catholic Church would be permitted to participate in future FARC negotiations (REFS D and E). ¶6. (U) The FARC attacked the caravan of San Jose de Guaviare Mayor Pedro Arenas on the outskirts of the city on June 28. City Councilman Marcos Baquero is missing, possibly kidnapped, and Deputy David Aldana was wounded in the leg. The GOC accused the FARC of having conducted the action in revenge for eradication efforts that have limited coca cultivation in the area. OTHER NEWS -------------- ¶7. (U) Marino Mestizo, indigenous leader in Caloto (Cauca), was killed by two masked gunmen on June 24. Mestizo had reportedly received threats from illegal groups, because he opposed cocaine laboratories on the indigenous reservation. The situation in Cauca remains tense due to the Fiscalia's efforts to prosecute indigenous leaders, including Aida Quilcue, for the kidnapping of a policeman during last October's disturbances in the region. Quilcue's husband, Edwin Legarda, was killed by Army personnel at a checkpoint in Cauca on December 16. The Fiscalia has arrested seven soldiers for the death, but the indigenous remain convinced that more senior military officials were also involved. ¶8. (U) Sixty-nine members of a Medellin-based human trafficking ring were detained June 16; the "Comisionistas" ring allegedly forced over 1000 women into prostitution. Nichols