US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA9686

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 009686 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SNAR, ECON, CO 
SUBJECT: SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN COLOMBIA 
 
Classified By: CDA Milton K. Drucker, Reasons: 1.4 B & D. 
 
1.  (U) The following are short capsule overviews of 
significant political and human rights events in Colombia 
during the week of September 13. 
 
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Meta Notables Murdered 
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2.  (U) On September 14, the bullet-riddled bodies of former 
El Dorado (Meta Department) Mayor and National Peace Prize 
winner Euser Rondon Vargas, former Governor Carlos Javier 
Sabogal, and ex-member of Congress Nubia Sanchez were found 
in an abandoned car on the road between the cities of Briceno 
and Zipaquira, Cundinamarca Department, near Bogota.  All 
three were members of the Colombia Team ("Equipo Colombia") 
Party, which opposes current Meta Governor Edilberto Castro 
Rincon.  The deceased had challenged Castro's eligibility for 
office and questioned overspending on a project to provide 
school supplies to children.  The three had left Bogota on 
September 13 for an appointment in the town of Tocancipa. 
Rondon told his bodyguards it was not necessary to accompany 
him, because the meeting was with someone he trusted.  There 
are no leads in the case. 
 
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Academic Assassinated After Being Cleared by Fiscalia 
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3.  (SBU) Critics of the Uribe Administration's Democratic 
Security Policy have seized on the September 17 murder of 
Professor Alfredo Correa by presumed paramilitaries as an 
example of the dangers of using information from confidential 
informants to arrest suspected guerrilla collaborators. 
Correa was arrested by Department of Administrative Security 
(DAS) agents on June 17 after reinserted guerrillas 
identified him as a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces 
of Colombia's (FARC) Caribbean Front.  He was released in 
early September after the Prosecutor General's Office 
(Fiscalia) concluded there was insufficient evidence to 
prosecute him.  Human rights NGOs labeled Correa's arrest an 
"arbitrary detention."  The Colombia office of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has 
called for an investigation into his murder. 
 
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Indigenous March on Cali 
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4.  (U) Over the course of four days, 60,000 indigenous 
persons from Cauca, Narino and Putumayo Departments marched 
44 miles from the town of Santander de Quilichao, Cauca 
Department, to Cali, Valle del Cauca Department, to protest 
violence perpetrated against indigenous communities by 
illegal armed groups and alleged abuses by security forces. 
The peaceful march also protested lack of indigenous 
representation and participation in FTA negotiations. 
President Uribe had asked the indigenous groups not to march 
for security reasons and out of concerns about the potential 
disruption of public order and traffic flow on a major 
highway.  Nonetheless, Uribe explicitly recognized the 
indigenous groups' right to march peacefully, only insisting 
on keeping the roads open.  During the event, the roads 
remained open and security forces acted with restraint. 
 
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High Profile Resignations 
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5.  (SBU) Vice-Minister of Defense Andres Soto submitted his 
letter of resignation on September 16, notifying the Minister 
of Defense of his intent to leave his post by the end of 
September.  Soto's resignation comes as no surprise given his 
reportedly deteriorating health, waning influence within the 
Ministry, and speculation that his family's business ventures 
represented a conflict of interest.  Many observers had 
predicted that Soto's departure would coincide with the UNGA 
session, although it is unclear why he chose this 
particularly time to resign.  He will be replaced by Jorge 
Mario Eastman, who has been senior adviser to outgoing OAS 
Secretary General Cesar Gaviria for the past two years. 
 
SIPDIS 
Prior to working at the OAS, Eastman served in several posts 
in the Pastrana Administration, including as liaison to the 
National Liberation Army (ELN). 
 
6.  (U) The director of the National Statistics Department 
(DANE), Cesar Caballero, resigned on September 16 after 
claiming he had received -- and not for the first time -- 
inappropriate political pressure from the Office of the 
President.  DANE had recently released, to the GOC's apparent 
displeasure, the results of its latest "Survey of 
Victimization" in which only one-third of respondents in 
Colombia's three largest cities (Bogota, Cali, Medellin) said 
they felt more secure than a year ago, and two-thirds said 
they would not report a crime because they did not believe 
the police would respond.  Editorialists fretted about the 
effects on foreign investment of suggestions that GOC 
statistics, including economic data, might be 
politically-motivated. 
 
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GOC Seizes La Rebaja Drugstores 
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7.  (C) On September 16, thousands of police, prosecutors, 
and Government auditors took control of 442 "La Rebaja" 
drugstore outlets in the GOC's largest seizure of suspected 
drug trafficking assets.  The GOC's Drug Control Office (DNE) 
is now responsible for administering the chain of stores 
still technically owned by the notorious Rodriguez Orejuela 
family.  The chain employs about 4,100 workers.  Relatives of 
the jailed Rodriguez Orejuela drug bosses failed to convince 
the GOC that ownership of La Rebaja had passed to the firm's 
employees.  OFAC and US Customs agree that the Rodriguez 
Orejuela family continues to control and use La Rebaja. 
Thousands of the chain's employees demonstrated against the 
GOC action, either out of fear for their jobs, or prompted by 
their former employers.  Seizure of the chain, however, did 
not transfer ownership.  That transfer can take place only 
after a lengthy legal process. 
 
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Reelection Advancing 
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8.  (SBU) Legislation to authorize presidential reelection 
continues to grab headlines, as former presidents and pundits 
debate the issue in public.  Several senators plan to 
introduce a separate bill to transform Colombia into a 
parliamentary democracy, ostensibly after the next 
presidential election (2006).  Only two steps remain in the 
legislative process for the reelection bill -- passage by the 
House Constitutional Affairs Committee followed by the full 
House.  House passage is highly probable, in spite of attacks 
on reelection by the likes of former President Andres 
Pastrana.  The Constitutional Court, which is composed of 
justices generally unsympathetic to Uribe, will have to rule 
on whether the Congressional action complied fully with every 
aspect of the law.  The Court may have the last word. 
DRUCKER