US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA9676

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 009676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2014 
TAGS: EAID, MOPS, PINR, SNAR, CO, PHUM, PREL 
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE IN CALI ON THE RISE 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Milton K. Drucker for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) In mid September, Emboffs discussed security issues 
with local officials in Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca 
Department.  Despite an overall improvement in most security 
indicators, the murder rate in the department has increased 
substantially this year.  A combination of several factors 
has contributed to the highest per capita murder rate in the 
country: a violent rivalry between two powerful drug 
traffickers, an absence of real legal punishments for minors, 
lack of access to adequate employment, and increased gang 
related activity.  At the same time, Cali's outlook is 
improving as security programs and investment work to provide 
options and protection for the community.  End Summary. 
 
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Homicide Rate Increasing 
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2. (C) Homicides in Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca 
Department, have increased over the past few years.  Cali's 
murder rate is now the highest in the country.  According to 
Colonel Oscar Lopez, acting Commander of the Army's 3rd 
Brigade, there had been 1,742 murders in Cali as of September 
13, compared with a total of 1,634 in 2003.  Cali Police 
Commander General Mario Gutierrez said Cali averages 8.3 
deaths per day, including criminals killed in shoot-outs with 
police and military forces. 
 
3. (C) Municipal authorities attribute the escalating 
homicide rate primarily to the rivalry between drug 
traffickers Wilber Varela (alias "Jabon") and Diego Montoya 
Sanchez.  Varela and Montoya finance numerous loosely 
organized militias that act as private gangs to conduct 
cocaine trafficking, weapons transfers, money laundering, and 
selective assassinations.  Varela and Sanchez, who inherited 
the remnants of the Cali Cartel in the late 1990s, used to 
work together but are now competitors.  Varela is known to 
work with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 
and Montoya has confirmed ties with paramilitary groups. 
Cali's widespread poverty and unemployment have provided 
Varela and Montoya with a ready supply of able-bodied youths 
prepared to engage in criminal activities, including 
selective assassinations. 
 
4. (C) Increasing violence is also ascribed to conflicts 
between neighborhood gangs unrelated to the Varela/Montoya 
rivalry, fighting between guerrilla and paramilitary urban 
militias, and poverty-driven crime.  According to Valle del 
Cauca Governor Angelino Garzon, 60 percent of homicides in 
the department are a result of clashes between armed 
criminals, while 40 percent are attacks on unarmed victims. 
On September 14, Governor Garzon's personal driver was 
murdered.  The motive for the murder is unclear. 
 
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Overburdened Government Resources 
--------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Local authorities explained the difficulties of 
overcoming rising levels of violence in Cali.  Gangs are 
abundant and loosely affiliated, making it difficult to 
identify them and bring their members to justice. 
Downtrodden youth drawn into illegal activities far outnumber 
Cali's security forces.  2,000 police and 220 military troops 
work in Cali, and are limited by poor logistics and a lack of 
transportation, communications, and communications intercept 
equipment.  The Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia"), 
with only 265 prosecutors for the entire department, has a 
backlog of approximately 2,500 cases.  The Departmental 
Fiscalia Director noted that Cali's prosecutors cannot even 
come close to investigating each of the approximately eight 
murders that happen each day.  Prosecutors work under 
strenuous conditions, are overburdened by their caseloads, 
and regularly receive death threats. 
6. (C) Local officials complained that Cali's already thinly 
stretched security forces are saddled with the additional 
task of combating major counterfeiting rings, who maintain 
intricate connections to drug trafficking, arms smuggling, 
and militia groups.  Cali is Colombia's largest producer of 
counterfeit bills, owing to a well developed infrastructure 
based in legitimate paper making, graphic arts and 
typography, and Cali's strategic proximity to various 
criminal entities.  Cali's security forces seized nearly 3 
million USD in counterfeit money this year, and the 
Department of Administrative Security (DAS ) Colombia's 
equivalent to the FBI) has established a special team to 
investigate and dismantle counterfeiting and money laundering 
organizations.  Both are supported by U.S. law enforcement 
agencies. 
 
