US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA6495

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 006495 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, MOPS, CO, ELN, AUC 
SUBJECT: EX-GUERRILLA AND PARAMILITARY DESCRIBE THEIR LIVES 
AS TERRORISTS 
 
REF: BOGOTA 5616 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) Colombia's Ministry of Defense (MOD), the agency in 
charge of the first phase of the individual desertion program 
for guerrillas and paramilitaries, began recording deserter 
testimonies on June 24 and invited Emboffs to observe.  The 
MOD interviewed a former paramilitary and former ELN bloc 
commander.  Ex-paramilitary "David" described his group's 
clashes with guerrillas over drug trafficking and his 
decision to desert because of poor pay.  "Eduard," the ex-ELN 
member who deserted with 29 members of his front, admitted he 
had lost faith in the purpose of an armed revolution and that 
the ELN had suffered heavy losses.  Both deserters said they 
wanted to return to civilian life and expressed satisfaction 
with the MOD's phase of the reinsertion program.  End summary. 
 
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Paramilitary Group Underpaid 
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2. (SBU) On June 24, the MOD's camera crew did the first 
interview with "David," (no real name given,) a former Self 
Defense Forces of Casanare (ACC) member at the military-owned 
Tequendama Hotel in Bogota.  David said he was recruited by 
the paramilitary group because he had lived in an area where 
the ACC patrolled.  He joined at age 14 and deserted at 18. 
When asked about his unit's activities, he responded that 
they operated in Boyaca on the border with Meta Department. 
David commented that the ACC was losing the war, especially 
in logistics and finances.  He claimed that the ACC clashed 
with guerrilla groups and other paramilitaries in the area, 
almost always over drugs.  He described the armed conflict as 
"all about drugs." 
 
3. (SBU) Although David joined the ACC as a regular fighter, 
he was soon trained and named as a squadron commander.  He 
did not indicate that being a commander at his age was 
unusual.  The ACC promised him a salary of 500,000 pesos per 
month (USD 220) but then paid him less and refused to grant 
him leave.  He told interviewers that he had discovered the 
GOC's reinsertion program by finding pamphlets dropped into 
the area where he was operating.  He deserted primarily 
because he never saw his family and felt betrayed by the 
ACC's failure to pay him his promised salary.  He shrugged 
off the question on how he felt about participating in 
illegal activities.  He told interviewers that he hoped to 
return to school and finish his basic education. 
 
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ELN Revolution Rings Hollow 
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4. (SBU) Once David left the room, MOD officials began the 
second interview with former National Liberation Army (ELN) 
Commander Ramiro Alberto Ruiz, ("Eduard") who coordinated the 
first ELN mass desertion (reftel) after twenty years with the 
group.  According to Eduard, most youth in his neighborhood 
joined the ELN in the mid-80s because there was little else 
to do.  After, he attended the ELN's combat school.  By his 
account, he was a regular fighter until 1993, when he 
traveled to Cauca Department with 20 others to form part of a 
new ELN Front. 
 
5. (SBU) Eduard noted that the ELN had suffered losses in 
ongoing clashes with the FARC.  He commented that he had lost 
many of his colleagues between 1999 and 2001 in the Ituango 
and Peca municipalities, Antioquia Department.  During that 
high-conflict time, several ELN members left ELN ranks and 
returned home or joined the United Self Defense Forces of 
Colombia (AUC).  He stressed that the violence fed his 
disenchantment with the ELN, which ultimately led to his 
desertion.  By 2002, his ELN front had been reduced to only 
17 men, so the ELN Central Command (COCE) merged them with 
another band and renamed the fighters the "Heroes of Anori," 
after a historically significant battle and an ELN policy 
conference in 1983.  The Heroes were based in northeastern 
Antioquia Department. 
 
6. (SBU) Eduard stated that he left the ELN to return to his 
family and because he stopped believing that a revolution 
would be successful.  He said many ELN troops did not 
understand the supposed ideology of the conflict and the ELN 
has become plagued by widespread inequality.  He noted that 
his bloc, like the rest of the ELN, was in a dormant phase 
and pitted against heavy GOC and FARC military forces.  In 
contrast to David's testimony that focused on his individual 
situation, Eduard recounted that he had looked at other 
revolutions throughout history and decided they were only 
successful if the guerrillas caught governments off-guard. 
He noted that the ELN had started out as a popular group but 
had lost steam by 1990 to 1991 and had no chance of 
surprising the government.  He also cited various Latin 
American revolutions that had failed and asserted that 
revolution in Colombia would not be viable.  Furthermore, he 
admitted that he wanted to live with his children and 
common-law wife, Nadia, rather than miss out on his 
children's upbringing. 
 
7. (SBU) He deserted in late May by feigning illness and 
traveling to Medellin for several days.  On May 19, he 
arrived at his family's house and discussed it with his 
father and Nadia, who had herself been in the ELN for nine 
years until she left to raise their family.  Although his 
father was reportedly concerned about possible Armed Forces 
mistreatment of demobilizing guerrillas, Eduard went to the 
demobilization center in Medellin on May 24 and surrendered. 
Once there, Defense officials told him that he could return 
to the ELN camp for three days and bring back as many of his 
front as possible for demobilization.  He told his fellow 
fighters that they had no hope of winning and would not 
suffer if they surrendered.  Twenty-nine fighters joined him, 
including his second-in-command. 
 
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Deserters Prepare to Return Home 
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8. (SBU) Both David and Eduard said the Defense Ministry's 
reinsertion program had fulfilled its promises.  They added 
that they had not suffered any mistreated by the military, as 
had been predicted by both of their illegal armed groups. 
During the first phase of individual reinsertion, deserters 
are offered housing by the Ministry of Defense, given basic 
humanitarian assistance, and debriefed for intelligence 
purposes.  Deserters subsequently move to the Ministry of 
Interior and Justice's reinsertion program, where they are 
also provided housing, humanitarian assistance, and are 
enrolled in training and/or employment projects.  Since Uribe 
took office there have been over 7,000 desertions, roughly 50 
percent of those from the FARC. 
WOOD