US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA4806

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 004806 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR INL/RM, INL/LP 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, SENV, KCRM, PTER, CO 
SUBJECT: NAS Monthly Report April 2005: Aerial Eradication 
at Record Levels 
 
REF: (A) Bogota 3914 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: In April, the Colombian National Police 
(CNP) spray program eradicated 16,153 hectares of coca.  The 
CNP destroyed 10 cocaine HCL labs and seized 10.5 metric 
tons of cocaine and coca base, and 94 kilos of heroin.  U.S. 
and Plan Colombia assets assisted the police in heavy 
fighting against FARC forces in Toribio, Cauca Department. 
 
Eradication and Interdiction 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Eradication:  During the month of April, OV-10s 
operating from San Jose del Guaviare, and later Apiay, Meta 
Department, sprayed approximately 3,334 hectares; AT-802s 
operating from Tumaco, Narino Department, sprayed 
approximately 9,884 hectares of coca.  T-65s operating from 
Neiva, Huila Department, and Mariquita, Tolima Department, 
sprayed 115 hectares of poppy and 2,935 hectares of coca. 
In total, CNP aircraft sprayed approximately 16,153 hectares 
of coca during the month of April.  In 2005, the CNP 
eradication program has sprayed more than 74,361 hectares of 
coca and 936 hectares of poppy.  This is well ahead of last 
year's record setting pace. 
 
3. (SBU) Armed narco-terrorists fired on eradication and 
COLAR aircraft 13 times in April, striking the aircraft 26 
times.  The insurgents struck the fixed wing AT-802's one 
time, T-65's three times, and OV-10's five times.  They also 
hit rotary wing Huey UH-1N aircraft twice, Plan Colombia 
Program UH-1N helicopters seven times, and the UH-1H-II and 
UH-60 helicopters four times each. 
 
4. (SBU) During April, COLAR Plan Colombia helicopters 
continued to support CD Brigade troops and eradication 
operations in Larandia, Caqueta Department, Tumaco, Narino 
Department, Apiay, Meta Department, and Neiva, Huila 
Department, as well as training operations in Tolemaida. 
Plan Colombia helicopters transported 2,589 passengers and 
160,545 pounds of cargo during 1,880 flight hours.  Twenty- 
six patients required 60 hours of flight time for medical 
evacuations. 
 
5. (SBU) On April 15, the Colombian Army received two UH-60 
and four UH-1H-II helicopters to protect the 174 kilometers 
of petroleum pipeline in Arauca Department under the 
Infrastructure Security Strategy Program.  NAS recently 
completed a construction project in Saravena, Arauca 
Department, to support both aerial eradication operations 
and the Infrastructure Security Strategy Program.  NAS is 
expecting delivery of four additional UH-1H-II helicopters 
in the near future. 
 
6. (SBU) On April 29, Plan Colombia helicopters supported a 
joint Colombian Army/National Police medical evacuation 60 
miles from Tumaco, Narino Department.  After an attack by 
armed insurgents on a small National Police outpost in the 
area, five wounded police officers required evacuation. 
Unfortunately, a sixth police officer died prior to the 
evacuation. 
 
7. (SBU) NAS Aviation Unit (NAU) began a 10-day maintenance 
stand-down during the last week of April to improve the 
availability of the OV-10 fleet. During this stand-down 
period, all personnel attended refresher safety classes and 
aircrews and search and rescue personnel received additional 
survival and evasion training. 
 
8. (SBU) During April, the NAS Aviation Unit met with 
personnel from U.S. Southern Command to discuss deploying 
U.S. Air Force tactical weather sensors to forward operating 
locations.  These sensors are expected to provide real-time 
weather reports to aircrews and improve SOUTHCOM's weather 
forecasting capabilities. 
 
9. (SBU) Interdiction:  In April, the CNP destroyed 10 
cocaine HCl labs and seized almost 10.5 Metric Tons of 
cocaine HCl, coca base, and 94 kilos of heroin.  In 2005, 
the CNP has seized more than 26 metric tons of Cocaine HCl 
and destroyed 63 Cocaine HCl laboratories. 
 
10. (SBU) On April 1, the DIRAN Northern Zone Task Force 
assaulted an AUC camp near Aguachica, Cesar Department. 
DIRAN captured three armed AUC members, but the AUC leader 
reportedly hiding there escaped.  DIRAN destroyed a cocaine 
HCL laboratory and equipment cache only a mile from this 
armed terrorist camp.  The next day DIRAN discovered and 
destroyed another nearby AUC cocaine HCL lab and three 
precursor storage sites. 
 
11. (SBU) On April 5, DIRAN conducted an air assault on 
another AUC camp, 30 miles west of Bogota.  The DIRAN 
assault force captured 12 armed and uniformed AUC members 
and various automatic weapons.  The next day DIRAN destroyed 
two more AUC cocaine HCL labs near Mariquita, Tolima 
Department. 
 
