US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA10106

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 010106 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, MARR, MOPS, PHUM, SNAR, CO 
SUBJECT: ELN PEACE HOUSE AT ONE MONTH: INTERNATIONAL 
INTEREST, DOMESTIC SKEPTICISM 
 
REF: BOGOTA 9257 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood; reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) The "ELN Peace House" was inaugurated one month ago 
after the GOC and National Liberation Army (ELN) leadership 
released imprisoned ELN spokesperson Gerardo Antonio Bermudez 
Sanchez, AKA "Francisco Galan," for three months to help 
establish peace talks.  Galan has spent his first month under 
police and prison security escort in Antioquia Department 
outside Medellin scheduling meetings with twenty-seven 
sectors of Colombian society, starting with the Colombian 
Government and Catholic Church.  The international community 
has demonstrated a serious interest in the process, while GOC 
and church contacts have expressed skepticism about the ELN's 
willingness to move forward with the initiative.  Secretary 
General of the National Reconciliation Council Father Dario 
Echeverri (strictly protect) suggested that the ELN establish 
contact with those outside the group's normal support base 
and cautioned Galan about the possibility of the 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) acting as 
spoilers in the process. 
 
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International Community Keen 
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2. (SBU) The international community has expressed its 
interest in supporting the GOC-ELN process in public and 
private engagements.  Mediation offers were first: the 
Panamanian, Venezuelan, Swiss, and Norwegian governments all 
offered their "good offices" to begin a peace process.  ELN 
leadership approved Venezuela's offer in a September 23 
communique and the Colombian Government has not officially 
responded.  Neither side has made any public movement to 
proceed with Venezuelan mediation since acceptance.  (Note: 
Embassy Panama, the GOP stated it believed Colombia would 
accept its offer since the Panamanians briefly brokered peace 
talks in the 1990s. 
 
3. (SBU) More concretely, Norwegian and Swiss embassy 
officials met with the five Colombian facilitators of the 
consultative process (Norway, Cuba, France, Switzerland, and 
Spain) on October 13.  Another meeting is planned for early 
November.  Norwegian Charge Sigurd Endressen told PolCouns 
that the GON had donated USD 25,000 to Planeta Paz, a local 
NGO, to underwrite the consultation process.  We understand 
that Norway plans to further pledge between one and two 
million Krone (USD 150,000-USD 300,000) to support the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as an indirect 
means to support the demobilization process.  Endressen 
reported that the Swiss also planned to donate USD 20,000 to 
Planeta Paz for the consultative process and the Spanish 
government was considering making a donation.  A decision 
from Madrid is pending.  (Note: our contacts at the OAS told 
us October 26 that Spain has pledged USD 1 million to the OAS 
mission in Colombia.  End note.) 
 
4. (SBU) European assistance was not clearly defined, 
according to the Norwegian Charge.  He remarked that Norway's 
policy of petroleum revenue wealth distribution had impressed 
the ELN and that Norway could offer a secluded location for 
GOC-ELN negotiations.  He said the GOC had not responded to 
the offer as positively as the ELN. 
 
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Domestic Response Less Enthusiastic 
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5. (C) Colombian participants have had a more muted response 
to the Peace House and its prospects.  The ELN, High 
 
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Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo, and local media 
have for the most part publically ignored the talks. 
Restrepo's communique on the issue calls for the ELN to 
select a negotiation site outside Colombia but makes no 
reference to the GOC's role in the Peace House.  The ELN's 
website similarly is silent on the proceedings. 
 
6. (C) National Reconciliation Council Secretary General 
Dario Echeverri told French about the Catholic Church's 
meetings at the Peace House on October 22.  Echeverri said 
Church representatives were the first civil society 
interlocutors to meet with the ELN at the Peace House.  Galan 
asked the six bishops in attendance to forgive the ELN's sins 
) in particular the murder of an archbishop, the kidnapping 
of a bishop, and recent "mistaken" assassinations of two 
parish priests.  Echeverri said he had rebuffed the apologies 
by reminding Galan of the ELN's lesser known victims, such as 
civilians.  He urged the ELN to get in touch with the 
Colombian public to reacquaint itself with Colombians' true 
interests.  He stressed that the meetings Galan planned with 
twenty-seven sectors of Colombian society only played to the 
ELN's traditional base.  Echeverri said he had pressed Galan 
to seek meetings with the U.S. Embassy, paramilitaries, and 
Colombian military officials to make the most of his 
consultation parole months. 
 
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FARC Intervene as the Spoiler 
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7. (C) Echeverri believes that the FARC will be the spoiler 
and prevent any peace talks from flourishing between the GOC 
and ELN.  "Everyone has an agenda and will try to manipulate 
you," Echeverri told Galan.  He said the FARC and ELN have an 
understanding only to negotiate humanitarian accords, such as 
prisoner exchanges, with the Uribe Administration, so other 
advances would inspire the FARC to retaliate against the ELN. 
 Nevertheless, Echeverri doubts that the ELN would be willing 
to broker a peace deal, even without FARC interference.  He 
listed past efforts, including the Mexican-facilitated 
attempt, which fell apart once peace discussions became a 
concrete possibility. 
 
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ELN Not Tempted to Desert 
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8. (C) Echeverri stressed that Galan would benefit the most 
from any peace negotiations since it would elevate his status 
among disenfranchised ELN members and possibly allow him to 
shorten his prison sentence under the Justice and Peace Law. 
However, he said ELN leader Antonio Garcia held the true 
power position within the ELN and had a fragile, newly 
established relationship with Galan.  In response to French's 
question about ELN members' interest in individual 
desertions, Echeverri commented that the demobilization and 
reinsertion program was not attractive enough to encourage 
most rank and file members to desert.  He said the GOC did 
not have the economic or judicial resources to cope with the 
long-term psychological issues of former terrorist fighters 
readjusting to civilian life.  Although he recognized that 
the GOC could not possibly offer ongoing social and 
psychological support to almost 20,000 demobilized fighters, 
he stressed that more ELN members would gladly depart if the 
program appeared more successful in reintegration efforts. 
He warned Emboffs against underestimating the ELN's popular 
support despite its diminished military capacity. 
 
9. (U) This message has been cleared by WHA/AND Philip French. 
WOOD