Patricia A. Butenis<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\nAmbassador Butenis wrote; “On the recent report of government harassment of the media after the election, Ambassador pointed out that raids and threats had been escalating against MTV and other independent media outlets and that for a president who had just claimed such a resounding victory, the press should be able to operate freely. The GSL’s current treatment of the press, however, made the president look weak and defensive. Such actions sent the signal that people with different views were un-welcome in Sri Lanka — which was a reason why the Tamil diaspora was not returning to the country to assist the re-development effort, as the GSL hoped they would do, and as Bogollagama had earlier complained about.”<\/p>\n
Read the cable below for further details;<\/p>\n
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000076 \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INSB \r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/31\/2020 \r\nTAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE\r\nSUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RAISES POST-ELECTION CONCERNS WITH \r\nFOREIGN MINISTER \r\n\r\nREF: SECSTATE 9654 \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000076 001.2 OF 002 \r\n\r\nClassified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D) \r\n\r\n\u00b61. (C) SUMMARY: Following on Assistant Secretary Blake's \r\nJanuary 29 meeting with the Sri Lankan charge d'affaires in \r\nWashington (reftel), Ambassador Butenis requested and held a \r\nmeeting on January 31 with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister \r\nBogollagama to raise U.S. concerns regarding Government of \r\nSri Lanka (GSL) harassment of presidential candidate Fonseka, \r\nraids and threats against independent media, and an article \r\npublished on the MOD website by Sri Lankan UN PermRep Kohona \r\nfalsely allegedly that Secretary Clinton had orchestrated a \r\nsanctions campaign against Sri Lanka in the UN Security \r\nCouncil. Bogollagama denied the Kohona article was the GSL \r\nposition and promised to look into it, largely ignored the \r\npress-freedom issue, and offered vague excuses why the GSL \r\ntreatment of Fonseka was not harassment but promised he would \r\nbe given due process. \"The Government of Sri Lanka will not \r\nharass anyone,\" he asserted, noting they did not want a \r\nsituation \"where the whole world again is criticizing us.\" \r\nEND SUMMARY. \r\n\r\nGENERAL FONSEKA \r\n--------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b62. (C) Ambassador noted that since the January 26 election, \r\nPresident Rajapaksa had made statements on reaching out to \r\nthe opposition and on his victory as a victory for all Sri \r\nLankans, but the treatment General Fonseka was receiving by \r\nthe GSL appeared to be harassment or pay-back. Whether there \r\nwere charges against Fonseka was not the business of the U.S. \r\n But Ambassador pointed out that if any charges were brought \r\nagainst him or he was imprisoned, we expected such actions \r\nwould only be undertaken in full compliance with Sri Lankan \r\nlaw. She also pressed for Fonseka's family to be allowed to \r\nleave Sri Lanka. \r\n\r\n\u00b63. (C) FM Bogollagama pressed for more specifics on Fonseka's \r\nharassment, which Ambassador proceeded to provide. She \r\nstarted with the surrounding of Fonseka's hotel the day after \r\nthe election day by military troops under the pretext of a \r\nsearch for deserters (Fonseka claimed his private security \r\nwere retired military); noted that while the government said \r\nFonseka was free to leave the hotel, it took all day before \r\nhe was actually allowed to do so; and pointed out the \r\ndifficulties Fonseka said he was having in getting his family \r\nout of the country. Ambassador argued this all looked like \r\npersecution. \r\n\r\nMEDIA FREEDOM \r\n------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b64. (C) On the recent report of government harassment of the \r\nmedia after the election, Ambassador pointed out that raids \r\nand threats had been escalating against MTV and other \r\nindependent media outlets and that for a president who had \r\njust claimed such a resounding victory, the press should be \r\nable to operate freely. The GSL's current treatment of the \r\npress, however, made the president look weak and defensive. \r\nSuch actions sent the signal that people with different views \r\nwere un-welcome in Sri Lanka -- which was a reason why the \r\nTamil diaspora was not returning to the country to assist the \r\nre-development effort, as the GSL hoped they would do, and as \r\nBogollagama had earlier complained about. \r\n\r\nKOHONA ARTICLE \r\n-------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b65. (C) Ambassador passed to Bogollagama a copy of an article \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000076 002.4 OF 002 \r\n\r\nby Sri Lankan UN PermRep Kohona that appeared on the MOD \r\nwebsite, alleging that the U.S. and Secretary Clinton had led \r\na campaign to influence the UN Security Council to impose \r\nsanctions on Sri Lanka. Ambassador flatly denied this \r\nallegation and asked whether the article represented the \r\nposition of the GSL. She also pointedly remarked that while \r\nthe U.S. was critical of Kohona's remarks, we were not \r\ninsisting on shutting down any media outlets. \r\n\r\nBOGOLLAGAMA RESPONSES \r\n--------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b66. (C) The Foreign Minister began with the Kohona article, \r\nnoting that the GSL had never said the U.S. was behind the \r\nundermining of Sri Lanka. The FM always had maintained good \r\nrelations with the U.S., including during the fight with the \r\nLTTE, and relations must be kept \"intact.\" The view of the \r\npresident, according to Bogollagama, was to be a friend to \r\nall and to want to enhance relations with the U.S. He \r\npromised to look into the Kohona statement. On press \r\nfreedom, Bogollagama said little, except to refer vaguely to \r\nthe value that the GSL placed on a liberal political \r\nenvironment in Sri Lanka. \r\n\r\n\u00b67. (C) On Fonseka, Bogollagama started off defensively, \r\nresponding with vague references to the general's culpability \r\nif deserters were at the hotel, the fact that the hallways at \r\nthe Cinnamon Lakeside had been \"packed\" that evening with \r\nun-registered guests, and a claim that during the subsequent \r\npolice raid on Fonseka's office, un-registered motor vehicles \r\nwere discovered. But then he began to moderate his response, \r\nsaying the family (mother and daughters but not Fonseka \r\nhimself and the son-in-law, who faces separate investigation \r\non corruption allegations) was free to leave Sri Lanka. \r\n(NOTE: Just after the meeting, Fonseka's office confirmed \r\nthat the two daughters already had departed Sri Lanka for the \r\nU.S.; the general's wife had declined to leave her husband. \r\nEND NOTE.) Bogollagama claimed that unless there was \r\nevidence of wrong-doing, Fonseka would be left alone. \"The \r\nGovernment of Sri Lanka will not harass anyone,\" he asserted, \r\nnoting they did not want a situation \"where the whole world \r\nagain is criticizing us.\" He concluded by noting that \r\nAmbassador's points were well taken and \"that's why we're \r\nworking on them closely with the president's office.\" \r\nBUTENIS<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":35800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories","category-wikileaks"],"yoast_head":"\n
WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-05T18:31:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-20T19:49:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"369\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/\",\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-05T18:31:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-20T19:49:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg\",\"width\":\"478\",\"height\":\"369\",\"caption\":\"Butenis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country – Butenis Gives A Reason\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2014-04-05T18:31:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-20T19:49:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":478,"height":369,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/","name":"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country - Butenis Gives A Reason - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg","datePublished":"2014-04-05T18:31:28+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-20T19:49:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg","width":"478","height":"369","caption":"Butenis"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-why-the-tamil-diaspora-is-not-returning-to-the-country-butenis-gives-a-reason\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WikiLeaks: Why The Tamil Diaspora Is Not Returning To The Country – Butenis Gives A Reason"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122611"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123529,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122611\/revisions\/123529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Butenis\"](\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Butenis-Colombo-Telegraph-Copy.jpeg\")
<\/a>