12. (SBU) On April 14, the FARC attacked the 82-man Police 
Station in Toribio, Cauca Department, killing two policemen 
and wounding six others. (see reftel)  Toribio is one of 158 
municipalities supported by the "Police Reestablishment in 
Conflictive Zones" project in which the police are equipped 
with U.S. provided M16's, M60 Machine Guns, sandbags, 
radios, frequency scanners, and ammunition.  The FARC killed 
one civilian, wounded 27 others, destroyed 18 houses, and 
partially damaged 120 more.  The Colombian National Police, 
Air Force, and Army forces re-established control of the 
town in joint operations lasting several days.  U.S.-trained 
and equipped units played a key role in the GOC reaction to 
armed assaults against civilians. 
 
DIRAN Base Defense 
------------------ 
 
13. (SBU) DIRAN base defense upgrades continued in 
Villagarzon and San Miguel, both in Putumayo Department, and 
Toribio, Cauca Department.  The CNP school in Espinal 
trained 31 DIRAN policemen and presidential security 
personnel in a nine-week explosives disposal and 
implementation course.  DIRAN HQ at El Dorado established a 
temporary night vision goggle (NVG) repair facility.  This 
facility allows the CNP to conduct depot level repairs on 
NVGs.  In addition, 48 CNP police officers departed for 
various training courses in the United States. 
 
Law Enforcement 
--------------- 
 
14. (SBU) The Carabinero squadrons (EMCAR) continue to 
provide security for the major lines of transportation and 
communication across areas of conflict throughout Colombia. 
The Cauca squadron was one of the first units to react, 
along with DIRAN Junglas, to the attack on Toribio, and 
played a significant role in clearing the FARC from inside 
the town.  The Narino Squadron had one police officer killed 
in action and five others wounded in fighting at El Palmar, 
Narino Department.  Helicopters from a joint eradication and 
COLAR operation evacuated the casualties and provided 
gunship support to the carabinero unit. 
 
15. (SBU) In the first quarter of CY05 EMCAR squadrons 
captured 1,551 people: 92 narco-traffickers, 181 FARC/ELN, 
98 AUC, and 1,180 common criminals, plus 718 weapons, 13,052 
gallons of liquid cocaine chemical precursors, 16,596 
kilograms of solid precursors, and 691 kilograms cocaine 
base.  The squadrons had 5 police officers killed in action 
and 32 wounded during the first quarter and killed 8 
terrorists (1 ELN, 3 FARC and 4 AUC).  Additionally, the 
EMCAR manually eradicated 57 hectares of poppy and 879 
hectares of coca plants. 
 
Joint Exercises 
--------------- 
 
16.  (SBU) U.S. organizations supported the joint Firewall 
Exercise II in Santa Marta.  Colombian participants included 
personnel and equipment from the Colombian Navy, Coast 
Guard, DIRAN, and Colombian Air Force.  All exercises 
focused on the disruption of cocaine fast boat shipments and 
testing USG provided communications systems. 
 
CNP Aviation (ARAVI) 
-------------------- 
 
17. (SBU) In April, the three largest components of ARAVI's 
fleet clocked 1,364 mission hours: The UH-1H helicopters 
flew 702 mission hours with an operational readiness (O.R.) 
rate of 48 percent. Twenty eight percent of the helicopters 
required depot level major structural repairs.  Bell 212 
helicopters flew 341 mission hours with an operational 
readiness rate of 71 percent, and UH-60 helicopters flew 321 
mission hours with an operational readiness rate of 59 
percent.  A combination of fuel leaks and battle damage 
contributed to this unusually low O.R. rate.  ARAVI aircraft 
also provided gun-ship and intelligence support for attacks 
on cocaine-processing labs and the joint reaction to the 
armed terrorist attacks on the village of Toribio, Cauca 
Department. 
 
Public Security 
--------------- 
18. (SBU) The GOC is planning 11 new medium and maximum- 
security prisons.  The prison design group traveled to the 
U.S. to speak with U.S. BOP design experts and looked at a 
variety of different designs of US prisons that could be 
suitable for Colombia.  The Bureau of Prisons representative 
attended meetings with senior Ministry of Justice officials 
to discuss design and management changes in the Colombian 
prison system that may be necessary when using modern prison 
facilities. 
 
Air Bridge Denial 
------------------------------ 
19. (SBU) No Air Bridge Denial events occurred during April. 
CNP followed 4003 aircraft tracks over Colombia; 32 were 
declared Unidentified, Assumed Suspect (UAS).  The GOC 
reacted to 15 UAS contacts.  One was subsequently identified 
as friendly, another reached international waters before 
phase I could be started, and the other 13 could not be 
intercepted.  The GOC did not react to 17 UAS: Due to bad 
weather, the suspect reached international borders, old 
information, the contact was later identified as friendly, 
or the contact was out of range. 
 
 
Environment 
----------- 
20. (SBU) In April the spray complaints group received 44 
new complaints, completed 30 complaint investigations, and 
paid no complaints.  The GOC reached an accord with 
indigenous tribal leaders and gained permission to conduct 
eradication on indigenous reservations in the southern 
department of Guaviare and in the northern part of Colombia, 
though no operations are currently planned.  The GOC needs 
more consultations between tribal leaders and the GOC to 
gain nationwide access to coca fields currently in protected 
reservations.  The Colombian Congress is conducting debates 
on aerial eradication in the national parks. 
 
WOOD