US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA9661

UNCLAS BOGOTA 009661 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
DEPT FOR INL, WHA/AND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, KCRM, PTER, CO, AUC 
SUBJECT: GOC DELIVERS BLOWS TO PARAMILITARIES 
 
REF: BOGOTA 8022 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: GOC security forces dealt two major blows 
to paramilitary forces this month.  In early September, 
elements of an Antinarcotics Police Airmobile Company 
("Junglas") seized a large cocaine HCl laboratory believed 
to belong to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia 
(AUC) in Valle del Cauca Department.  On September 18, a 
task force composed of Colombian National Police and 
Colombian Air Force elements conducted a successful assault 
on a major AUC base in Risaralda Department.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On September 6, 2004, a Colombian National Police 
(CNP) Antinarcotics Police Airmobile Company ("Junglas") 
destroyed a large cocaine HCl laboratory near the 
municipality of Bugalagrande, Valle del Cauca Department. 
The Junglas captured 450 kilograms of cocaine base, two 
metric tons of solid precursors, and 10 MT of liquid 
precursors.  The laboratory and cocaine base are believed to 
have belonged to elements of the AUC which support the 
network run by Norte del Valle Cartel trafficker Wilber 
Varela. 
 
3. (SBU) On September 18, a 600-man task force of Colombian 
Air Force (COLAF) and CNP units attacked and destroyed a 
major AUC encampment 25 miles northwest of Pereira, in 
Risaralda Department.  Intelligence reports and imagery 
indicated that as many as 280 AUC members may have been in 
the camp.  The camp was reported to be a base of operations, 
training facility, and narcotics production facility for the 
Central Bolivar Bloc (BCB). This was the first operation 
planned by the CNP's new Operations-Intelligence Center 
established to target "cabecillas" - FARC, AUC, and ELN 
leadership targets - and coordinate operations against them. 
 
4. (SBU) An airmobile assault on the base camp was preceded 
by COLAF fixed wing and helicopter gunships and CNP 
helicopter gunships.  Four hundred Rural Mobile Police 
("Carabineros") established a perimeter around the base camp 
to contain fleeing paramilitaries.  Over 50 suspected AUC 
members were captured and an undetermined number wounded or 
killed.  Mopping-up activities were ongoing as of early 
September 20, but preliminary reports indicate the presence 
of a large cocaine HCl laboratory and several tons of 
chemical precursors.  GOC security forces suffered no 
casualties during the assault. 
 
5. (SBU) The BCB, which reportedly controls the base camp 
destroyed in the September 18 operation, is led by Carlos 
Mario Jimenez, alias "Javier Montanez", aka "Macaco", a 
participant in the AUC's ongoing demobilization negotiations 
with the GOC in Santa Fe de Ralito, Cordoba Department 
(reftel).  While AUC leaders participate in peace talks with 
the GOC, their organizations remain fully engaged in 
recruitment, training, and narcotics production and 
trafficking.  The GOC has made clear that it will continue 
to prosecute crimes committed by paramilitary leaders or 
their associates, even while concentrated in Santa Fe de 
Ralito.  These two attacks are spectacular evidence of that 
determination.