US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA5060

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 005060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SNAR, MASS, PREF, EAID, KJUS, CO 
SUBJECT: PLAN COLOMBIA IMPLEMENTATION ROUND-UP, APRIL, 2005 
 
1. (U) The following is an update of Plan Colombia activities 
reported during April, 2005. 
 
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DOJ/JSRP 
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2. (U) DOJ continued to provide training and technical 
assistance through the Justice Sector Reform Program (JSRP), 
in particular to develop the criminal justice sector during 
the transition to the new accusatory system.  Thirty members 
of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) visited 
Bogota as part of an exchange with the Colombian Institute 
for Legal Medicine.  The following DOJ training programs also 
took place in April: 
 
-- The two-week "Investigator As a Witness" course was 
offered in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Bucaramanga, 
Villavicencio, Tunja, and Yopal to 780 police investigators. 
The course used practical exercises and classroom 
presentations to focus on crime scene management, report 
writing, interview techniques and testimony in court. 
 
-- The two-week "Criminal Trial Advocacy" course was offered 
in Medellin and Cali to 120 prosecutors and 60 police 
investigators.  The course used classroom presentations and 
mock trials presided over by Colombian judges to focus on 
prosecution strategy, developing and presenting evidence, the 
new criminal procedure code, police and prosecutor 
cooperation, preliminary hearings, and trial techniques. 
 
-- The one-week "Criminal Trial Advocacy: Judges" course was 
offered in Medellin to 50 judges.  The course used classroom 
presentations and mock trials to focus on the new criminal 
procedure code, the role of the judge in an accusatory 
system, handling evidence, and presiding over proceedings. 
 
-- The two-week "Patrol Officer Training" course was offered 
in Cali and Tunja to 70 Colombian National Police (CNP) 
officers.  The course trained the officers as instructors. 
The officers will train patrol officers in the new criminal 
procedure code, and the accusatory system. 
 
-- The one-week "Leadership for Judicial Police" course was 
offered in Bogota to 30 police officers.  The course focused 
on improving leadership skills for police commanders and unit 
chiefs. 
 
-- The one-week "Anti-Corruption" course, focusing on 
institutional transparency, was offered to 30 judicial police 
supervisors and unit commanders from the CNP, Department of 
Administrative Security (DAS) and Cuerpo Tecnico de 
Investigaciones (CTI). 
 
-- The one-week "Intellectual Property" course was offered to 
30 police investigators and prosecutors.  The course used 
classroom presentations and case studies presented by U.S. 
and Colombian instructors to focus on copyright and trademark 
law, the connection between piracy and terrorism, and the 
identification of counterfeit music and DVD movies. 
 
-- The two-week "Anti-Kidnapping" course was offered by the 
JSRP and the FBI, in coordination with the office of the Vice 
President, to 36 prosecutors and investigators from the 
National Anti-Kidnapping Unit and seven regional 
anti-kidnapping units.  The course used classroom 
presentations, mock crime scene investigation and mock trials 
to focus on investigation and prosecution strategy in 
kidnapping cases, crime scene and evidence management, 
interview techniques, and presentation of evidence and 
testimony in court. 
 
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MILGROUP 
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3. (U) Several U.S.-funded civil affairs construction 
projects in conflict areas are nearing completion.  In the 
next two months, the following projects will be inaugurated: 
a school in Sumapaz; clinics in Aracaraua, Ortega and 
Valencia; a rehab center for mine-injured civilians in 
Caqueta; and a day care center for Downs Syndrome children in 
Planadas.  On May 21, the Ambassador inaugurated a library in 
San Vicente de Caguan.  These facilities are located in 
former FARC-controlled areas, and demonstrate a GOC presence 
with Colombian Military (COLMIL) personnel. 
 
4. (U) Vice Minister of Defense (VMOD) Jorge Mario Eastman 
Robledo asked MILGROUP and the Ambassador to intervene in 
five Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases being managed by the 
U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) related to the 
modification or acquisition of UH-60 aircraft.  Eastman noted 
that AMCOM failed to: deliver pricing and availability data 
after repeated requests, cut contracts, cut partial contracts 
without customer notification, implement amendments, and meet 
promised timelines.  MILGROUP will send details of the cases 
to SOUTHCOM and ask for General Officer assistance in 
resolving them. 
 
