FECHA: 2009-05-01 00:00:00
FUENTE: Embassy Panama
PRIVACIDAD: SECRET
REFERENCIA: VZCZCXYZ0000 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHZP #0008/01 0052139 ZNY SSSSS ZZH R 052139Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2808 INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2734 RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 1960 RHMFISS/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC RHMFISS/DIRJIATF SOUTH
S E C R E T PANAMA 000008
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: EMBERA INDIANS REPORT FARC TAKE OVER OF
VILLAGE
REF: A. A: PANAMA 00955
B. B: PANAMA 00917
Classified By: Ambassador Barbara J. Stephenson for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)
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Summary
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1. (S//NF) The FARC had taken over the village of
Pavarando, leading to the flight of 200 Embera, who are still
displaced from their homes, Edilberto Dogirama, the President
of the Council of the Embera Comarca, told EMBOFFs on
December 19. He said it took over two weeks for the GOP to
send forces to the village. Dogirama asserted that senior GOP
officials were most concerned that the Embera stop talking to
the Embassy and the press. He asserted that a group of 200
heavily armed FARC from the 58th Front (Note: Subsequent
information and analysis revealed that these FARC members
belonged to the 57th Front. End Note) appeared around
Pavarando on December 14 and were trapped by the mountains
for up to 10 days before escaping to Jaque. He said
Panamanian Frontier police finally entered the village after
the FARC had left. The SENAFRONT officers reportedly left the
village on December 28. End Summary.
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FARC Arrive in Pavarando
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2. (S//NF) Edilberto Dogirama, President of the Council of
the Embera Comarca (the administrative apparatus of the
Embera semi-autonomous government), told EMBOFFs on December
19 that armed members of the FARC had taken over the Embera
village of Pavarando in the Embera Comarca (autonomous
region) of Sambu, on December 7. He said six self-identified
members of the FARC, five men and one woman, had entered the
village and told the inhabitants that they would not hurt
them, though they could not promise the same for those who
would come after them. They took control of the one phone in
the village and began buying food and medical supplies for "a
large number of men." According to Dogirama, the FARC members
tried to pay for all the supplies they bought with $100
bills. As the Embera could not change the money, they "gave"
them the supplies for free. Dogirama said there had been
reports of strange movements, supposedly by the FARC, around
the town since December 1.
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Embera Flee
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3. (S//NF) According to Dogirama, the Embera leadership
alerted the National Frontier Service (SENAFRONT) police, and
were told that forces would be sent from Manene. SENAFRONT
police had been sent to Manene after reports that
"irregulars" had kidnapped several teachers in that town (see
reftel A). Dogirama said Embera residents in Pavarando
reported that SENAFRONT officers subsequently called
Pavarando on December 9 and spoke with members of the FARC.
SENAFRONT officers reportedly ordered the FARC to leave the
town and were told that the FARC would be waiting for them.
Following the firefight in Manene on December 11, reported in
reftel, most of the Embera from Pavarando and Boca Guina (the
next village north of Pavarando on the Sambu river) departed
the area on December 12. Dogirama said approximately 200
Embera left the villages without taking any of their
possessions, eluding the FARC by claiming they were going to
swim on the river. They then fled in boats to Puerto Indio,
the Comarcal capital further north on the Sambu river.
Dogirama reported that UNHCR was helping to feed the
internally displaced Embera, but had asked that they not go
public with the fact (Note: Due to the holidays, Post was
unable to contact UNHCR. We will report on such contact
septel. End Note) The people of Pavarando and Boca Guina
were staying with family members or in empty houses in Puerto
Indio. The Embera Gran Cacique (Chief) Betanio Chiquidama,
told POLOFF by phone on December 24 that he would not allow
the displaced Embera to go home until the situation on the
ground was totally safe.
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GOP: Don't Tell the Gringos!
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4. (S//NF) On December 12 Chiquidama called POLOFF and gave
a rough report of these events. Other EMBOFFs met with him
later in the day to get more details of the unfolding events.
On the evening of December 12, 1st VP and FM Samuel Lewis
told the Ambassador he was very concerned about recent events
in the Darien, and requested urgent USG assistance, including
Night Vision Goggles (NVG) (see reftel B). Dogirama said that
when the Embera leadership met with Minister of Government
and Justice Dilio Arcia on December 14 he was upset with them
for having called the Embassy. Arcia asked the Embera to calm
their people down and not to go to the media. They asked him
to establish a permanent SENAFRONT police presence in
Pavarando. President Martin Torrijos then met privately with
Chiquidama, Dogirama asserted, and asked the cacique to stop
calling attention to the matter. Chiquidama told Torrijos
that he would oblige as long as SENAFRONT police established
a permanent post in Pavarando, according to Dogirama.
