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C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000248 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2014 
TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM MARR EC CO VE MX
SUBJECT: FOR CORREA, DISPUTE WITH COLOMBIA NOT OVER 
 
REF: A. QUITO 247 
     ¶B. QUITO 228 
     ¶C. QUITO 216 
 
Classified By: DCM Jefferson Brown for Reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  The GOE plans to re-establish relations 
with Colombia by the end of March, although President Correa 
noted "it will be difficult to restore trust."  Correa made 
his most anti-U.S. statements to date on March 8, criticizing 
U.S. support for Colombia and U.S. media dominance.  On the 
other hand, Vice FM Valencia requested a meeting with the 
Secretary or Deputy Secretary for FM Salvador on March 17, 
 
SIPDIS 
indicating GOE interest in maintaining constructive ties with 
the U.S.; Correa himself displayed a somewhat calmer tone in 
a meeting with the Ambassador on March 12 (Ref A).  The GOE 
presented its case in detail to the OAS delegation, but did 
not discuss its contacts with the FARC.  An opposition party 
plans to ask the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to investigate 
alleged FARC support for the Correa campaign.  The 
Constituent Assembly is apparently proceeding with plans to 
investigate a possible role by the Manta Forward Operating 
Location in the Colombian incursion.  A local human rights 
group and the parents of the young Mexicans wounded or killed 
at the FARC camp accused the GOC of committing terrorist acts 
and violating human rights.  End Summary. 
 
Correa Declares Victory at Rio Group Summit 
 
¶2.  (U) During his March 8 radio address, President Correa 
triumphantly stated that "the sovereignty of our country has 
been recognized."  He said he had achieved the two things he 
sought at the Rio Group Summit:  a Colombian "unconditional 
apology" and "commitment to never repeat this type of 
aggression with Ecuador nor with any other country." 
According to Correa, the resolution of the crisis "marks a 
milestone for a new era of diplomacy in Latin America...where 
principles, justice and international rights will take 
precedence; never again power..." 
 
¶3.  (U) Correa said, "We can never accept the principle of a 
'preemptive strike'...that is a return to imperialism," 
calling the Colombian attack a premeditated massacre.  He 
argued that Colombia should be humble enough to accept 
international help -- a peace force with Brazil, Argentina, 
Chile, et al. -- because its internal conflict affected other 
countries in the region.  On relations with Colombia, Correa 
said that "it would be very difficult to restore trust" and 
that "I will never forgive anyone for this as long as I 
live."  He expressed a willingness to fight illegality 
(guerrillas).  Correa indicated during a March 11 press 
interview that "diplomatic ties would be re-established 
before the end of March."  Correa expressed gratitude to Hugo 
Chavez and the Venezuelan people, commenting that "Ecuador is 
not disloyal.  When he needs us, we will be supporting the 
Venezuelan people." 
 
¶4.  (C) Correa criticized U.S. support for Colombia 
(economic, military, media) and the influence of the United 
States at the Organization of American States (OAS).  He said 
that the U.S. position during the crisis was very clear and 
that several presidents told him that they were pressured to 
support Colombia and not Ecuador.  Correa backed the proposal 
for the Rio Group to become the Organization of Latin 
American States and replace or supplement the OAS, claiming 
that the Rio Group had been much more efficient in solving 
the crisis. 
 
Ecuador Still Values U.S. Ties 
 
¶5.  (C) Vice FM Jose Valencia, meeting with the DCM on March 
11, said the GOE recognizes that recent events, including the 
swirl of allegations about FARC links to Ecuador at different 
levels -- as well as the hot recent rhetoric from Correa -- 
have badly hurt Ecuador's image in Washington and left 
concerns that need to be addressed.  They want to work with 
us to avoid lasting damage.  He said they wanted to make 
clear that, while other existing and potential Latin American 
sub-regional forums are useful, they also strongly value the 
OAS.  He formally requested a meeting with the Secretary or 
Deputy Secretary for FM Maria Isabel Salvador during her 
March 16-18 visit to Washington for the OAS ministerial 
meeting. 
 
¶6.  (C) Asked about a different pending issue -- the 
diplomatic note governing annual bilateral military training 
and exercises, Valencia said there was no political problem 
and they wanted those programs to continue.  The delay in 
finalizing the note was based on the slow pace of their 
internal technical legal review, but he expected it to be 
finished within a few days. 
 
