US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA6222

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 006222 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREF, PHUM, PINR, CO 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP OF CALI 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  During a trip to Cali on June 23-24, the 
Archbishop told the Ambassador that the Mayor's office was 
struggling with corruption limiting its ability to act, and 
that the USG should find ways to help support the municipal 
police.  He credited the increase in violence in Cali last 
year to infighting among different factions of the Norte del 
Valle Cartel.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) Archbishop Monsignor Juan Francisco Zarasti, a Cali 
native who returned to the city two years ago, said his 
office has been expanding to meet the needs of the growing 
community of displaced persons coming to Cali to escape the 
violence of narcotrafficking and the poverty caused by poor 
government administration. 
 
3. (C) While praising Governor Angelino Garzon's actions as 
generally clean, correct and successful, he lamented the many 
problems Cali Mayor Apolinar Salcedo Caicedo faced. 
Corruption in the Mayor's office -- which he defined as a 
problem of ambitious people with low rank wanting to amass 
power -- limited the effectiveness of the Mayor's office, and 
the support that it should enjoy from citizens of all 
economic strata.  "Basic problems with things like trash 
collection are symptoms of a much greater problem," he said. 
While claiming not to be politically aligned, Zarasti said 
that the Church felt obliged to respond to political problems 
that hurt his diocese. 
 
4. (C) When asked by the Ambassador which team of "angels" 
the USG should support to fight the "demons" of Cali, Zarasti 
first pointed to the police.  Plagued by deep corruption and 
a chronic lack of funding -- whether the cuts originated in 
the Mayor's office or at the federal level in Bogota -- 
Zarasti said the current commander of the Cali Metropolitan 
Police (Colonel Jesus Antonio Gomez Mendez) is doing his best 
with limited resources, and could use any support the USG 
could give.  Zarasti recommended ethics training in 
particular.  He also saw hope in the efforts of the Carvajal 
Foundation and private groups helping the thousands of IDPs 
arriving in Cali. 
 
5. (C) Zarasti believed that the Norte del Valle Cartel had a 
major influence on Cali.  He said that just removing the 
heads of the cartel would not render it ineffective.  He 
credited the increase in violence in Cali in 2004 to 
infighting among different factions in the Cartel. 
 
6. (C) Zarasti said he doubted the FARC had much influence in 
the city of Cali, though he was sure there were FARC elements 
in the mountains south of the city.  He also doubted that 
there was much paramilitary activity in Cali beyond 
commercial participation in the ubiquitous narcotics trade. 
He regretted that paramilitary activity was much broader and 
destabilizing in neighboring Buenaventura, where corruption 
was deeper and the coca trade more extensive. 
WOOD