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Problematic Policies 
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7. (C) Government officials cited the absence of real 
punishments for minors as another obstacle to reducing the 
murder rate.  Interlocutors told us Colombian law does not 
allow any person under the age of eighteen to be sent to 
jail.  Instead, a minor detained by law enforcement 
authorities must be delivered to the head of his or her 
household, or, in the event the minor does not have family, 
turned over to the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF). 
 Narcotraffickers capitalize on this virtual immunity to 
recruit minors to act as their personal henchmen.  Contacts 
in the Police, Army, and Fiscalia complained that youths 
released after being detained for murder or other violent 
crimes often commit additional offenses soon after being 
freed.  The ICBF has only basic infrastructure in Cali and 
cannot provide an attractive alternative to a life of crime 
for many of Cali's youth. 
 
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Calls For Greater Social Investment 
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8. (C) Valle del Cauca Governor Angelino Garzon and Cali 
Mayor Apolinar Salcedo emphasized that Cali's endemic 
violence calls for greater civic outreach.  Marginalized 
youth drawn into Cali's gangs live in poverty-stricken and 
densely populated neighborhoods with minimal access to 
education and employment opportunities.  Drug addiction, 
prostitution, and armed violence have become a way of life. 
The continuing influx of displaced persons, numbering around 
38,000 and generally from the violence-torn Departments of 
Choco and Narino, exacerbates these basic standard-of-living 
deficiencies.  According to Garzon and Salcedo, Valle's 
already limited resources are compounded by a debt burden 
totaling 550 billion Colombian pesos (approximately 220 
million USD). 
 
9. (C) Monsignor Juan Zarasti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
of Cali, said that although the city's leaders are well 
intentioned, many of their policies foster criminality and do 
not effectively address the real cause of violence.  A local 
human rights NGO echoed these sentiments, complaining that 
the government is too focused on increasing the police and 
military presence in the city but is failing to provide even 
basic social services. 
 
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A Coordinated Approach 
---------------------- 
 
10. (C) The military, police, DAS, and Fiscalia have formed a 
joint security campaign called "Cali Segura" (Safe Cali). 
The program is a coordinated effort to decentralize security 
and justice services and gain the confidence of the local 
population.  State institutions aim to encourage residents to 
respect the rule of law and cooperate with authorities in 
combating illegal militias.  The program focuses on the most 
violent neighborhoods located in the eastern part of the city 
near the Cauca River, collectively referred to as "Agua 
Blanca."  In a city of almost 3 million people, Agua Blanca 
houses over 1 million.  As part of Cali Segura, the police 
and military provide 24-hour street patrols and security for 
school buses and community events.  The Fiscalia is working 
to strengthen its witness protection program.  Agua Blanca 
has a U.S.-funded "Casa de Justicia" (Justice House) where 
residents can voice legal grievances and seek legal advice, 
but the Casa de Justicia does not have an active law 
enforcement role. 
 
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The Good News 
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11. (C) Despite escalating violence in the region, almost all 
other security indicators have improved this year, including 
kidnappings, extortion and theft.  Local officials claimed 
that guerrilla and paramilitary groups have been pushed out 
of the city, and that the rate of displaced persons 
relocating to Cali, although still high, is decreasing. 
 
12. (C) The Governor touted Valle del Cauca's diverse and 
expanding economy.  Previously buoyed by powerful drug 
cartels, Valle's economy collapsed following their takedown 
in the mid-1990s.  Although Valle represents the third 
largest producer of exports in Colombia, including sugar, 
coffee, corn based foods, pharmaceuticals, graphic arts, 
cement, electrical and industrial materials, paper, and 
leather goods, many of these will be affected negatively by a 
free trade agreement.  Historically, Cali was a center of 
foreign investment, but that has been reduced as Medellin 
eclipses Cali.  According to Governor Garzon, Valle's 
unemployment rate is beginning to fall.  As a result of 
recent restructuring, the department is on track to pay its 
debt in full by 2010.  Ana Lucia Jaramillo, Director of the 
American Chamber of Commerce in Valle del Cauca, said there 
are about 50 U.S. firms in Cali, and foreign investors are 
showing renewed interest, largely as a result of improved 
overall security. 
DRUCKER