DECEMBER HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000061 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PTER KJUS CO SUBJECT: DECEMBER HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Reports of false positive killings -- military murders presented as combat kills -- declined by 96 percent in 2009 according to the GOC. A court convicted a Lieutenant and a Sergeant for the 2006 false positive murders of two individuals. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) claimed responsibility for the murder of the governor of Caqueta. The FARC were alleged to have killed two Afro-Colombian activists in Choco and a councilman in Tolima. FARC landmines killed one child and seriously wounded three others in Narino. End Summary. REPORTS OF FALSE POSITIVE KILLINGS DECLINE -------------- ¶2. (U) The GOC announced that 14 false positive cases -- military murders falsely reported as killed in combat -- were alleged to have occurred in 2009, two of which were proven crimes; the other 12 cases are under initial investigation. Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez reported this represented at least a 96 percent reduction in false positive murders since 2008, when almost 400 false positive cases were reported prior to the October 2008 dismissal of 27 military personnel associated with the Soacha false positive scandal. PROSECUTIONS FOR MILITARY CRIMES CONTINUE -------------- ¶3. (U) The Fourth Circuit Court of Monteria convicted Lieutenant Diego Beltran Vega (in absentia) and Sergeant Oscar Orlando Camargo in the 2006 false positive murders of John Freddy Camargo Herrera and Darwin Antonio Rivera Climaco. The two victims were lured from Caucasia, Antioquia to Canalete, Cordoba with promises of work, killed by members of the 33rd Infantry Batalion, and falsely reported as killed in combat. ¶4. (U) The Prosecutor General's office ordered the preventive detention of 11 members of the "December 11" Marine Battalion in the 2005 false positive case of Miguel Angel Martinez Yepez and Felix Antonio Rico Martinez in San Jacinto, Bolivar. FARC KILL POLITICAL LEADERS, ACTIVISTS, CHILD -------------- ¶5. (U) On December 21, the FARC kidnapped Caqueta Department Governor Luis Francisco Cuellar; his body was found dead the following day. The FARC claimed responsibility and reported Cuellar had been kidnapped to "stand trial" for corruption and they had not intended to kill him. The guerilla group blamed the military for Cuellar's death, since its pursuit forced the kidnappers to kill him in order to escape. ¶6. (U) Manuel Moya and Graciano Blandon, leaders of 231 Afro-Colombian displaced families seeking to return to the areas of Curvarado and Jiguamiendo in Uraba, Choco, were tortured and killed on December 17 in Choco. Blandon's adult son was killed as well. Moya and Blandon's supporters, including presidential advisor Jose Obdulio Gaviria Velez, accused the FARC of the crime. Moya and Blandon had been in conflict with the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community and the humanitarian zones in Curvarado and Jiguamiendo, which they claimed were associated with the FARC. ¶7. (U) On December 8, councilman Ricardo Perdomo of Prado, Tolima was killed, allegedly by the FARC. On December 29, 10 members of the FARC detained San Antonio, Tolima Mayor Ismael Cruz Neira for 30 minutes before releasing him unharmed. ¶8. (U) FARC landmines killed one child and seriously wounded three others in Roberto Payan, Narino on December 4. DISPLACEMENT TRENDS DOWN, BUT RATE QUESTIONED -------------- ¶9. (U) The GOC announced that displacements due to violence had declined by 50 percent between January and November of this year compared with the same period in 2008 (from 235,900 in 2008 to 107,752 in 2009). The GOC attributed the decline to continuing consolidation of territorial presence, which allowed for increased availability of state services and a reduction in negative factors associated with the conflict. NGO Human Rights and Displacement Consultancy (CODHES) acknowledged that the number of displacements may have reduced in 2009, but dismissed the rate of reduction reported by the GOC as optimistic and premature. CODHES and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Colombia pointed out that the displacement figure for 2009 will continue to climb in 2010 as new cases are included in the national registry. NICHOLS