Cablegate: Colombia-Mexico Counter-Narcotics and Justice Cooperation

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DE RUEHBO #0508/01 0411902
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101900Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2699
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000508

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR INL/LP STEPHANIE BOWERS, CRAIG LANG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC CO MX PM
SUBJECT: COLOMBIA-MEXICO COUNTER-NARCOTICS AND JUSTICE COOPERATION

1. (SBU) Summary: The Colombian National Police (CNP) reported that
it conducted training for 5,747 Mexican police members in 2009; 98%
of which took place in Mexico. According to the CNP, its judicial
courses at the Center of Criminal Investigation and Accusatory
Penal System in Mexico City accounted for roughly half of the 5,747
Mexican police trained in 2009. The CNP Anti-narcotics Directorate
(DIRAN) trained a total of 19 Mexican police students in the
bi-annual, 18 week Jungla Commando International Course at the CNP
National Training Center in Colombia from 2007-2009. United States
Department of Justice (DOJ) has sent Assistant United States
Attorneys and Colombian prosecutors to Mexico for federal police
judicial training over the last two years, along with coordinating
the participation of Mexican prosecutors and investigators in
training courses in Colombia. The Mexican Army plans to
participate in rotary wing aviation training in Colombia in March.
Mexican Embassy officials here in Bogota report that they would
like to expand such training in a variety of areas. Colombia has
appropriate facilities and capacity to do more training, given
adequate resources. Post believes Colombia has relevant experience
to offer Mexico. End summary.

Large-scale, ongoing Colombian training programs for Mexico

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2. (SBU) The Colombian National Police (CNP) provided
counternarcotics and criminal investigative training to Mexico in
2009 as part of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security (SSP)
police reform initiative, according to contacts in the Mexican
Embassy in Bogota. The CNP reported that it conducted training for
5,747 Mexican police members in 2009; 98% of which took place in
Mexico. Most of this training focused on police investigation and
intelligence. The bulk of CNP training was delivered to Mexican
federal police units. The Mexican state police of Jalisco,
Chihuahua, and Guanajuato also hosted Colombian police trainers
during 2009.

3. (SBU) The CNP-led judicial courses at the Center of Criminal
Investigation and Accusatory Penal System in Mexico City accounted
for roughly 50% of those 5,747 Mexican police trained in 2009,
according to the CNP. Approximately 125 CNP instructors have
contributed over the last year to an ongoing international effort
(United States, Canada, Colombia, Spain, and the Czech Republic) to
train 10,000 Mexican Federal Police recruits in investigation and
intelligence at the police academy in San Luis de Potosi, according
to Mexican Embassy contacts. Embassy DOJ officers report that
Colombian prosecutors working alongside U.S. prosecutors also
contributed to the police training in Mexico, which runs from
January 2009 to March 2010. In addition, Colombian police trainers
taught intelligence and investigation courses to Mexican Federal
Police units, accounting for approximately 28% of the 2009 total.
The remaining 22% of those Mexican police trained by the CNP last
year participated in smaller courses on intelligence,
investigation, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, and community
policing. Approximately 2% of Mexicans trained by the CNP in 2009
were trained in Colombia.

4. (SBU) The CNP Anti-narcotics Directorate (DIRAN) trained a total
of 19 Mexican police students in the bi-annual, 18 week Jungla
Commando International Course at the CNP National Training Center
in Pijaos from 2007-2009. A DIRAN "Jungla" nine-man Mobile
Training Team delivered a sixty-day anti-narcotics training program
to the Jalisco State Police in Mexico from September 2 to November
2, 2009; the same Jungla program took place in Jalisco in 2008. In
early 2009, CNP anti-kidnapping units trained Chihuahua State
Police in anti-kidnapping and investigative techniques in Ciudad
Juarez. Colombian police trained three Mexican airport police in
Bogota from January 12 to 19 in a course aimed to improve drug
detection in airports.

Colombia-Mexico Police Training Plans for 2010

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5. (SBU) According to the Mexican Embassy in Bogota, the Mexican
government hopes to expand the ongoing Colombia-Mexico training
relationship by bringing more Mexican security forces to Colombia
for training in the coming years. Mexico intends to send at least
four candidates to each Jungla Commando International course for
the foreseeable future. Embassy contacts reported Mexico's
intention to send more federal police in 2010 to the DIRAN Combat
Medic Course, Designated Marksman Course, Explosives and
Demolitions Course, and Close Quarters Combat Course, all of which
are taught at the CNP National Training Center.

6. (SBU) The Mexican SSP federal police attach???? to Colombia
accompanied NAS Bogota in touring the CNP training center at Pijaos
on January 29 to assess the center's training capacity. The
Mexican attach???? related that the GOM is interested in sending
hundreds of federal police units to the CNP training center for
training from 2010 and 2011, and he requested INL assistance to
facilitate logistics involved with these potentially expanded
programs.

