US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA10396

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 010396 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KJUS, PINR, CO 
SUBJECT: HISTORIC LOW TURNOUT FOR CARTAGENA MAYORAL 
ELECTIONS; CURI TO SERVE THIRD TERM 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Jeffrey DeLaurentis; 
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  On October 30, a record low number of Cartagena's 
residents voted to return controversial 
doctor-turned-politician Nicolas Curi to the mayor's office 
for a third, non-consecutive term.  Seventy-eight percent of 
eligible voters stayed home during the special election. 
Curi's main opponent was a "blank vote" movement, known in 
Cartagena as "voto en blanco."  If this movement had received 
fifty percent of the vote, new elections, with a new slate of 
candidates, would have been required.  Curi received 45.6 
percent of the nearly 120,000 votes cast; the "blank vote" 
movement received 34 percent.  Because of death threats and 
accusations of vote buying in the weeks leading up to the 
vote, the GOC took extra action to ensure fairness and 
transparency.  Ultimately, election day transpired in an 
orderly fashion. 
 
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CARTAGENA ELECTS CURI TO THIRD TERM; 
OPPOSITION CHOOSES TO SUPPORT "BLANK" CANDIDATE 
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2.  (U) Cartagena held a special mayoral election on October 
30.  The election was called to resync Cartagena, off cycle 
for administrative reasons, with the national mayoral 
election schedule.  While there were six candidates on the 
ballot, only two were in contention: two-time former mayor, 
Nicolas Curi Vergara, and a "blank vote," known as the "voto 
en blanco."  Curi, a former doctor who served as Cartagena's 
mayor on two prior occasions, 1992-1995 and 1998-1999, is a 
controversial figure.  According to Curi himself, he is a man 
of the people, interested only in promoting the well-being of 
poor people who inhabit the impoverished neighborhoods south 
of the historic city center.  According to other local 
leaders, including Representative German Viana, Curi is the 
"worst of the worst," the most corrupt politician in a city 
known for corruption. (The day before the elections, Interior 
Minister Sabas Pretelt denounced the awarding of the city's 
trash collection contract as corrupt.)  Curi left office in 
1999, before the scheduled 2000 end of his second term as 
mayor, amid a flurry of corruption charges.  He was not 
convicted, but the charges were widely reported by local and 
national press in the months leading up to the elections. 
 
 
3.  (C) Curi's only real opponent was the "voto en blanco" 
movement, which, had it won 50 percent of the vote, would 
have mandated new elections with a new slate of candidates. 
In a meeting with poloffs, Curi claimed the movement was 
funded by Cartagena's wealthy elite as a means to defeat him 
and install a candidate of their choosing.  Others claimed 
Curi was allied with the city's elite and that the "voto en 
blanco" movement was the spontaneous creation of a group of 
young people.  The movement itself had no spokesperson and 
made no statements.  Polls in the week leading up to the 
elections showed Curi and "voto en blanco" running about 
even.  No poll showed the "voto en blanco" movement receiving 
the necessary 50 percent of the votes, and Curi was expected 
to win the elections. 
 
4. (U) Ultimately, Curi received 45.6 percent of the nearly 
120,000 votes cast.  The "voto en blanco" movement received 
34 percent.  In third place, Mary Luz Londono, the Democratic 
Pole (Polo Democratico) candidate, received 11 percent. 
Turnout hit an historic low; 78 percent of those eligible did 
not vote.  (Comment.  Had this been a regular election, 
Curi's vote total and margin of victory would likely have 
been much larger, as city council and other local races would 
have mobilized the traditional electoral machinery.  End 
Comment.) 
 
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ELECTIONS A QUIET AFFAIR, DESPITE CONCERNS 
ABOUT ELECTION FRAUD, VIOLENCE 
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5.  (C) The weeks preceding the election were marked by 
threats of violence and accusations of vote buying. 
Representative Viana told poloffs he received a death threat 
as a result of his vocal support of the "voto en blanco 
movement."  Journalists, including the editor of the leading 
local paper, El Universal, also received anonymous death 
threats. 
 
6.  (U) The GOC took extra measures to ensure that the 
elections were fair and transparent.  Fifteen hundred members 
of the various security agencies, including the Colombian 
National Police (CNP), the Colombian Navy and the Prosecutor 
General's Office (Fiscalia) were stationed at polling 
locations to ensure order and prevent vote fraud.  Both the 
Fiscalia and the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) 
created telephone hotlines to report voting fraud or 
difficulty.  These numbers were published in local newspaper 
El Universal on election day and posted at many of the 
polling locations poloffs visited.  El Universal reported on 
October 29 that the Fiscalia's Technical Investigations Unit 
and the CNP had carried out raids on election headquarters 
and homes of the candidates and their relatives, including 
the "voto en blanco" movement, looking for money and other 
items with which to buy votes.  The Fiscalia did not comment 
specifically on what items were found during these raids; El 
Universal reported that caches of money totaling 200 million 
Colombian pesos (COP) and 700 million COP, respectively, were 
found in two of the raided locations.  According to the 
paper, the raids were carried out in response to tips 
received on the DAS election hotline. 
 
7.  (C) On election day, poloffs visited seven of the 54 
polling locations throughout Cartagena including the center 
of the city, the Bocagrande suburb, and the impoverished 
neighborhoods south of the center.  They did not witness any 
voting impropriety.  Schools and shopping areas served as 
polling locations.  Voting moved swiftly at each location 
visited; there were no lines.  Voters were able to locate 
their pre-registered Colombian national identity number on 
boards posted outside the polls, their polling station within 
a given location, vote and leave in less than three minutes. 
At one polling location, a couple complained to poloffs of 
voting difficulties associated with attempting to vote at a 
location other than the one at which they had pre-registered. 
 Fiscalia representatives at each polling location said voter 
turnout was low.  On November 1, a Fiscalia representative 
told poloff that no formal complaints of voting impropriety 
or fraud had been received during the election.  (On October 
31, El Tiempo reported accusations of vote buying in the El 
Poson area of Cartagena.)  In general, election day 
transpired in an orderly fashion.  Law and order was the 
norm.  Cartageneros commented that such a development was in 
itself a novelty. 
 
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COMMENT 
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8.  (C) In the days leading up to the election, poloffs met 
with Curi and other Cartagena politicians, including Senator 
Javier Caceres Leal, Governor Libardo Simancas Torres and 
David and Jose Turbay (former Bolivar Governor and former 
Representative, respectively).  All supported Curi, either 
openly or behind the scenes; all were skeptical about the 
"voto en blanco" movement's origins and chances for electoral 
success.  Despite Curi's contention that attacks against him 
were motivated by Cartagena's elite, his election to a third 
term demonstrates that most of the old guard in Cartagena 
politics continues to support him. 
WOOD