OCTOBER COLOMBIA STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT INTIATIVE UPDATE

UNCLAS BOGOTA 003582 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PTER PHUM EAID SNAR CO SUBJECT: OCTOBER COLOMBIA STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT INTIATIVE UPDATE REF: A. BOGOTA 3262; B. BOGOTA 2904 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) At a senior level coordinating meeting, Diego Molano, civilian lead of the National Consolidation Plan (PNC),set goals for consolidation and attempted to reinvigorate the interagency coordinating mechanism. The military is still playing a large role in Montes de Maria. USAID held 11 town hall meetings to select small infrastructure projects in Montes de Maria communities that are beginning the consolidation process. Town councilors in Puerto Rico commented on consolidation in their community. An Embassy Colombia Strategic Development Initiative (CSDI) team traveled to Buenaventura to evaluate security, economic, and social conditions. Presidential candidate Rafael Pardo criticized the GOC's current efforts to expand state presence and called for "ad hoc institutionality" in remote areas. The departmental government of Antioquia is leading consolidation efforts in Bajo Cauca. The Choco police academy graduated 147 new police and looks forward to future participation in NAS' scholarship program. End Summary. Diego Molano Sets Interagency Goals for Year-End -------------- --- ¶2. (SBU) On October 21, Diego Molano, new Director General of the President's Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation, and Vice Minister of Defense Sergio Jaramillo attended the GOC monthly executive committee meeting of the Coordination Center for Integrated Action (CCAI). Their participation was an attempt to reinvigorate senior-level PNC coordination and increase involvement of GOC line ministries in implementing programs to support consolidation efforts. Molano told interagency representatives that they need to review how their agencies were complying with Presidential Directive 001 -- the March 2009 decree that ordered all agencies to support the PNC -- particularly with respect to resources, since the funding to implement consolidation programs must come from existing ministry budgets. ¶3. (SBU) Molano tasked the interagency with four objectives to complete by the end of the year: -- Determine priorities: There are 100 municipalities that are now part of the consolidation plan and the GOC needs to determine which are the most critical. The border areas have risen in importance, particularly Tumaco and the Catatumbo. -- Define interagency roles and how to better manage coordination and follow-up between agencies: Jaramillo asked the Ministry of Agriculture if their Vice Minister could participate in the executive committee in the future. Molano also increased the frequency of executive committee meetings to every two weeks rather than once a month. -- Find areas where the GOC can achieve quick wins and publicity: Montes de Maria and eastern Antioquia were both mentioned as possibilities. -- Organize a strategy for public outreach to explain and defend the PNC in light of the upcoming political season and recent criticism that the PNC is "too militaristic." Military Still Playing Large Role in Montes de Maria -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to Juan Carlos Vargas, GOC regional coordinator for Montes de Maria, his zone has not reached post-conflict status yet. Vargas told us the region remains vulnerable due to criminal bands that still operate south of Sincelejo, the Sucre departmental capital, and the area's role as a transit corridor for narcotrafficking. He added that any crackdown against the criminal bands would result in retaliation against the populace. Presently, the military is the dominant force but is coordinating with the police who are just starting to establish a presence in the region. Vargas said that if the military were to leave, Montes de Maria would become even more vulnerable. The military presence consists of a marine infantry brigade (1,200 personnel) while the police number about 250 in the four municipalities targeted under CSDI and the PNC. The military is extending its reach into more rural areas while the police are primarily operating in urban centers. Immediate Impact Projects Extend State Presence -------------- -- ¶5. (U) USAID implementers in Montes de Maria held 11 town hall meetings in targeted communities to select small scale infrastructure projects such as health posts, school classrooms, and community soccer fields to begin establishing state presence. The projects are intended as a first step in building confidence in the state and will be implemented over the next six months. An integral part of the projects will be increasing municipal administrative capacity through training and technical assistance. ¶6. (U) On October 22, Emboffs observed a town hall meeting in La Pelona, a community recently reconstituted by returned internally displaced persons and identified as a priority by the municipal administration. In the meeting, an elderly community member complained that neither the national government nor the mayor were there to hear their needs. Pointing to Embassy personnel, he said that even foreign strangers came to listen and cared more about La Pelona than their own government. Still, by the completion of the process, the municipal administration had promised to send a health professional to the community once a month and made a monetary commitment to the selected project, a school. Participants seemed to appreciate the transparency of the town hall process and were guardedly optimistic about their future school. Town Council Describes Consolidation in Puerto Rico -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) On October 7, Emboffs visited the municipality of Puerto Rico in Meta Department, an area targeted for assistance under the Plan for the Integrated