COLOMBIA-MEXICO COUNTER-NARCOTICS AND JUSTICE COOPERATION

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000508 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR INL/LP STEPHANIE BOWERS, CRAIG LANG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC CO MX PM SUBJECT: COLOMBIA-MEXICO COUNTER-NARCOTICS AND JUSTICE COOPERATION ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Colombian National Police (CNP) reported that it conducted training for 5,747 Mexican police members in 2009; 98% of which took place in Mexico. According to the CNP, its judicial courses at the Center of Criminal Investigation and Accusatory Penal System in Mexico City accounted for roughly half of the 5,747 Mexican police trained in 2009. The CNP Anti-narcotics Directorate (DIRAN) trained a total of 19 Mexican police students in the bi-annual, 18 week Jungla Commando International Course at the CNP National Training Center in Colombia from 2007-2009. United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has sent Assistant United States Attorneys and Colombian prosecutors to Mexico for federal police judicial training over the last two years, along with coordinating the participation of Mexican prosecutors and investigators in training courses in Colombia. The Mexican Army plans to participate in rotary wing aviation training in Colombia in March. Mexican Embassy officials here in Bogota report that they would like to expand such training in a variety of areas. Colombia has appropriate facilities and capacity to do more training, given adequate resources. Post believes Colombia has relevant experience to offer Mexico. End summary. Large-scale, ongoing Colombian training programs for Mexico -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Colombian National Police (CNP) provided counternarcotics and criminal investigative training to Mexico in 2009 as part of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) police reform initiative, according to contacts in the Mexican Embassy in Bogota. The CNP reported that it conducted training for 5,747 Mexican police members in 2009; 98% of which took place in Mexico. Most of this training focused on police investigation and intelligence. The bulk of CNP training was delivered to Mexican federal police units. The Mexican state police of Jalisco, Chihuahua, and Guanajuato also hosted Colombian police trainers during 2009. ¶3. (SBU) The CNP-led judicial courses at the Center of Criminal Investigation and Accusatory Penal System in Mexico City accounted for roughly 50% of those 5,747 Mexican police trained in 2009, according to the CNP. Approximately 125 CNP instructors have contributed over the last year to an ongoing international effort (United States, Canada, Colombia, Spain, and the Czech Republic) to train 10,000 Mexican Federal Police recruits in investigation and intelligence at the police academy in San Luis de Potosi, according to Mexican Embassy contacts. Embassy DOJ officers report that Colombian prosecutors working alongside U.S. prosecutors also contributed to the police training in Mexico, which runs from January 2009 to March 2010. In addition, Colombian police trainers taught intelligence and investigation courses to Mexican Federal Police units, accounting for approximately 28% of the 2009 total. The remaining 22% of those Mexican police trained by the CNP last year participated in smaller courses on intelligence, investigation, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, and community policing. Approximately 2% of Mexicans trained by the CNP in 2009 were trained in Colombia. ¶4. (SBU) The CNP Anti-narcotics Directorate (DIRAN) trained a total of 19 Mexican police students in the bi-annual, 18 week Jungla Commando International Course at the CNP National Training Center in Pijaos from 2007-2009. A DIRAN "Jungla" nine-man Mobile Training Team delivered a sixty-day anti-narcotics training program to the Jalisco State Police in Mexico from September 2 to November 2, 2009; the same Jungla program took place in Jalisco in 2008. In early 2009, CNP anti-kidnapping units trained Chihuahua State Police in anti-kidnapping and investigative techniques in Ciudad Juarez. Colombian police trained three Mexican airport police in Bogota from January 12 to 19 in a course aimed to improve drug detection in airports. Colombia-Mexico Police Training Plans for 2010 -------------- - ¶5. (SBU) According to the Mexican Embassy in Bogota, the Mexican government hopes to expand the ongoing Colombia-Mexico training relationship by bringing more Mexican security forces to Colombia for training in the coming years. Mexico intends to send at least four candidates to each Jungla Commando International course for the foreseeable future. Embassy contacts reported Mexico's intention to send more federal police in 2010 to the DIRAN Combat Medic Course, Designated Marksman Course, Explosives and Demolitions Course, and Close Quarters Combat Course, all of which are taught at the CNP National Training Center. ¶6. (SBU) The Mexican SSP federal police attach???? to Colombia accompanied NAS Bogota in touring the CNP training center at Pijaos on January 29 to assess the center's training capacity. The Mexican attach???? related that the GOM is interested in sending hundreds of federal police units to the CNP training center for training from 2010 and 2011, and he requested INL assistance to facilitate logistics involved with these potentially expanded programs. Future Areas of Potential Police Cooperation -------------- ¶7. (SBU) INL may be able to facilitate the logistics of expanded Mexican police participation at the CNP training center in Pijaos. This facility has the capacity to house and train hundreds of Mexican police, as eight newly-constructed barracks have recently opened. Current courses could potentially be adjusted by CNP trainers to provide Mexican trainees with specific training needs, with potential