Finally, Vice Minster of Government and Justice Severino
Mejia met the Embera leadership on December 16, and promised
to send SENAFRONT officers to Pavarando. Dogirama said at the
December 19 meeting that the Embera would meet with MOGJ
officials on December 22, and that if they did not hear that
SENAFRONT had established a presence in Pavarando the would
go to the media on December 23. On December 23 Dogirama told
POLOFF that the Embera had confirmed the presence of 30
SENAFRONT police officers in Pavarando, adding that the
Embera would not go to the media. Dogirama said he had
received an angry phone call from Major Felipe Cruz (date
unclear), in charge of intelligence for SENAFRONT police,
complaining that they had gone to the "gringos," and saying,
"This is none of their business." Cruz told EMBOFFs on
December 29, "Don't believe everything the Embera tell you."
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58th Front Lost?
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5. (S//NF) According to Dogirama, on December 14-15
approximately 200 heavily armed men with sophisticated
communications equipment (satellite phones) appeared on the
outskirts of Pavarando following the confrontation in Manene
on the December 11. They were camped out about 15 minutes to
the south of the village. He explained how he had this
information by saying that there were still nine Embera men
in the town, and that they were able to occasionally report
out. He said that as of December 19 there were 20 armed men
in Pavarando itself. Dogirama asserted that the men were from
the 58th Front of the FARC, and that they had been driven out
of Colombia by a Colombian military offensive. (Note:
Subsequent information and analysis revealed that these FARC
members belonged to the 57th Front. End Note) As a result,
they were not familiar with the area and could not find their
way to the Jaque valley, where the 57th Front has a camp. He
said they had been overheard discussing coordinates with the
57th Front in Jaque by sat phone, reporting they had wounded
and urgently needed to cross the mountains to the South and
get to the Jaque valley where they could get medical
attention. According to Dogirama, they are trapped in the
Sambu valley because they did not know how to get through the
mountains that Dogirama asserted were extremely treacherous.
He said the Embera had refused to help them make their way
over the mountains. On December 18, according to Dogirama a
seriously wounded man appeared in Pavarando apparently
wounded during the fighting in Manene on December 11. He said
there were three other moderately wounded men. Dogirama said
the Embera believed the woman who first appeared in Pavarando
had died in the fighting in Manene because she has not been
seen again. Dogirama told POLOFF on December 24 that the
armed men had passed through the mountains to Jaque, prior to
the arrival of 30 SENAFRONT officers to Pavarando Cruz told
EMBOFFs December 29 that the officers had pulled out of
Pavarando on December 28, because it was too expensive and
dangerous to leave them there.
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Comment
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6. (S//NF) Dogirama's story helps explain many confusing
aspects of this incident. While Post has no insight into what
this group was doing in Panama, it now seems clear that small
groups were sent out to several towns, including Manene and
Pavarando to acquire supplies for a large group of men, who
appear not to have been familiar with the area. As a result,
following the confrontation in Manene, the main body of this
group made a major mistake of moving west, into the Sambu
Comarca and valley. There had never been a large scale FARC
incursion into this area as far as Post knows, and now we
know why. The area is a trap, with access cut off by
virtually unpassable mountains. On a map it appears
tantalizingly close to the headwaters of the Jaque valley,
where the 57th Front has a base, but in reality it is almost
impossible to reach there without local help. Once they were
trapped by SENAFRONT to the East, and the mountains to the
south and west, a standoff developed. SENAFRONT could not
send its police officers in to meet what appeared to have
been a large and well armed force, and the Embera were
demanding immediate action, bringing the Embassy and the
media into the mix. Presumably, it was in everyone's
interests that someone help this group get over the
mountains, though we have no information on how that finally
happened.
7. (C) With the GOP refusing to keep a SENAFRONT garrison
in Pavarando (see reftel), it remains to be seen how this
will end. The Embera are insisting that they need a
detachment there to protect the entire Comarca/valley from
the FARC and drug traffickers. The Embera are now very happy
with the Embassy, crediting it with helping to pressure the
GOP to take action in Pavarando. While the GOP at multiple
levels was clearly not happy about the "gringos" being
brought into the middle of this issue, we will take advantage
of our ties with the Embera to promote our strategy of
improved governance in the Darien and make our point with the
GOP that we can only have an effective partnership if we have
a clear vision of events on the ground.
8. (SBU) The development of this connection, which may now
prove very valuable, is a product of the excellent teamwork
between USAID and members of Post's Law Enforcement Support
Working Group in developing Post's Darien strategy.
STEPHENSON