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NAS 
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5. (U) On April 14, GOC forces repelled an attack by 300-400 
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 
on the town of Toribio, Cauca Department.  The 82 members of 
the town's Municipal Police detachment were among the first 
armed and equipped under the Plan Colombia Reinsertion of 
Police in Conflictive Zones program.  The police were able to 
hold back the FARC until GOC rapid response elements arrived, 
including the Mobile Rural Police (Caribineros) and 
Antinarcotics Police Airmobile Squadron (Jungla) troops. 
Both the Caribineros and the Junglas also train under Plan 
Colombia programs. 
 
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RSO 
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6. (U) Anti-Kidnapping Initiative (AKI):  The ninth CRT 
course will begin in mid-June and be completed in late July. 
Weapons will be issued to AKI participants from the first 
four CRT courses conducted in 2003 and 2004.  All previously 
trained CRT GAULAs will be issued weapons and equipment by 
the end of summer 2005.  In the future, all CRT participants 
will receive their weapons and equipment at the completion of 
the course. 
 
7. (U) Mr. Delphin "Tuffy" Von Brieson, a former DEA special 
agent, was selected as the new Anti-Terrorism Assistance 
(ATA) AKI program manager.  Mr. Victor De Windt, a former DSS 
special agent, was selected as the new AKI CRT course 
manager.  RSO Mark Hunter departed Post on PCS travel on May 
8.  Acting RSO Mike French will be the POC for the ATA AKI 
program. 
 
8. (U) VIP Personal Protection Training (PPT) Program: 
Twenty-four officials from the Mayor of Bogota's protective 
detail graduated from the latest PPT course on April 8.  The 
next course will be conducted at the DAS Officers Academy 
from May 2 - 13.  Instructors Tom Dorsch and Mary Beth Wilkas 
will leave the PPT Program on May 29 and return on contracts 
over the next year.  In an effort to downsize to three 
instructor positions, only Mr. Dorsch's position will be 
filled.  Future training will be focused on the President's 
and Vice President's protective details, while the 
instructors will continue to advise the Mayor's protective 
detail. 
 
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USAID 
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9. (U) Contributions from USAID and PRM of US$6.3 million 
leveraged US$13.2 million from the GOC to integrate 
humanitarian assistance and economic support projects for 
nearly 20,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).  Awarded 
to USG grantee, Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) 
International, these funds will serve to expand PRM's 
emergency humanitarian assistance projects from 14 to 21 
cities.  The funds will cover almost 100 percent of the 
demand for aid to displaced families to date this year and 
will strengthen USAID's economic support activities in 
Barranquilla, Bogota, Buenaventura, Cali, Santa Marta and 
most of the coffee-producing provinces (the "Eje Cafetero"). 
 
10. (U) USAID's Office of Food for Peace approved a 
contribution of 4,570 metric tons of Title II emergency 
commodities to meet immediate nutrition needs for roughly 
110,000 IDPs.  The assistance, valued at US $3.5 million, was 
granted to World Food Program's (WFP) Protracted Relief and 
Recovery Operation (PRRO) program in Colombia.  WFP will 
provide food rations to IDPs as they transition to greater 
self-sufficiency.  Distributions will cover the first six 
months of displacement -- the most critical period for IDPs. 
Commodities (e.g., rice, lentils and vegetable oil) are 
expected to arrive in Colombia in late-July or early-August 
2005. 
 
11. (U) To help prepare Colombia for the transition to an 
oral, accusatorial justice system, USAID has designed, 
constructed and delivered 35 specialized oral court rooms and 
trained over 1,659 criminal justice system operators in oral 
procedures required by the new system, including public 
defenders, inspectors, judges, and law professors.  Only 100 
days after implementing the new accusatory justice system in 
pilot jurisdictions in Bogota, Manizales, Pereira and 
Armenia, statistics are showing improvements.  Police are 
making fewer frivolous arrests; scarce court, prosecutor and 
public defender resources are being focused on more serious 
crimes; out of 10,543 pre-trial negotiations, 8,273 (78.5%) 
ended in a settlement; and nearly 76% of the 2,943 cases 
arraigned in the first 100 days were plea-bargained.  Cases 
that have been settled and arraigned will not require costly 
and time-consuming trials. 
WOOD