OAS Visit to Ecuador 
 
¶7.  (C) Acting OAS Representative Gisselle Lopez, meeting 
with PolCouns on March 11, called the OAS delegation's visit 
political since it did not include technical experts.  She 
said President Correa, during his March 9 meeting with the 
delegation, emphasized that the delegation should confirm 
that the Colombian attack violated Ecuadorian sovereignty, 
stressing his interest in maximum transparency.  Lopez 
explained that the delegation considered the presentations 
they heard from Internal/External Security Coordinating 
Minister Larrea, the military leadership, and the police more 
useful than the March 10 visit to the site given that the 
bodies had been removed and other changes made.  (Note: Lopez 
herself did not accompany the group to the site.)  She said 
the GOE gave the delegation copies of all the presentations 
and videos.  According to Lopez, neither GOE contacts with 
the FARC nor the proposal for a multinational force on the 
Colombian border were discussed during the delegation's March 
9 meetings with GOE officials.  Lopez, an Ecuadorian who has 
worked with the OAS office in Quito for 18 years, expressed 
her personal opinion that Correa needs to think more 
objectively and rationally about the event and how the GOE 
should proceed. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) OAS Secretary General Insulza held a press 
conference the evening of March 10 before departing Ecuador. 
He stated that Colombia had violated Ecuadorian sovereignty. 
Insulza recognized that the Rio Group meeting had helped the 
process of restoring bilateral relations, saying he expected 
the countries would normalize relations in due course and 
that he was not there to mediate.  Asked about the idea of a 
multilateral peace force along the border, Insulza said it 
would require a request from both Colombia and Ecuador.  He 
added that he saw that possibility as more a matter for the 
U.N. to consider than the OAS, but that he did not see how it 
could work, as even the Colombian and Ecuadorian military and 
police, who knew the area, could not police it effectively. 
Insulza stated that the OAS report would be based on 
principles and law, with the goal of avoiding future 
cross-border incursions. 
 
Limited Prospects for GOE Investigation into FARC Ties 
 
¶9.  (C) After calling at the Rio Group summit for an 
Ecuadorian-led investigation into the accusations of GOE ties 
to the FARC, the GOE has done little to initiate it.  Most 
press reports here have focused on the Interpol investigation 
of the computer files. 
 
¶10.  (C) Gilmar Gutierrez, head of the Patriotic Society 
Party (PSP) bloc in the Constituent Assembly and brother of 
ex-president Lucio Gutierrez, told the DCM on March 11 that 
the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) would not investigate 
alleged FARC contributions to the Correa campaign in 2006 
unless it received a formal complaint, which the PSP 
therefore planned to file.  Since four of the seven members 
of the TSE are loyal to President Correa, it is doubtful that 
the investigation would be rigorous. 
 
FOL Investigation 
 
¶11.  (C) Conflicting reports continue about exactly what kind 
of "audit" of FOL operations during the period of the 
incident might be launched, and under which government 
auspices.  We have been told privately that Fernando Cordero, 
Vice President of the Constituent Assembly, agreed that the 
Legislative/Oversight committee would lead it, rather than 
the Committee on Sovereignty, International Relations, and 
Latin American Integration.  Others assert it should be a 
technically qualified commission outside the Assembly.  Press 
reports continue to conflict, and no official notification of 
any kind has yet been received by the Embassy.  As stated in 
reftels B and C, the Embassy already declared publicly, and 
privately to President Correa, that no flights from the FOL 
were involved.  The only aircraft in flight at the time of 
the incident was a Coast Guard C-130H, hundreds of miles to 
the west over the Pacific Ocean. 
 
Claims of ColMil Terrorism and Human Rights Violations 
 
¶12.  (SBU) President of the Latin American Association of 
Human Rights (ALDHU) Juan de Dios Parra claimed on March 11 
in a television interview that "the Colombian army committed 
an act of terrorism in Ecuador."  He said that ALDHU 
presented a formal accusation before the national court of 
Colombia and planned to do the same in Mexico during the week 
of March 17.  Dios Parra also stated that ALDHU would assume 
the defense of five Mexicans and two Colombians killed during 
the attack.  When asked in the interview if ALDHU had lodged 
a similar formal accusation against the FARC when six 
Ecuadorian military and four policemen were killed during a 
patrol operation in the northern border in 2003, he said they 
protested, but admitted that they did not lodge a formal 
complaint.  Parra said the two wounded Colombian women appear 
to have been performing a domestic service role (washing, 
cooking, taking care of the animals) for the FARC, against 
their will.  He said one of the women had tried to escape 
twice, and was found by the Ecuadorian military chained to a 
tree.  ALDHU has advocated that they be given refugee status 
in Ecuador. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The parents of Mexican students Juan Gonzalez 
(deceased) and Lucia Morett (survivor), also appearing on 
national television, separately accused Colombia of state 
terrorism.  Juan's father, Alvaro Gonzalez, claimed his son 
was not an insurgent and demanded the support of the Mexican 
government "in defense of Mexican civilians who believe this 
was a crime against humanity."  Lucia Morett's mother claimed 
that her daughter was the victim of sexual assaults and that 
she heard shots killing injured insurgents by the Colombian 
military personnel involved in the attack.  She defended her 
daughter's innocence, saying that she was not an insurgent 
but an academic who was doing "research." 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Ecuadorian media on March 12 featured extensive 
reporting based on Mexican government sources that the head 
and coordinator of the Mexican contingent that had attended 
the Quito Bolivarian Congress, and traveled both before and 
after the Congress to the FARC camp, was Mario Dagoberto Diaz 
Orgaz.  The GOM alleges that Diaz is the FARC,s finance 
director in Mexico.  Diaz, a university researcher at the 
Center of Engineering and Industrial Development (CIDESI) in 
Queretaro, Mexico, denies the charges. 
Jewell