US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA11705

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 011705 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, CO 
SUBJECT: LIBERAL PARTY SANCTIONS NINE SENATORS FOR 
SUPPORTING REELECTION 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Reasons: 1.4 b 
 
1.  (U) On November 8, the Liberal Party suspended nine 
senators for ten months for breaking with the party's 
official position and voting in favor of legislation to 
permit Presidential reelection.  Internal party rules require 
members of Congress to vote the party line.  Prior to the 
move, the party had 29 senators of 102 total.  The 
suspensions affected several leading senators, including Luis 
Guillermo Velez, a former party head, and Victor Barco, one 
of the "deans" of the Congressional ranks and a relative of 
former President Virgilio Barco.  Velez has been outspoken in 
favor of presidential reelection and moving the party toward 
open support for President Uribe. 
 
2.  (C) Several leading Liberal officials, including 
immediate past party president Camilo Sanchez and 
Representatives William Ortega and Griselda Restrepo, told 
poloff that the length of the suspension was intended to 
prevent the nine senators from attempting to move the party 
toward open support for President Uribe's reelection at the 
next party assembly, scheduled for May 2005.  Uribe is 
himself a former member of the Liberal Party.  Poloff 
inquired if sanctions were planned for some 30 Liberal 
members of the House who voted for Presidential reelection in 
June.  Both Sanchez and Ortega said that no such disciplinary 
move would occur, as House members have been generally more 
discreet in their pro-reelection stances than the nine 
senators.  They added that Speaker Zulema Jattin, a Liberal, 
supports reelection, and her presence in the dissident 
Liberal group in the House make the likelihood of a similar 
sanction slim. 
 
3.  (C) While on the decline nationally, the Liberal Party 
nevertheless was the top overall vote getter in October 2003 
departmental and local elections and continues to control the 
majority of governorships and departmental assemblies. 
Current party leadership and former presidents Ernesto Samper 
and Cesar Gaviria want the party to run its own candidate for 
President in 2006.  Given those factors, the party 
disciplined several dissident, pro-Uribe members who openly 
broke internal party rules. 
WOOD