assistance by the U.S. Special Forces team assigned to the school. Possible options include a "Mexico Basic Course," along with expanded, specialty courses such as the Explorer Course, Close Quarters Combat, Designated Marksman, and Combat Medic courses. The CNP training center could likely absorb over 100 Mexicans year-round without negatively impacting the training rhythm. ¶8. (SBU) If INL and NAS Mexico believe it worthwhile, NAS Bogota would make PSC Advisors available to conduct short TDYs to Mexico to assist in establishing police training programs and support packages, conducting assessments of police needs in specific areas, and helping implement specific programs. NAS Bogota stands ready to assist with training proposals/ideas, program substance and launch recommendations, and welcomes discussions on how to further utilize Colombia's counter-narcotic capabilities to assist Mexican efforts with Merida Initiative funds. Colombia-Mexico Maritime Interdiction Training -------------- - ¶9. (SBU) The Colombian Coast Guard has demonstrated regional leadership with its incipient Regional Maritime Interdiction Training Program in Cartagena, and Mexican maritime security personnel have participated in the initial training courses. The Colombian Coast Guard, with NAS support, is planning to significantly enhance regional training in 2010 and 2011, delivering training courses in Colombia to improve the capacity of regional partners in detection and interdiction of self-propelled semisubmersibles (SPSS) and surface boats, along with judicial training in crime scene management and evidence collection. ¶10. (SBU) The Mexican Navy (MEXNAV) has participated recently in classes held at the USG International Coast Guard School, which is supported by Embassy Bogota's NAS and the Military Group. MEXNAV has participated in and hosted multilateral meetings sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard and COLNAV on increasing cooperation in boarding illegal vessels at sea. MEXNAV also participated in the first joint COLNAV/SOUTHCOM-sponsored Maritime Counter Drug Symposium of the Americas in November 2008, along with follow-on technical meetings through March 2009. MEXNAV has committed to support and participate in the agreed upon Maritime Counter Drug Analysis Center (supported by MILGRP) and will participate in the second Maritime Counter Drug Symposium of the Americas scheduled to take place in the Dominican Republic in March. ¶11. (SBU) COLNAV and MEXNAV will very soon exchange naval intelligence attach????s to work in each others' intelligence headquarters, according to the US Navy Mission in Bogota. In addition, our Navy Mission reports that the COLNAV has agreed to help MEXNAV train riverine forces in the near future. (Note: On another military cooperation front, the Mexican Army is scheduled to participate in the initial Rotary Wing Training Course in Melgar, Colombia in March. This rotary wing training is part of an estimated USD 25 million capacity-building program designed to last several years. End note.) United States-Colombia-Mexico Justice Training -------------- - ¶12. (SBU) The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) coordinated participation of Colombian prosecutors, primarily in training of Mexico's SSP investigators on oral trial techniques and process, from August-November 2009. Twelve prosecutors taught side-by-side with Assistant U.S. Attorneys in seven different sessions. DOJ also involved a Colombian prosecutor in the first of several planned courses for training Mexican prosecutors. DOJ is currently developing training programs for Mexican prosecutors, as well as investigators with PGR and INACIPE using the experience, materials, curriculum and trainers from the Colombia program. DOJ is planning for extensive training of Mexican prosecutors through 2010, with support and learning experience gained from the Colombia program. The Colombian Prosecutor General's Office signed an agreement with the Mexican Attorney General's Office to assist with this training. DOJ is working closely with both sides to facilitate training possibilities and maximize the important connection among U.S.-Colombian-Mexican law enforcement concerns. ¶13. (SBU) DOJ will be using materials, curriculum and trainers involved in Colombian investigator training to develop and implement training for Mexican investigators and forensic experts in areas such as crime scene management, evidence, report writing, interaction with prosecutors, and testimony in court proceedings. Areas of Potential Judicial Cooperation -------------- ¶14. (SBU) In 2010, DOJ anticipates utilizing Colombian forensic scientists, protection personnel, investigators, and victim assistance personnel in programs involving forensic development, witness protection, police investigator training, and victim assistance. This plan would likely entail bringing Mexican officials to Colombia for training, observation, and program discussions, as well as facilitating Colombian and US instructors familiar with the Colombia program providing training and program advice in Mexico. DOJ will also be developing an exchange program and training for Mexican judges similar to those for prosecutors. ¶15. (SBU) NAS Bogota and/or DOJ could facilitate the logistics of sending Mexican judicial police to Colombia for crime scene management training. Five to ten Mexican judicial police could participate in iterations of CNP "judicial first responder training," which is being offered in strategic areas throughout Colombia in coordination with Embassy agencies, with an eye toward gauging GOM interest in developing a similar field course for Mexican public security units. According to CNP judicial contacts, this training has improved local police forces' crime-scene management skills, facilitated the work of prosecutors, and boosted certain districts' prosecution of criminals. BROWNFIELD