US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA3286

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BOGOTA 003286 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SNAR, MASS, PREF, EAID, KJUS, CO 
SUBJECT: PLAN COLOMBIA IMPLEMENTATION ROUND-UP, MARCH, 2005 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (U) The following is an update of Plan Colombia activities 
reported during March, 2005. 
 
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DOJ/DEA 
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2. (SBU) To date US $11.3 million has been invested in the 
purchase of hardware, software, monitoring suites, the 
vetting process and maintenance for Operation Esperanza, 
Colombia's cellular switch based intercept project.  The 
first US $4.9 million was received from Plan Colombia in FY 
2000.  This technology is the first of its kind in South 
America and will give Colombian and U.S. authorities the 
ability to lawfully intercept Time Division Multiple Access 
(TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global 
System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular calls 
associated with narcotics and related offenses. 
 
3. (U) For the past two years DEA Bogota has been working to 
donate surplus firearms and ballistic vests to the GOC.  As 
of March, DEA has donated a total of US $485,073 worth of 
equipment through the following agencies: 
 
Colombian National Police (CNP) 
1,221 weapons worth US $330,125 
 
CNP 
515 ballistic vests worth US $96,200 
 
Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) 
43 weapons worth US $4,554 
 
Cuerpo Tecnico de Inteligencia (CTI) 
25 weapons worth US $2,925 
 
Instituto Nacional Penitenciario y Carcelario de Colombia 
(INPEC) 
122 weapons worth US $21,474 
 
Colombian Navy 
71 weapons worth US $17,640 
 
DOS/NAS 
48 weapons worth US $13,155 
 
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DOJ/JSRP 
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4. (U) DOJ's Justice Sector Reform Program (JSRP) carried out 
the following activities during the month of March: 
 
-- Trial Advocacy training for 120 prosecutors and 60 police 
investigators in Medellin and Bogota; 
 
-- Criminal Trial Advocacy training for 50 judges in Medellin; 
 
-- Investigator/Witness training for 800 police investigators 
in Bogota, Medellin, Pereira, Cali, Yopal, Tunja, Ibague and 
Villavicencio; 
 
-- Patrol officer training for 30 police trainers in Cali; 
 
-- Expert witness training for 25 forensic laboratory 
examiners from the Fiscalia, DAS, CNP and Medicina Legal in 
Bogota; 
 
-- Ethics and Transparency police training for 30 police 
officers in Bogota (DAS, CNP, CTI); 
 
-- Money Laundering training for Judicial Police for 30 
investigators from the CNP, DAS, CTI and Unidad de 
Informacion y Analysis Financiero (UIAF) in Bogota; 
 
-- Observational visit to Washington, D.C. for Deputy 
Prosecutor General (Vice Fiscal), to observe court 
proceedings, evidence rooms, attorney office organization and 
case management. 
 
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MILGROUP:FMS DELAYS 
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5. (C) The number of viable Colombian Air Force (COLAF) 
aircraft missions remains troublingly low, due in large part 
to delays in receipt of repair parts.  Several pending 
Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases are moving very slowly 
through system, and MILGROUP does not know their exact 
status.  For example, a US $2 million spare parts case for 
Schweizer SA2-37 intelligence aircraft has been awaiting a 
new foreign disclosure approval for six weeks, even though 
the equipment on order (i.e., Forward Looking Infra-Red 
(FLIR) components) has been purchased before.  MILGROUP will 
request SOUTHCOM assistance to determine the cause of delays 
in processing parts cases. 
 
6. (C) Initial feedback from the Colombian Air Force (COLAF) 
on Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) indicates the current 
combat aircraft are not internally or electrically configured 
to handle JDAM munitions.  Intelligence information and 
targeting capabilities have to be enhanced in order to 
deliver the right kind of information to program the smart 
bombs.  So far, COLAF has not decided if it will spend the US 
$234 million it has available to purchase aircraft or 
precision weapons systems.  MILGROUP will offer COLAF 
information on laser-guided systems which will improve 
accuracy, do not require aircraft reconfiguration, and cost 
less. 
 
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NAS 
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7. (U) Eradication and Interdiction:  March was the best 
month ever for aerial eradication with 24,374 hectares of 
coca sprayed.  The eradication program has sprayed 58,173 
hectares of coca in the first three months of 2005, including 
44,814 hectares of coca in the department of Narino alone, 
making 2005 Q1 the best quarter for aerial eradication on 
record.  T-65 aircraft also sprayed 821 hectares of opium 
poppy during the first of three poppy spraying campaigns for 
2005.  This combined with the 151 hectares of manually 
eradicated poppy gives a total of 972 hectares eradicated to 
date in 2005, meeting one third of the joint CNP and Embassy 
goal of eradicating 3,000 hectares in 2005.  Drug 
interdiction continues apace with eradication:  GOC security 
forces seized more than 50 tons of cocaine and destroyed more 
than 50 cocaine hydrochloride laboratories in 2005 Q1. 
 
