PRESIDENT COLOM ALLEGES ASSASSINATION PLOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000050

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2018
TAGS: PGOV MARR PTER PINR MOPS GT
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT COLOM ALLEGES ASSASSINATION PLOT

REF: GUATEMALA 1593

Classified By: Political Officer Lance Hegerle for reasons 1.4(b,d)


1. (U) In the days leading up to his one-year anniversary in
office, President Alvaro Colom has engaged in an increasingly
strident public war of words with opposition leaders and the
press. The tiff started when Colom responded to press
criticism of First Lady Sandra Torres de Colom by calling her
critics "ignorant, stupid and politically illiterate." He
also made allegations that opposition leaders and critics
were taking part in a destabilization plot to undermine his
administration. In a January 12 radio address Colom raised
the stakes by claiming that this "destabilization plot"
included a plan to assassinate him last December.


2. (U) Colom asserted that the plot was hatched in November
of 2007 by organized criminal elements soon after he defeated
"their candidate" in the presidential election. He gave no
details of the purported assassination attempt, but asserted
that his intelligence apparatus had neutralized the threat.
On January 13, local papers ran articles outlining Colom's
claims, along with opposition assertions that Colom was
simply seeking to draw attention away from his
administration's lack of progress after nearly one-year in
office. On January 14, during his first year in review
speech before Congress, Colom made no mention of the alleged
plot and offered an apology for two of the offensive words he
had used to categorize the opposition. While his aim was
probably to de-escalate the war of words, he made it clear
that while he regretted his choice of words, he did not
apologize for the "reasons and motives" that led him to use
them.


3. (C) On January 14, the Ambassador spoke with Ricardo
Marroquin, head of the SAAS (which provides security to the
President and Vice President.) Marroquin said there was no
information regarding a threat against Colom; rather certain
unnamed individuals in the government had gone a step too far
in analyzing opposition criticism of the President. The
Ambassador told Marroquin that we had not received any
information about such a threat.


4. (C) COMMENT: Although rumors of coup plots and political
intrigue are common in Guatemala, the Embassy has received no
credible information to suggest that there was a plan to
assassinate Colom, nor has the President ever raised this
concern in meetings with us. Colonel Douglas Alberto
Gonzalez Monzon, the commander of the military's Presidential
Honor Guard, informed DATT that while he had heard the recent
rumors, he had no intelligence to support them. He added
that neither his command nor the civilian agency charged with
Presidential Security (SAAS) believe the rumors have any
validity, and they have not altered their security
procedures. It is possible that Colom is continuing to react
to reports of "coup plotting" he recently received that
caused him to change the upper levels of the Guatemalan
Military (reftel). Embassy has received no confirmation that
those reports were accurate, and it is possible that they
were prepared for Colom by presidential advisers wishing to
benefit from command changes in the Military. Colom chose
not to mention the threats in his one-year anniversary
speeches January 14.

McFarland