Consolidation of the Macarena (PCIM) pilot project. Town council members described the state's presence in the former coca growing area as "complete abandonment" prior to the start of the project in 2007. The commanding military officer in the area said that security improvements had caused land values per hectare to rise dramatically since the beginning of the GOC intervention. ¶8. (SBU) Though appreciative of military presence in the area, council members said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had not been defeated but continued to operate in groups of five or ten dressed as civilians. The council members cited a lack of infrastructure (roads, warehouses, and trucks) and credit to get their agricultural products to market. A lack of opportunity for higher education, they asserted, left their youth with the choice of joining the army or the guerrillas. One council member complained that GOC welfare programs lacked sustainability and had the effect of making them "mendicants of state charity." Liberal Party Candidate Criticizes PNC to Diplomats -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) At a breakfast with diplomats on October 28, Liberal Party candidate Rafael Pardo said the GOC's efforts at consolidation were incomplete. He said the GOC cannot project state presence into the poor barrios in Bogota, let alone into the remote areas dominated by illegal armed groups. Pardo suggested the state adopt an "ad hoc institutionality," which he left undefined other than an injunction not to try to recreate every ministry in every consolidation area. He said the GOC was mistaken over who are the beneficiaries of consolidation, granting land concessions to large agro-businesses in conflict areas rather than implementing policies to help small landowners. In the Macarena, Pardo said the GOC needs to grant more land titles and establish democratic mechanisms for determining priorities rather than leaving it to state bureaucrats. Buenaventura: Security Improved but Unemployment High -------------- -------------- ¶10. (SBU) A CSDI team traveled to Buenaventura in Valle de Cauca on October 29-30. The Pacific coast port city is part of the CSDI "Central Band" consolidation zone. The team noted significant security improvements including a major drop in homicides and an 85% drop in terrorist incidents this year. The CCAI has been in Buenaventura since 2007 and has staffed civilian, police, and military coordinators. The military coordinator told emboffs that the Colombian Navy is ready to turn over responsibility for the urban areas of Buenaventura to the police sometime next year. Because of a relatively advanced security situation, the primary need appears to be in the social and economic development phase of consolidation, more akin to a traditional development project than a counter-insurgency strategy. The GOC is embarking on several mega projects including two new ports (one with significant Philippine funding),the relocation of 3,500 families, and major improvements to the highway to Cali. Still, the unemployment of 40% is a major problem in Buenaventura. The regional coordinator told us that GOC support for consolidation in Buenaventura seems to be "business as usual," meaning they have seen no additional resources despite being designated a priority consolidation zone. Regional Government Leads Effort in Bajo Cauca -------------- - ¶11. (SBU) On October 23-24, USAID officers went to Caucasia in northeastern Antioquia to assess consolidation efforts in the Bajo Cauca region. The area is part of the "Northern Band," one of the two CSDI regions slated to begin receiving larger Embassy involvement after the launching of the initial three zones. In Bajo Cauca, the departmental rather than the national government is the driving force behind consolidation and has dedicated resources and assembled various partners for the effort (including a working group of private sector stakeholders and NGOs). The department is also coordinating with numerous military and police commands. In particular, the police have created a special jurisdiction for the PNC zone. ¶12. (SBU) Antioquia, as a major hub for industry and commerce, is one of the wealthier departments in Colombia and has budgetary resources to commit to consolidation unlike the departments of Meta and Narino. Governors of Antioquia also have a history of being politically powerful (President Uribe is a former governor) and a committed/capable department administration could be a potential CSDI partner if national civilian ministries continue to lag. The department's efforts are still nascent but seem well organized and already include security, eradication, and economic development assessments, items that CSDI typically requests before beginning intervention in consolidation zones. Choco Academy Graduates 147 new police -------------- ¶13. (U) On October 15, the Narcotic Affairs Section (NAS) Senior Advisor attended the graduation of 147 new police from the Colombian National Police (CNP) Academy at Yuto, outside of Choco's capital Quibdo. The academy was created five years ago with NAS Plan Colombia assistance to provide opportunities for Afro-Colombian youth, including women, to enhance citizen security, and to improve perceptions of the police in the marginalized Pacific Coast region. The deputy governor, departmental legislators, mayors, and the department's chief of police attended the graduation ceremony. The top graduate for the year was an impressive, dynamic female police officer (one of 19 women). The Yuto School Commander, Major Cuesta, expressed interest in the participation of candidates from Choco in the NAS Police Scholarship Program next year, which currently has 100 slots with plans to increase to 300 next year. The Yuto Police Academy will likely receive some of next year's batch of NAS-supported police recruits - many of them women - from the Afro-Colombian populations along the Pacific Coast. BROWNFIELD