COLOMBIAN MILITARY, IN REPORT, SAYS ITS RIGHTS ABUSES ARE DOWN

Colombia's minister of defense said today that human rights violations by
the country's armed forces had declined significantly, despite reports by
the State Department and human rights groups that the problem is growing.

Of all the human rights violations reported in Colombia, those committed by
the military and police dropped from 15 percent in 1995 to 2 percent last
year, the minister, Luis Fernando Ramirez Acuna, said. He was in Washington
to brief members of Congress on the Colombian military's first human rights
report on itself.

"We recognize we have problems in our forces and we are working on them,"
he said. "Now you have to recognize how serious we are and the improvements
we've made."

The report largely avoided the far more serious charge that the armed
forces continue to work with the paramilitary groups who are responsible
for most of the human rights violations. The human rights record of the
Colombian military and its ties to the right-wing paramilitary groups are
key questions for Congress as it debates whether to approve the
administration's emergency $1.6 billion aid package to help Colombia fight
narcotics trafficking.

The measure is expected to be passed by the House within two weeks, but it
faces opposition in the Senate. To overcome objections, Mr. Ramirez briefed
top Congressional aides today, but the report was greeted with some
skepticism.

"Glossy brochures are not a substitute for protecting human rights," said
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont. "The reality is that army
officers who commit atrocities almost never go to jail, links between the
army and paramilitaries are widespread and government human rights
investigators have fled the country after receiving death threats."

Critics contend that the defense ministry's human rights report is
misleading, in part because it lumps together all human rights abuses.

Political violence is growing in Colombia, with 2,663 kidnappings last year
by both leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups, and with a
murder rate 10 times higher than that of the United States.

Last year the Colombian government dismissed four generals who were accused
of either collaborating with paramilitary groups or refusing to fight
against them. The Colombian general prosecutor charged 101 members of the
police and armed forces with human rights violations, suspended 391 and
dismissed 97, according to the report.

Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, called the
military's report "an attempt to put a gloss on a very ugly situation" that
was more accurately described in other, impartial reports.

The State Department's human rights report on Colombia this year said there
was "silent support and direct collaboration" by some members of the armed
forces with the paramilitary groups.