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POL 
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8. (U) CHF International, the implementing partner for the 
State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and 
Migration (PRM), started a temporary employment program for 
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mocoa, Putumayo 
Department, on March 15.  The program will provide 150 months 
of temporary employment for recently displaced persons.  Most 
recently displaced IDPs will receive two months of temporary 
employment. 
 
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RSO 
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9. (U) Anti Kidnapping Program (AKI): The eighth Crisis 
Response Training (CRT) course was completed at the DS/ATA 
CRT training facility at the CNP tactical training base in 
Silbate.  Assistant Colombian instructors taught and 
presented some of the course material.  Post received a 
formal course offering for CRT number nine from DS/ATA. 
 
10. (U) VIP Personal Protection Training (PPT) Program:  The 
VIP PPT Advisors finished a training class for the protective 
detail for the Mayor of Bogota.  Plans continue to conduct 
various assessment visits with protective details. 
Additional sustainment and refresher courses are due to start 
in April. 
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USAID 
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11. (U) On March 18, President Uribe, USAID Director Deal and 
the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Sabas Pretelt de la 
Vega, inaugurated USAID's 38th Justice House (Casa de 
Justicia) in Monteria (Cordoba).  Justice Houses are 
multi-agency, one-stop centers that provide formal justice 
and informal dispute resolution services.  They operate in 
poor neighborhoods of large cities and in rural 
municipalities, serving those who would otherwise not have 
access to judicial services.  The Justice Houses Program 
promotes more responsive, participatory and accountable 
democracy in Colombia.  To date, over 2.8 million cases have 
been handled through the 37 Justice Houses.  By the end of 
FY2005, a total of 42 Justice Houses are anticipated to be in 
place nationwide. 
 
12. (U) On March 11, the first group of 144 trainees 
graduated from the "Entra 21" program supporting Internally 
Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the cities of Cartagena, Arjona 
and Turbaco (Bolivar).  This program is co-funded by USAID 
and the Inter-American Development Bank.  The program trains 
disadvantaged young people (ages 18 through 25) in 
information technology skills and helps them to either (a) 
locate a job in their field of training or (b) develop 
business plans for establishing micro-enterprises in local 
markets.  To date, 17 percent of the graduates have been 
placed in the labor market and 20 percent are preparing 
business plans to create micro-enterprises.  USAID's 
contribution of nearly US $183,000 to the overall US $489,000 
project cost leveraged up to 167 percent in additional 
funding from the IDB and local private resources.  The 
program is part of USAID's effort to support the prevention 
of recruitment into illegal armed groups (IAGs). 
 
13. (U) On March 11, USAID's Alternative Development Forestry 
Program signed a CPS 211 million (roughly $80,000) donation 
agreement with Red Ecolsierra, a local NGO, to strengthen the 
agroforestry component of the GOC's "Familias Guardabosques" 
(FG) program in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The donation 
will foster activities to make the FG program sustainable, 
will provide technical assistance to the beneficiaries, and 
will strengthen community organizational structures in order 
to develop private sector linkages.  Under this grant, 100 
FGs will develop 150 hectares to produce coffee, cacao and 
forestry products in the next 18 months, providing 
alternative and sustainable economic growth opportunities to 
rural populations that are vulnerable to illicit crop 
production.  To date over 31,400 hectares of natural forest 
have been managed through the Forestry Program in Bajo 
Magdalena, Medio and Bajo Atrato-Uraba, the Pacific Coast of 
Narino, and Northeastern Antioquia. 
 
14. (U) Support for the new criminal accusatory system:  The 
USAID Justice Program launched in Manizales its second Public 
Defense Pilot Office in January to enhance the capacity of 
key actors to implement the new criminal accusatory reform in 
Manizales.  The Bogota office has received wide acclaim 
throughout the justice sector.  The Justice Project is also 
remodeling and equipping Public Defense work stations in four 
decentralized judicial processing centers within Bogota 
(formerly known as Unidades de Reaccion Inmediata, "URIs", in 
the Fiscalia).  Remodeling and construction of three more 
trial courtrooms in Bogota was completed in March, with the 
sound systems to be installed in April, adding to the 45 
already established to date with USAID assistance. 
 
15. (U) To highlight the characteristics and benefits for 
citizens of the new accusatory system, two television 
information spots began to be aired nationally (one of a 
general nature, focusing on the transition of the entire 
system; and a second spot focusing more specifically on 
Public Defense).  In addition, a one and a half hour 
television show has been produced in conjunction with the 
Javeriana University, depicting a simulated trial in the new 
system.  Counterpart reaction to the first version has been 
favorable, and final edits are being discussed in order to 
begin airing the show. 
 
16. (U) Technical assistance to the Inter-institutional 
Commission on the Implementation of the Accusatorial System 
continues to be spearheaded by USAID.  The project is 
coordinating with the Commission on a training schedule this 
year for judges and public defenders to prepare professionals 
in the districts entering the system in 2006.  This 
Commission is also finalizing approval of two training 
manuals drafted with USAID project support (one for judges, 
and the other a more general manual for all justice sector 
officials). 
WOOD