Future Areas of Potential Police Cooperation

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7. (SBU) INL may be able to facilitate the logistics of expanded
Mexican police participation at the CNP training center in Pijaos.
This facility has the capacity to house and train hundreds of
Mexican police, as eight newly-constructed barracks have recently
opened. Current courses could potentially be adjusted by CNP
trainers to provide Mexican trainees with specific training needs,
with potential assistance by the U.S. Special Forces team assigned
to the school. Possible options include a "Mexico Basic Course,"
along with expanded, specialty courses such as the Explorer Course,
Close Quarters Combat, Designated Marksman, and Combat Medic
courses. The CNP training center could likely absorb over 100
Mexicans year-round without negatively impacting the training
rhythm.

8. (SBU) If INL and NAS Mexico believe it worthwhile, NAS Bogota
would make PSC Advisors available to conduct short TDYs to Mexico
to assist in establishing police training programs and support
packages, conducting assessments of police needs in specific areas,
and helping implement specific programs. NAS Bogota stands ready
to assist with training proposals/ideas, program substance and
launch recommendations, and welcomes discussions on how to further
utilize Colombia's counter-narcotic capabilities to assist Mexican
efforts with Merida Initiative funds.

Colombia-Mexico Maritime Interdiction Training

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9. (SBU) The Colombian Coast Guard has demonstrated regional
leadership with its incipient Regional Maritime Interdiction
Training Program in Cartagena, and Mexican maritime security
personnel have participated in the initial training courses. The
Colombian Coast Guard, with NAS support, is planning to
significantly enhance regional training in 2010 and 2011,
delivering training courses in Colombia to improve the capacity of
regional partners in detection and interdiction of self-propelled
semisubmersibles (SPSS) and surface boats, along with judicial
training in crime scene management and evidence collection.

10. (SBU) The Mexican Navy (MEXNAV) has participated recently in
classes held at the USG International Coast Guard School, which is
supported by Embassy Bogota's NAS and the Military Group. MEXNAV
has participated in and hosted multilateral meetings sponsored by
the U.S. Coast Guard and COLNAV on increasing cooperation in
boarding illegal vessels at sea. MEXNAV also participated in the
first joint COLNAV/SOUTHCOM-sponsored Maritime Counter Drug

Symposium of the Americas in November 2008, along with follow-on
technical meetings through March 2009. MEXNAV has committed to
support and participate in the agreed upon Maritime Counter Drug
Analysis Center (supported by MILGRP) and will participate in the
second Maritime Counter Drug Symposium of the Americas scheduled to
take place in the Dominican Republic in March.

11. (SBU) COLNAV and MEXNAV will very soon exchange naval
intelligence attach????s to work in each others' intelligence
headquarters, according to the US Navy Mission in Bogota. In
addition, our Navy Mission reports that the COLNAV has agreed to
help MEXNAV train riverine forces in the near future. (Note: On
another military cooperation front, the Mexican Army is scheduled
to participate in the initial Rotary Wing Training Course in
Melgar, Colombia in March. This rotary wing training is part of an
estimated USD 25 million capacity-building program designed to last
several years. End note.)

United States-Colombia-Mexico Justice Training

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12. (SBU) The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) coordinated
participation of Colombian prosecutors, primarily in training of
Mexico's SSP investigators on oral trial techniques and process,
from August-November 2009. Twelve prosecutors taught side-by-side
with Assistant U.S. Attorneys in seven different sessions. DOJ
also involved a Colombian prosecutor in the first of several
planned courses for training Mexican prosecutors. DOJ is currently
developing training programs for Mexican prosecutors, as well as
investigators with PGR and INACIPE using the experience, materials,
curriculum and trainers from the Colombia program. DOJ is planning
for extensive training of Mexican prosecutors through 2010, with
support and learning experience gained from the Colombia program.
The Colombian Prosecutor General's Office signed an agreement with
the Mexican Attorney General's Office to assist with this training.
DOJ is working closely with both sides to facilitate training
possibilities and maximize the important connection among
U.S.-Colombian-Mexican law enforcement concerns.

13. (SBU) DOJ will be using materials, curriculum and trainers
involved in Colombian investigator training to develop and
implement training for Mexican investigators and forensic experts
in areas such as crime scene management, evidence, report writing,
interaction with prosecutors, and testimony in court proceedings.

Areas of Potential Judicial Cooperation

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14. (SBU) In 2010, DOJ anticipates utilizing Colombian forensic
scientists, protection personnel, investigators, and victim
assistance personnel in programs involving forensic development,
witness protection, police investigator training, and victim
assistance. This plan would likely entail bringing Mexican
officials to Colombia for training, observation, and program
discussions, as well as facilitating Colombian and US instructors
familiar with the Colombia program providing training and program
advice in Mexico. DOJ will also be developing an exchange program
and training for Mexican judges similar to those for prosecutors.

15. (SBU) NAS Bogota and/or DOJ could facilitate the logistics of
sending Mexican judicial police to Colombia for crime scene
management training. Five to ten Mexican judicial police could
participate in iterations of CNP "judicial first responder
training," which is being offered in strategic areas throughout
Colombia in coordination with Embassy agencies, with an eye toward
gauging GOM interest in developing a similar field course for
Mexican public security units. According to CNP judicial contacts,
this training has improved local police forces' crime-scene
management skills, facilitated the work of prosecutors, and boosted

certain districts' prosecution of criminals.
BROWNFIELD

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