US embassy cable - 05CARACAS98

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000098 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, VE 
SUBJECT: COLOMBIANS ALLEGEDLY CAPTURE FARC "FORMIN" IN 
CARACAS 
 
REF: 2004 CARACAS 02153 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR 1.4 (D) 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (C)  The alleged abduction from Caracas to Colombia of 
FARC "foreign minister" Rodrigo Granda during December 13-14 
has become the most publicized news story of the new year 
after initially garnering little attention from the 
Venezuelan press.  On December 15, the Colombian Defense 
Ministry claimed Granda had been arrested in Cucuta, 
Colombia.  On January 3, the FARC protested the action in an 
official communique.  Venezuela's National Assembly named a 
committee to investigate the action, while Interior and 
Justice Minister Jesse Chacon and other government officials 
proceeded cautiously and inconsistently, facing mounting 
evidence that Granda was living in Venezuela with the 
connivance of the GOV.  After opponents of President Hugo 
Chavez publicized proof of Granda's Venezuelan 
naturalization, Chavez said it should be revoked because the 
FARC leader had obtained it under false pretenses.  The 
Chavez administration's dilemma is how to contend with 
criticism for harboring terrorists or for allowing Colombian 
officials to operate in Venezuela with impunity.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (C)  The alleged abduction of senior FARC official 
Rodrigo Granda--known as the guerrillas' "foreign 
minister"--from Venezuela to Colombia has become Venezuela's 
lead news story of the new year.  On December 15, the GOC 
announced Granda's arrest in the Colombian border town of 
Cucuta on December 14.  The FARC, protesting through an 
official communique on January 3, and Granda, via his lawyer, 
attested to press rumors alleging he was "kidnapped" in 
downtown Caracas.  According to Granda's version, Colombian 
officials posing as Venezuelan intelligence (Disip) officers 
shoved him into the trunk of a car on the afternoon of 
December 13 and drove him 16 hours to Cucuta, Colombia. 
Other media outlets speculated about GOV complicity in the 
abduction, generating criticism of the GOV from the left. 
Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Uribe disavowed the FARC 
story, saying Granda was captured in Cucuta on the 14th. 
While sticking to the story that no violation of Venezuelan 
sovereignty occurred, he averred on January 12 that the GOC 
had paid for information leading to Granda's arrest.  A 
radical pro-Chavez advisor for citizen security issues in the 
Caracas metropolitan mayor's office told poloff in late 
December that the GOV knew the operation had taken place in 
Caracas.  Separately, on 6 January an anti-Chavez official in 
the Venezuelan Ministry of Interior and Justice (MIJ) 
confirmed to poloff the GOV had known about the Caracas 
capture. 
 
--------------------- 
GOV Publicly Cautious 
--------------------- 
 
3.  (U)  Faced with Colombian press reports asserting the 
capture had occurred in Venezuela, Interior and Justice 
Minister Jesse Chacon on December 29 ordered the 
investigation of a kidnapping that took place on December 13 
near a Caracas metro station.  By early January, a media 
storm had erupted over the issue.  On January 5, Chacon said 
that it was difficult to determine the true identity of the 
victim, but he accepted that corrupt Venezuelan officials in 
collusion with Colombians may have captured Granda at the 
site.  The National Assembly followed by announcing its own 
investigation on January 6.  Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez 
urged patience while authorities completed their 
investigation. 
 
------------------------------ 
Granda's Business in Venezuela 
------------------------------ 
 
4.  (C)  According to a pro-Government tabloid, National 
Assembly deputy Marelys Perez said on 6 January that Granda 
had been living in Venezuela for years.  Perez immediately 
denied making the statement but admitted that Granda had been 
in Venezuela to attend a "Bolivarian Congress of the People" 
on 7-8 December.  The FARC communique stated Granda had 
participated at the invitation of the Venezuelan Government, 
which Perez also denied.  Granda's lawyer, meanwhile, said 
Granda had obtained Venezuelan citizenship and offered his 
Venezuelan cedula number as proof.  Chacon countered that 
many people obtain cedulas illegally at the border.  Granda 
was not a citizen, the Minister said, adding that the GOV had 
no record of him entering the country. 
 
---------- 
GOV Busted 
---------- 
 
5.  (U)  On January 7, former president of the Venezuelan 
Congress Cristobal Fernandez Dalo held a press conference in 
which he showed a copy of the July 9, 2004 official GOV 
gazette listing Granda as a naturalized citizen.  Fernandez 
cited the gazette as proof that the GOV had lied about 
Granda's citizenship and--if Granda did not complete five 
years of Venezuelan residence before applying--had 
naturalized him illegally.  Granda's lawyer, in a follow-on 
interview, attested that Granda had waited in line for 11 
hours to receive naturalization.  Granda's citizenship has 
played into the hands of government critics, who have 
asserted that the GOV's pre-referendum citizenship drive was 
fraudulent (REFTEL).  Opposition members also have circulated 
via email a 2002 article from Caracas daily El Universal 
alleging that Granda had served on a secret Disip committee 
charged with providing Colombians illegal access to 
Venezuela; the newspaper has since republished the story.  To 
further embarrass the GOV, the press has reprinted Colombian 
President Alvaro Uribe's 2002 avowal that Colombian 
authorities would capture guerrillas in Venezuela if Chavez 
did not hand them over as promised. 
 
---------------------- 
GOV Scrambles to React 
---------------------- 
 
6.  (U)  On the same day as Fernandez's conference, Chacon 
affirmed that Granda had been kidnapped in Caracas.  Chavez 
weighed in on January 9 during his "Alo Presidente" broadcast 
that Colombian police had lied about having captured Granda 
in Colombia, although he cautioned at a press conference the 
following day that the GOV had not yet established Colombian 
police involvement in the "kidnapping."  He added that he 
would bring up the issue with Colombian President Uribe. 
Having committed himself to protesting Granda's abduction, 
Chavez began to try to explain his presence in the country. 
Showing an alleged copy of Granda's passport, Chavez accused 
Granda of using false documents to obtain naturalization, 
which he said should be revoked.  He deflected charges of 
having protected a terrorist by demanding that countries 
request extradition of such criminals  rather than violating 
international law by extraterritorial kidnappings.  On 
January 12, ex-intelligence chief and current National Land 
Institute (INTI) director Eliezer Otaiza suggested the CIA 
could have been involved in the operation. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  (C)  The FARC's going public on the Granda case has 
forced the GOV into a situation in which it has had 
difficulty saving face.  Disavowing Granda would be 
tantamount to admitting it has allowed a violation of 
Venezuelan sovereignty.  Protesting the arrest leaves the GOV 
vulnerable to charges of protecting a terrorist and padding 
electoral rolls with foreigners.  For the time being, Chavez 
has hedged his bets by criticizing Colombian cops while 
stopping short of faulting the Colombian government directly, 
a position made more tenable by Colombia's recent admission 
of having paid for information (ostensibly from corrupt 
Venezuelan officials) on Granda.  Chavez may also take 
greater advantage of his tried-and-true trick of blaming the 
United States to distract the public from the real nature of 
the problem.  End comment. 
Brownfield