US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA11735

UNCLAS BOGOTA 011735 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, KJUS, PINR, CO, OAS, AUC 
SUBJECT: OAS URGES MORE SUPPORT FOR AUC PEACE PROCESS 
 
 
1. (U) On November 9, OAS Mission Chief Sergio Caramagna, in 
charge of verifying the paramilitary peace process, publicly 
urged the international community to give more support to the 
government's plan to demobilize the United Self Defense 
Forces of Colombia (AUC).  In a statement to Colombia's 
leading newspaper El Tiempo, Caramagna said large sectors of 
the international community needed to re-think their 
skepticism about the process.  He said he had never seen a 
more conditioned peace process than the one with the AUC, and 
warned that without outside resources such a large 
demobilization might not be successful. 
 
2. (U) According to Caramagna, constant demands that AUC 
members guilty of major crimes be held accountable are a 
diversion because, since the onset of the process, the GOC 
has made clear that such individuals would not receive 
blanket amnesty and could not re-enter civil society without 
punishment.  Caramagna asserted that the international 
community should focus instead on the practical aspects of 
helping the government reinsert several thousand fighters. 
WOOD