US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA2674

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 002674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2050 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, CO, Human Rts, Massacre 
SUBJECT: GOC OFFICIALS DISCUSS URABA MASSACRE CASE 
 
REF: A. BOGOTA 2348 
 
     B. BOGOTA 2156 
     C. BOGOTA 1999 
     D. BOGOTA 1918 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) During her March 6-9 visit to Bogota, WHA/AND Director 
Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes (LBSH) met with Vice-President 
Francisco Santos and Elba Beatriz Silva, Director of the 
Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit, to discuss the need to show 
progress in resolving outstanding human rights cases, as well 
as the recent massacre of eight civilians in the Uraba 
region.  GOC officials insisted they are committed to a 
rapid, thorough, and transparent investigation of the latter, 
but noted their work is made much more difficult by peace 
community members' refusal to speak with investigators.  Also 
of concern are public assertions by the community and by the 
GOC as to the guilt or innocence of the FARC and the 
Colombian military in this massacre.  End Summary. 
 
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Meeting with Vice President 
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2. (C) On March 8, WHA/AND Director Lisa Bobbie Schreiber 
Hughes (LBSH) and Embassy poloffs met with Vice-President 
Francisco Santos to discuss human rights, particularly the 
GOC's investigation of the February 21 massacre of eight 
civilians in the Uraba region of Antioquia Department (refs 
A, B, C, and D).  Santos said the Government has decided to 
include the case in the Dutch-funded anti-impunity project 
("Comite de Impulso"), which takes high-profile human rights 
cases and makes them a judicial priority.  He told LBSH that 
the GOC understands the importance of a transparent, rapid 
investigation, but also stated his belief that the 
perpetrators of the massacre had been the FARC and not, as 
had previously alleged, the Colombian military.  Santos added 
that the Government also wants to expose links between 
leaders of the "peace community" of San Jose de Apartado and 
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 
 
3. (C) LBSH said our first concern had to be for the victims; 
consequently, the GOC's first priority should be 
investigating the massacre and bringing those responsible to 
justice, avoiding public statements that would appear to 
prejudge guilt or innocence.  Santos recognized the need to 
identify the perpetrators as quickly as possible and added 
that the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office 
("Fiscalia") sent prosecutors and a special forensic team to 
the site as soon as it learned about the atrocity.  He also 
told LBSH that the GOC is planning to offer a reward to 
encourage citizens to provide information and believes the 
Colombia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Human Rights (UNHCHR) could be more helpful in assisting in 
the case. 
 
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Meeting with the Fiscalia 
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4. (C) On March 9, LBSH and poloffs met with Elba Beatriz 
Silva, Director of the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit.  Silva 
gave a brief explanation of the investigators' arrival at the 
massacre site on February 25.  She said the investigators 
arrived at the site after members of the peace community had 
already been there, contaminating potential evidence by 
walking through the murder scene, leaving their belongings 
throughout the area, and allowing their mules to wander 
aimlessly.  The investigators spent their first 3-4 hours at 
the mass gravesite where five dismembered bodies were found. 
The investigators, who videotaped the scene, found the 
interior of the simple house next to the gravesite ransacked 
and spattered with blood.  Several large pools of blood 
suggested where the civilians were killed.  On February 27, 
the investigators arrived at the second site (ref C), which 
was identified for them by members of the Fellowship of 
Reconciliation (FOR) and the peace community.  Here three 
additional bodies were found, including that of peace 
community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra.  The remains of the 
victims were partially decomposed and had been exposed to the 
elements and the scavenging of wild animals.  However, Silva 
said they showed no signs of torture or gunshots, so 
investigators believe the killers either asphyxiated them or 
slit their throats. 
 
5. (C) Silva told LBSH that investigators tried to speak to 
peace community members, who refused to talk to them. 
Leaders of the community told investigators that community 
members would not talk about the case prior to the 
Inter-American Court of Human Rights' previously-scheduled 
hearing about the peace community in San Jose, Costa Rica, on 
March 14.  Silva added that peace community leaders also told 
investigators they would only consider speaking to civilian 
authorities after the Fiscalia successfully resolved all 
prior criminal cases related to the peace community, dating 
back to 1997.  Regarding potential witnesses' alleged fears 
of retribution, Silva explained that the Fiscalia hoped to 
use the witness protection program in this case, which it has 
used successfully in similarly high-profile cases in the 
past.  She noted, however, that community members had refused 
to cooperate in previous cases as well, including one 
involving an alleged rape by a soldier that Silva herself 
attempted to investigate on the very day the rape was 
reported.  Community leader Sister Clara Lagos, a Roman 
Catholic nun, refused to allow Silva and her colleagues 
access to the alleged victim, did not allow the victim to 
observe a line-up of soldiers working in the area, and later 
burned the clothes the victim was said to have been wearing. 
The case remains unsolved, and the community continues to 
denounce it as an example of impunity. 
 
6. (C) Fiscalia investigators have returned from the Uraba 
region to brief the Human Rights Unit in Bogota, but plan to 
return to Uraba the week of March 13.  Poloff requested 
Silva's permission to personally interview the investigators, 
and also to review the videotape depicting the bloody 
massacre site.  Silva nodded her consent, and confirmed that, 
in order to continue the investigation, the Fiscalia would 
request that the military and police will continue to provide 
security for the investigators.  In response to a question 
about an ambush against the investigators (ref B), Silva said 
the incident occurred roughly 100 yards outside the 
community, on the road to Apartado, where Embassy officials 
have passed on their visits to San Jose.  She confirmed it 
was a grenade attack and shared in confidence that the 
Fiscalia had a phone intercept on the incident. 
 
7. (C) Silva explained that the Fiscalia has not formed an 
opinion about the authorship of the massacre.  It has asked 
the military to make its members available for questioning, 
not intervene or make statements about the case, and provide 
security and transportation for the investigators when 
requested.  The military has been cooperative.  Silva added 
that the timeframe of the case will depend on how quickly 
investigators are able to gather forensic evidence and talk 
to potential witnesses.  She explained that all relevant 
entities of the GOC agreed on March 8 that the case should be 
part of the special anti-impunity project.  The peace 
community, however, has emphasized that it will not 
cooperate.  Silva added that comments by the Antioquia 
Department prosecutor (ref A) were completely inappropriate 
and that he had been reprimanded. 
WOOD