US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA1764

UNCLAS BOGOTA 001764 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, PHUM, SNAR, CO 
SUBJECT: THE LAST COLOMBIAN MUNICIPALITY WITHOUT A PUBLIC 
SECURITY PRESENCE RECEIVES A POLICE DETACHMENT 
 
REF: BOGOTA 1187 
 
1. (SBU) On February 12, the GOC reinstalled police forces in 
Murindo, Antioquia department, a region in Uraba that has 
long lacked a public security presence.  Murindo was the last 
of Colombia's 1,098 municipalities (equivalent to a U.S. 
county) to receive a public security force -- completing a 
major goal of the Uribe Administration.  When Uribe assumed 
office, 158 municipalities had no public security presence. 
Colombian Armed Forces Commander General Carlos Ospina, who 
was the commander in the region when Murindo fell to the FARC 
and was wounded when his helicopter was shot down in a failed 
operation to retake it, flew into the area for the 
reoccupation in the lead helicopter. 
 
2. (SBU) Murindo is located near the Antioquia/Choco 
departmental border in northwestern Colombia, astride a 
mobility corridor from the lowlands to the mountains, and is 
also close to the Atrato River, which has been a lucrative 
drug and arms trafficking route for the FARC and 
paramilitaries.  The region has been a staging area for many 
terrorist operations in recent years.  One of the most tragic 
attacks came in 2002 when 119 people who had taken refuge in 
a church in Bellavista, in nearby Bojaya municipality, were 
killed by a FARC-launched gas cylinder bomb that struck the 
building.  The operation in Murindo is part of an ongoing GOC 
effort to reassert its control over the length of the Atrato 
River.  In May 2003, the Colombian Navy deployed a heavily 
armed 120-foot barge along the waterway. 
 
3. (SBU) The Murindo reinsertion comes on the heels of the 
February 7 Colombian Armed Forces and Police's successful 
completion of joint operations in the southeastern 
municipalities of Miraflores, Caruru, and Taraira, which 
secured the GOC airfields and key forward bases of operation. 
 These reinsertions included U.S.-trained and funded Police 
Junglas and Carabinero Squadrons, the latter of which will 
remain to reinforce standard police units.  President Uribe 
and the Minister of Defense have insistently prodded the 
public security forces to conduct joint operations; the 
recent municipal reinsertions are excellent examples. 
Butenis