NEW COLOMBIAN LAW TOUGHER ON GUERRILLAS

Groups Fear New Powers May Violate Human Rights Treaties

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Amid protests from human rights groups, the Colombian
government has adopted a law that gives broad new powers to the army and
police in their fight against Marxist guerrillas and drug traffickers.

Critics claim that the national security
law, quietly signed by President Andres Pastrana on Monday and made public
Thursday, could lead to an even bloodier war and to more abuses by
government forces.

Among other things, the law allows military commanders to declare martial
law in combat zones, suspending powers of civilian authorities and some
constitutional protections afforded civilians.

"There is serious concern that these provisions could facilitate torture or
other forms of human rights violations of those captured during
counterinsurgency operations," Amnesty International said in a statement
from New York.

And in a recent letter to Pastrana, Anders Kompass, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, pointed out that seven
provisions of the law are either unconstitutional or violate international
human rights treaties.

But supporters have long contended that Colombia requires tough new
anti-terrorist statutes to replace previous laws that were designed for a
nation at peace. Colombia is mired in a 37-year-old civil war and also
faces threats from powerful drug traffickers and ruthless criminal gangs.

Military officials said that both Britain and Spain have adopted drastic
emergency laws to deal with urban guerrilla organizations like the Irish
Republican Army and the Basque separatist organization ETA.

"This law is nothing to be worried about," said a high-ranking official in
the Colombian Defense Ministry who requested anonymity.

"All countries have a national security law and in a place like this, with
its present situation, this will really give us a lot more tools" to
prosecute the war, the official said.

Among the more controversial aspects of the law are provisions that allow
the military to hold suspects for longer periods before turning them over
to civilian judges.

Under the old law, government troops had to free suspected drug traffickers
and guerrillas if they were unable to turn them over to civilian
authorities within 36 hours -- a task that is often impossible in remote
jungle and mountain zones.

The law also shortens the period for carrying out human rights
investigations of police and army troops. It allows soldiers to assume some
of the tasks that had been assigned to civilian investigator.

"The most effective action against terrorism are strong anti-terrorist
laws," the armed forces commander, Gen. Fernando Tapias, said last May when
the legislation was being debated by the Colombian Congress.

But according to Amnesty International, some of these measures could
"facilitate the covering up of human rights violations committed by the
security forces or their paramilitary allies."

Armed forces officials claim that in recent years, the military has been
responsible for just 2 percent of the human rights violations that occur in
Colombia.

However, critics point out that many massacres and other abuses are carried
out by right-wing paramilitary groups, which target the guerrillas and
their civilian allies and have, at times, worked in cahoots with the army.

U.S. lawmakers are closely watching the developments.

Last year, the U.S. Congress approved a $1.3 billion package of mostly
military aid for Colombia and other Andean nations.

But last month, The Associated Press reported from Washington,
congressional Democrats raised concerns about the new national security
law. They spoke of possible aid cutbacks and called on the State Department
to closely monitor the application of the security law.

Pastrana, who was elected three years ago on a peace platform, signed the
law at a time when he is under increasing pressure from the military and
right-wing politicians to crack down on the guerrillas.

Last week, Pastrana suspended informal peace talks with the National
Liberation Army, the smaller of Colombia's two guerrilla groups known as
the ELN.

Talks with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have
also floundered.