DAS CONTINUES DOMESTIC SPYING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 000569

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM KJUS CO
SUBJECT: DAS CONTINUES DOMESTIC SPYING

REF: 08BOGOTA3888

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

SUMMARY
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1. (C) Colombia's leading news magazine reported that the
Department of Administrative Security (DAS) illegally spied
on a wide range of the GOC's domestic political opponents,
including Supreme Court magistrates, opposition leaders and
journalists. Some DAS officials reportedly monitored private
phone calls and emails, destroyed evidence of the monitoring,
and may have sold information to narcotraffickers and other
criminal groups. The Prosecutor General (Fiscalia) and
Inspector General (Procuraduria) are investigating, and DAS
Director Felipe Munoz set up a special commission of outside
intelligence experts to conduct an internal probe. The DAS's
counterintelligence deputy also resigned following the story.
Former DAS Director Andres Penate told us the DAS has a
tradition of spying on the domestic opposition that far
predates the Uribe Administration. End Summary.

SEMANA BREAKS ANOTHER DAS DOMESTIC SPYING STORY
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2. (U) Leading news magazine "Semana" reported on February 21
that the Department of Administrative Security (DAS)
continued to intercept phone calls and emails of the GOC's
domestic political opponents--despite a similar scandal in
October 2008 that had brought down the DAS director (reftel).
The list of those illegally monitored included Supreme Court
justices, federal prosecutors, journalists, and both
opposition and Uribista politicians. Internal DAS sources
told "Semana" that the DAS (roughly an FBI equivalent)
intercepted about 1900 communications in just one three month
period. Some officials at DAS headquarters reportedly
destroyed evidence of the monitoring before new DAS director
Felipe Munoz took office. DAS officials also reportedly sold
intercept information to narcotraffickers and insurgents.
DAS counterintelligence deputy Jorge Lagos resigned on
February 22, and Colombian media reported that Munoz said
more heads would roll.

GOC SHOCKED BY NEW REVELATIONS
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3. (U) President Uribe told the media that he had not ordered
the monitoring and declared himself "deeply hurt" and a
"victim" of the scandal. Uribe said he had always played
fair with his political opponents. Uribe added that those
who committed the spying were part of a "mafia" that damaged
Colombian democracy and the Government. Minister of Interior
and Justice Fabio Valencia Cossio also denied that the GOC
had anything to do with the spying, and called on "Semana" to
cooperate with authorities investigating the reports.

INVESTIGATIONS MOVING FORWARD QUICKLY
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4. (C) The Fiscalia and Procuradoria are moving swiftly to
investigate. Ten investigators from CTI, the Fiscalia's
investigative unit, took over the DAS's electronic monitoring
facilities and began collecting evidence. Fiscal General
Mario Iguaran announced that CTI investigators will undertake
a thorough probe, including detailed examinations of all of
the equipment alleged to have been used for domestic wiretaps
and interviews with all personnel working in the units
involved in the charges. Semana editor Alejandro Santos told
Iguaran that his staff would cooperate with the Fiscalia, but
wanted to protect his sources. Separately, DAS Director
Munoz announced the creation of a technical committee to
investigate the charges, whose members will include
intelligence specialists from the Armed Forces and the
NationalPolice.


5. (C) Inspector General (Procurador) Alejandro Ordoneztold
the Ambassador on February 23 that he had consulted with his
office's special investigative unit on the case and expected
good results quickly. The Ambassador told Ordonez that he
could count on full cooperation from the Embassy, adding that
the allegations against the DAS damaged the institution and
ongoing U.S. cooperation with the DAS. Ordonez said the DAS
had been effectively "decapitated" by losing so many leaders
in previous scandals, yet the problems remained, leading one
to conclude that more than just the DAS leadership was to
blame.

USG NOT INVOLVED
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6. (C) The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) runs one
intercept and monitoring facility within DAS, and has
doublechecked its equipment and records to confirm that all
previous monitoring was done in accordance with established
legal mechanism. All legal Colombian communications
monitoring must be approved by a Court magistrate or a
prosecutor. DEA officials noted that CI Deputy Lagos had
been less-than-fully cooperative with USG law enforcement
authorities.

DAS'S PERVASIVE TRADITION OF DOMESTIC SPYING
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7. (C) Former DAS Director Andres Penate told us that DAS has
a long tradition of spying on the internal legal opposition
which predated the Uribe administration. Penate said Uribe
did not support the use of the DAS for political purposes,
because the DAS had spied on him when he was governor of
Antioquia in the 1990s. Still, he said some members of
Uribe's government, including Secretary of the Presidency
Bernardo Moreno, senior advisor Jose ObdulioGaviria, Legal
Advisor Edmundodel Castillo, and Interior Minister Valencia
Cossio, continued to press the DAS to remain in the domestic
spying game. Penate told us Uribe nver pressured him to
report on the domestic opposition, but did encourage him to
coordinate with Gaviria when the GOC began to encounter
political problems because of the reelection debate. Penate
said he resigned from the DAS rather than deal with the
pressure exerted by Moreno and other presidential advisors.
Ivan Velasquez, the Supreme Court's lead auxiliary magistrate
in the parapolitical investigations, told us the night before
the "Semana" story broke that DAS's surveillance of him had
become so intense t it had begun to impede his work.
BROWNFIELD