US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA2198

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 002198 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PTER, PINR, PINS, SNAR, CO, Demobilization 
SUBJECT: GOC HARD LINE ON DEMOBILIZATION MAKES 
NARCOTERRORISTS UNEASY 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.5 (b) 
and (d). 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (C) The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia's (AUC) 
Centauros Bloc -- which is heavily invested in drug 
trafficking and involved in a struggle with a rival 
paramilitary bloc over control of territory and narcotics 
interests -- publicly announced it will not demobilize 
without firm GOC security guarantees for its area of 
operations and alternatives to jail time for its leaders. 
Representatives of the Peace Commissioner's Office will meet 
with the Bloc in early March to issue an ultimatum: join the 
demobilization process in good faith or drop out completely 
and face the full force of the security forces.  The 
Centauros Bloc's announcement underscores the AUC's tenuous 
unity and the paramilitaries' concern with the GOC's stance 
that they must obey the terms of demobilization, including 
troop concentration and legal accountability.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Public Dissension From the Centauros Bloc 
----------------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) On February 27, a senior commander of the paramilitary 
Centauros Bloc, an affiliate of the United Self-Defense 
Forces of Colombia (AUC), publicly announced the bloc's 
unwillingness to demobilize until the GOC provides security 
guarantees in their area of operations and alternatives to 
jail time for the bloc's leaders.  Until its recent 
announcement, the Centauros Bloc, although guilty of scores 
of blatant cease-fire violations, towed the AUC line and 
publicly supported the demobilization process initiated by 
the Santa Fe de Ralito accord, which it signed.  The Bloc's 
decision to publicly condition any demobilization, apparently 
without authorization from its nominal AUC superiors, 
underscores the AUC's tenuous unity. 
 
3. (C) Over the past few months, the Centauros Bloc has 
clashed repeatedly with the independent Self-Defense Forces 
of Casanare (ACC), which is not participating in 
demobilization negotiations.  Both groups operate on 
Colombia's northeastern plains, where they struggle over key 
drug cultivation and trafficking routes.  Centauros Bloc 
commander Miguel Arroyave's reticence to accept 
demobilization wholeheartedly reflects both his aversion to 
ceding narcotrafficking influence to his ACC rivals and his 
concerns about potential criminal cases against him, both in 
Colombia and the United States.  (Note: We have not asked for 
Arroyave's extradition.  End note.) 
 
4. (C) Carlos Franco, director of the GOC's human rights 
office and a member of its exploratory commission on 
demobilization, told the Embassy that the GOC is frustrated 
by dissension both within the AUC and between it and other 
paramilitary organizations.  On March 4 or 5, the exploratory 
commission plans to meet with the Centauros Bloc's leaders to 
issue an ultimatum: join the demobilization process in good 
faith or drop out completely and face the full force of the 
security forces.  The GOC can hold up as an example the fate 
of the late Metro Bloc, which publicly declared its 
opposition to the peace process and was eventually destroyed 
by separate offensives from rival paramilitary groups and, to 
a lesser extent, the security forces.  The GOC recently 
issued a similar ultimatum to the ACC, and has also pressured 
the Middle Magdalena and Elmer Cardenas Blocs. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
5. (C) The Centauros Bloc's recent announcements, as well as 
the GOC's firm response -- backed up with the threat of 
increased military pressure -- demonstrates that the peace 
process has not been a sweetheart deal. 
WOOD