Pubdate: Fri, 17 Aug 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service

COLOMBIA INCREASES MILITARY'S POWERS

Law Could Threaten U.S. Aid Disbursement

The Colombian government announced today that President Andres Pastrana had 
signed legislation giving the military broad new powers to wage war with 
less scrutiny from government investigators, a measure some U.S. lawmakers 
have warned could threaten a key American aid package.

The measure, originated in large part by the Defense Ministry, is designed 
to give the military more latitude in fighting a growing guerrilla 
insurgency that dominates large parts of Colombia's rural landscape. But 
human rights groups condemned Pastrana for signing a law they say will lead 
to fresh abuses by the Colombian military, which is already criticized at 
home and abroad for having the hemisphere's worst human rights record.

The United States, through its $1.3 billion aid package, has been a strong 
supporter of the Colombian military even as it has imposed human rights 
training on the units receiving U.S. assistance. Most of the aid package 
will arrive in the form of transport helicopters and military trainers, 
designed to help the military attack a drug trade that helps finance two 
leftist guerrilla armies and a right-wing paramilitary force that battles 
them, often with tacit support from the army.

Pastrana, who has staked his presidency on achieving peace with the 
guerrillas, signed the measure under pressure from senior military 
commanders eager for a freer hand in prosecuting a worsening civil war. The 
measure is the first substantive reform of Colombia's national security law 
since 1965, when the two major leftist guerrilla groups were forming.

"Without a doubt, there needed to be a clarification of the hierarchy of 
the command, of the roles of the armed forces and the civilian population," 
said Sen. German Vargas, who introduced the bill in the Colombian Senate. 
"This is going to allow us a variety of ways to combat terrorism. We can't 
ignore any longer what much of the country is experiencing."

The measure allows the military to supercede civilian rule in areas 
declared by the president to be "theaters of operation" and reduces the 
chance that army troops could be subjected to thorough human rights 
investigations by civilian government agencies.

Although the measure, in its original form, would have allowed the military 
to investigate all human rights charges against it, the final version gives 
the government's ombudsman a role in such cases. However, human rights 
advocates said the ombudsman's role has been curtailed to such a degree 
that military crimes will not be adequately addressed.

Until now, government human rights investigators were given as long as a 
year to conclude a preliminary investigation against military officials. 
The new law cuts that time to a maximum of two months.

"There can't possibly be an investigation into such crimes within this 
amount of time," said Gustavo Gallon, director of the Colombian Commission 
of Jurists, a noted human rights group. "This will permit even greater 
impunity for soldiers and police who violate human rights."

Many of the law's most controversial provisions, approved by the Senate but 
watered down in the House, were dropped from the final version. But the 
measure does give the military judicial authority to make arrests and 
conduct criminal investigations, duties normally carried out by the 
attorney general's office, if a prosecutor from that office is not available.

In addition, a provision was dropped that would have specifically allowed 
the Colombian military to create government-regulated civilian militias, an 
idea recently endorsed by the Rand Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based 
research organization.

Since Colombia's Congress passed the law in July, U.S. lawmakers, including 
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations 
subcommittee for Foreign Operations, have told Pastrana that further 
disbursements from the aid package could be threatened if he signed the 
bill. About 75 percent of the aid package, a major part of Pastrana's Plan 
Colombia that is intended to stop drug trafficking and end the war, has 
been disbursed.

Pastrana signed the measure Monday without the slightest hint he had done 
so. His government announced it only today, and made it the 14th and final 
item on its daily news briefing.

But the final version was apparently watered down enough to satisfy the 
State Department. "As far as we're concerned, this legislation is much 
improved over the original version," a State Department official said. 
"We're confident that Pastrana will interpret it to maximize the 
safeguarding of human rights."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D