id: 144469 date: 3/5/2008 23:07 refid: 08BOGOTA839 origin: Embassy Bogota classification: CONFIDENTIAL destination: header: VZCZCXYZ1168 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHBO #0839/01 0652307 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 052307Z MAR 08 FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1687 INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS IMMEDIATE RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN IMMEDIATE 1421 RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID IMMEDIATE 0141 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 1231 RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE ----------------- header ends ---------------- C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 000839 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2018 TAGS: PREL, PREF, PTER, MOPS, VZ, EC, SP, FR, SZ, CO SUBJECT: MARCH 5 UPDATE ON COLOMBIA'S DISPUTE WITH ECUADOR AND VENEZUELA REF: BOGOTA 827 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Political Counselor John S. Creamer Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) SUMMARY ------- 1. (C) Colombia's border with Venezuela remained partially closed on March 5, as the GOV confirmed that its troop deployments on the border were 90 percent complete (reftel). The border with Ecuador remained open. The GOC reiterated that it would not deploy troops to its borders. GOC Deputy Foreign Minister Reyes told the GOC is happy with the OAS resolution, since it does not condemn Colombia's incursion into Ecuadorian territory. Senior Colombian political leaders supported President Uribe, but questioned his plans to take Chavez to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The French remain convinced that only Chavez can free Ingrid Betancourt, and pushed on the margins of the March 4 OAS meeting to include Venezuela and other countries as intermediaries with the FARC. END SUMMARY. UPDATE: BORDERS ALMOST NORMAL ----------------------------- 2. (U) The Colombian border with Venezuela remained partially closed, as Venezuelan Defense Minister Gustavo Rangel told the press the GOV had completed 90 percent of its mobilization of troops to the Colombian border. Colombia's border with Ecuador remained open. Food and medicine crossed into Venezuela, but some border posts imposed varying restrictions on the flow of goods and people without visas/permits into Venezuela. Colombian food processors confirmed that food is crossing into Venezuela for now, but the GOV is trying to negotiate deals with other producers. 3. (C) Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos repeated that the GOC would not "deploy one single soldier" to its borders in response to Venezuelan and Ecuadorian deployments. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa continued his tour of Latin capitals in Brazil, criticizing the GOC for the attack. Meanwhile, negotiators at the OAS reached a deal on language for a resolution regarding the GOC attack against Reyes. Deputy Foreign Minister Camilo Reyes told us the GOC is happy with the resolution, since it did not "condemn" Colombia's infringement on Ecuador's territory. He said President Uribe and Foreign Minister Araujo will travel to the Dominican Republic on March 6 to attend the Rio Group meeting. Uribe will use the event to lobby regional leaders. SENATE DEBATE STRESSES CHAVEZ THREAT ------------------------------------ 4. (C) On March 4, the Colombian Senate debated the crisis and the threat from Venezuela--a debate the GOC had planned prior to Raul Reyes' death. Senator German Vargas Lleras, presidential hopeful and leader of the Cambio Radical Party, made an elaborate presentation detailing more than $4 billion of Venezuelan weapons purchases and showing numerous FARC and ELN camps inside Venezuela. Vargas said, "We face a concrete threat, and have been the object of permanent aggression from Venezuela for many years. We are the aggrieved party, not the aggressor." 5. (C) Vargas told us on February 20 that he had coordinated the debate on Venezuela's links with the FARC with Santos and other GOC officials. Vargas confirmed that Santos had provided him with intelligence information for the discussion. Santos followed Vargas' presentation with an assurance that the GOC did not expect war. POLITICIANS RALLY AROUND URIBE ------------------------------ 6. (U) The Advisory Commission on Foreign Relations -- which includes ex-presidents and foreign ministers -- met with Uribe for five hours on March 4, and later issued a statement of support. Opposition Liberal Party chief and former-President Cesar Gaviria, speaking for the Commission, rejected GOC and GOE threats and troop movements as provocative, and criticized their support for the FARC. Several Commission members suggested that Uribe reconsider his decision to initiate a case against Chavez in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Uribe named a high-level committee of jurists to manage the GOC case on March 5. IMPACT OF REYES DEATH ON FARC ----------------------------- 7. (C) The FARC issued a communique on March 4, naming Milton Toncel (aka Joaquin Gomez) as Reyes' replacement in the FARC Secretariat. Peace activist Moritz Akerman said Gomez was SIPDIS intellectual and "urbane," but also violent and resentful. Unlike other FARC members who expect to live and die in the mountains, Akerman said Gomez could see the bigger picture. He added that Reyes' death undermined the FARC's diplomatic network; the group would need months to rebuild this. FRENCH COMPLICATIONS -------------------- 8. (C) Peace Commissioner Restrepo told us GOC-GOF relations are "very bad." France remains obsessed with Betancourt, Restrepo said, and continues to believe only Chavez can achieve her release. Restrepo also told us that on the margins of the March 4 OAS session, the French tried to re-float their proposal that a group of countries (including Venezuela) intervene as international facilitators for a humanitarian accord. Brownfield