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."