US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA9963

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 009963 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINS, CVIS, CO 
SUBJECT: KIDNAPPING OF ORLANDO VALENCIA RECEIVES WIDE 
ATTENTION; AMBASSADOR CALLS ON SENIOR GOC OFFICIALS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood. 
Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) Post learned from NGO sources that Afro-Colombian 
leader Orlando Valencia was reportedly kidnapped on Saturday, 
October 15.  Post has raised Valencia's case at all levels of 
the GOC to press for quick action to ensure his safety.  End 
summary. 
 
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Initial NGO Reports of Kidnapping 
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2. (U) On Sunday, October 16 Embassy received a call from the 
U.S. NGO Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance (CSMA), who 
reported that Afro-Colombian leader Orlando Valencia had been 
kidnapped on October 15 on the border of Choco and Antioquia 
Departments.  The initial NGO reports were that the police 
had stopped a convoy in which Valencia had been traveling and 
accused him of being associated with the FARC.  After 
questioning, the police released Valencia, who reportedly was 
subsequently followed by what the NGOs said were "known 
paramilitaries," and forced to go with them on a motorcycle. 
The NGOs said Valencia had been missing since Saturday 
afternoon, October 15. 
 
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Post Acts to Press GOC for Valencia's Safe Return 
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3. (C) Embassy contacted (in some cases numerous times) the 
offices of the Human Rights Unit of the Fiscalia, the Human 
Rights Unit of the Ministry of Defense, the Central 
Directorate of the Judicial and Investigative Police (DIJIN), 
and the Vice President's Office on Human Rights and 
Humanitarian International Law.  The Ambassador raised the 
case with Attorney General Mario Iguaran and Minister of 
Defense Camilo Ospina.  Polcouns briefed Vice President 
Santos.  GOC officials reported that as soon as they heard 
about the kidnapping the police formed a search party 
consisting of members of the Technical Investigative Corps 
(CTI), the Police and the Army.  Col. Oscar Naranjo, director 
of the DIJIN, told Deputy PolCouns that the Judicial 
Investigations Section of the Police (SIJIN) was also 
involved in the search.  Since it began at approximately 1:30 
p.m. on Saturday, October 15, the search has yielded no 
results. 
 
4. (C) Embassy also contacted Carlos Franco, the Vice 
President's Representative for Human Rights, who was in 
Washington to attend human rights hearings at the 
Organization of American States.  Franco was already aware of 
the case and contacted representatives of the Catholic 
Church, who spoke to paramilitary representatives in the area 
and learned that the paramilitaries claimed not to have been 
involved with Valencia's abduction. 
 
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Embassy Meets with NGO for First-Hand Account 
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5. (C) On October 19, Deputy Polcouns invited representatives 
of the NGO Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz 
("Justicia y Paz") to the Embassy for a first-hand account of 
the circumstances surrounding Valencia's disappearance. 
According to Rafael Figueroa, an attorney accompanying 
Valencia for Justicia y Paz, while returning to his home town 
near Chigorodo, Choco Department, the police stopped Valencia 
at a road block at approximately 11:30AM.  In addition to 
Figueroa, Valencia was traveling with nine members of the 
Jiguamiando indigenous community and a Canadian 
representative from Justicia y Paz.  The police asked them to 
provide identification and explain the purpose of their 
travel.  The Police said they were looking for a reinserted 
FARC guerrilla traveling in the region, and they believed 
Valencia was that person.  In the meantime, said Figueroa, a 
"well-known, active paramilitary" in the region who had 
passed by the road block started to hang around the police 
station, entering and leaving during the interrogation 
process.  Different members of the traveling party were 
released over the next hour, and Valencia was released around 
 
12:30 p.m.  As he attempted to enter the house of Mr. Enrique 
Petro and rejoin the eleven others he was traveling with, 
some 200 yards from the police station, he was stopped by two 
men who arrived on a motorcycle.  One of the men had a 
revolver and told Valencia that he would have to go with them 
or they would kill him there.  Valencia went with the men. 
Deputy Polcouns provided the national police with a copy of 
Justicia y Paz's October 18 official complaint about this 
matter, which Justicia y Paz had already sent to the 
Fiscalia, Foreign Ministry, and Defensoria del Pueblo. 
 
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NGO Speculation on Motives for Kidnapping 
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6. (C) Justicia y Paz said that Valencia was a member of an 
indigenous community for which the InterAmerican Court of 
Human Rights had ordered "protective measures."  According to 
the NGO Peace Brigades International (PBI), Valencia is a 
prominent Afro-Colombian leader, perhaps on his way to 
becoming elected the next legal representative of the Consejo 
Mayor of Curvarado.  In a meeting last September in the 
municipality of Murnido, Valencia reportedly directly 
confronted Carlos Franco, demanding an answer from the State 
regarding the protection of the lives of the 
African-Colombians in the region.  We understand he asked for 
accountability of and protection from the "palmicultores, 
state and para-state agents." 
 
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NGOs Head to Region 
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7.  (C) PBI will participate in a delegation to Bajira and 
Jiguamiando on October 20 to meet with the local and regional 
police, the 17th Brigade of the Army, and the local offices 
of the Fiscalia, Procuraduria and the Defensoria.  The 
delegation will consist of members of the NGOs Justicia y 
Paz, PBI, Christian Aid, and the Colombian Commission of 
Jurists; officials from the local offices of the Fiscalia, 
Procuraduria and Defensoria; and two officials from the 
Ministry of the Interior who deal with communities at risk 
and human rights issues. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C) Valencia wanted to attend a conference in Chicago 
organized by the NGO "Chicagoans for a Peaceful Colombia." 
While the consular officer who interviewed Valencia was able 
to verify the destination and purpose of his proposed trip, 
Valencia was unable to overcome Section 214(b) ineligibility. 
 End comment. 
WOOD