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Secretary General Responds to Concerns of former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana Regarding the Process of Demobilization

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, responded to the letter from the ex President of the Republic of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana, regarding the process of demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in which the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP) of the OAS participated.

In the letter, the head of the hemispheric organization detailed the activities of the Mission from its creation in November 2004 and clarified that the information supposedly provided to the then Chief of the MAPP/OAS, Sergio Caramagna, by the former Colombian Minister of the Interior, “was not known to my person.”

Similarly, Secretary General Insulza asserts in his letter that he did not receive any information on the alleged conversation between Mr. Sergio Caramagna and the North American Ambassador, to which the ex President alludes in his letter. He also reports that Mr. Sergio Caramagna left the leadership of the Mission at the end of 2008 and retired from the Organization.

Attached is the complete text of the letter.

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Dear Doctor Pastrana:

I have the honor to refer to your letter of December 21 on the process of demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in which the Mission to Support the Peace Process of Colombia (MAPP) of the OAS participated.

The Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia after November 2004 participated in 36 acts of demobilization by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, and in 2008 in the demobilization of the “Ejercito Revolucionario Guevarista” (ERG). In most of them it accompanied the displacement of illegal troops from the operation location to the Temporary Location Zones (ZUT) established by the Government, supported the sensitization of communities, verified the listings of demobilized delivered by the representative member of the block or front to the National Government in the framework of Decree 3360 of November 23, 2003, and followed closely the demobilization circuit in which participated institutions such as the Department of Justice of the Nation, the National Civil Registry and the Office of Recruitment and Control of Army Reserves, among others, under the coordination of the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace.

The details of the actions of accompaniment conducted by the MAPP from its beginning is found in the fifteen reports that I have presented periodically to the OAS Permanent Council, and they are of public knowledge.

The information supposedly provided to the then Chief of the MAPP/OAS, Sergio Caramagna, by the then Minister of the Interior was not known to my person. I also did not receive any information on the supposed conversation between Mr. Sergio Caramagna and the North American Ambassador, to which you refer in your letter.

Mr. Sergio Caramagna left the leadership of the Mission at the end of 2008 and retired from the Organization.

I reiterate the assurances of my highest consideration.

Attentively,

José Miguel Insulza

Reference: E-007/12