During 2000, the Colombian government spent $3 billion, or 3.4 percent of its GDP, on its military in an effort to combat 40 years of insurgency and violence.

By State Department estimates, the civil conflict, perpetuated by paramilitaries, guerrillas, narcotics traffickers and government security forces, killed between 3,000 and 3,500 civilians in 2001. This estimate includes political murders, deaths from combat, and forced disappearances.

The civilian-led Ministry of Defense is composed of an army, a navy -- including marines and coast guard, a national police and an air force. The military takes care of both internal and external security. There are roughly 250,000 members of the security forces: 145,000 military and 105,000 police.

Armed state law enforcement personnel and investigative authorities, such as the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) and the Prosecutor General's Technical Corps of Investigators, are also included in the public security forces. The DAs reports directly to the president and has authority in the investigative, law enforcement, and intelligence gathering arenas. The National Police are charged with counter-narcotics operations.

Approximately 192 of Colombia's 1,097 municipalities have no state security presence -- a fact that contributes to the widespread opinion that the government does not do enough to combat paramilitarism. According to human rights groups, members of the armed forces have frequently violated civil rights.

Colombia implemented a revised Military Penal Code in August 2000 that increases the likelihood that those committing human rights transgressions will be investigated and disciplined. The code guarantees legal protection for members of the military who refuse to commit illegal human rights' abuses when ordered to do so. The reforms also increase the military's ability to remove those colluding with paramilitaries.

In August 2001, President Andrés Pastrana signed into effect a controversial law expanding the military's power. The law allows Pastrana to define a region as a "theater of operation", within which civilian authorities are placed under the power of police and military commanders. The law, which has met with wide criticism, also shortens the statute of limitations on investigations of military involvement in human rights abuses. It allows military personnel to arrest and interrogate suspects, and allows them to hold suspects for a longer period of time before turning them over to the courts.

The U.S. has provided the Colombian military and police with equipment through the international narcotics control program, foreign military sales, and the military assistance program. Since American troops train many members of the Colombian military, the U.S. Has used its influence to push for further reforms within the armed forces.

On August 1, 1997, the United States and Colombia signed a memorandum of understanding stating that those in the Colombian military who receive U.S. counter-narcotics assistance are subject to human rights screening. Colombian military and police forces are subject to U.S. certainty that those receiving assistance are not committing gross violations of human rights.

According to the Colombian government, their military is improving. The Colombian Ministry of Defense say 119,349 members of the security forces have participated in human rights training over the past five years. This training, carried out by the Roman Catholic Church and the Red Cross, is thought to have contributed to a climate more conducive to improved human rights and international human law.

Collusion with paramilitary groups
In an attempt to crack down on military collusion with paramilitary groups, President Andrés Pastrana signed another military decree in September 2000 stating that public security force members could be dismissed for complicity with such groups.

Government agencies investigated collusion allegations, and from October 2000 until the end of 2001, 600 members of the military were dismissed, although it was not made public whether the dismissals were for collaboration with paramilitaries.

The State Department says Colombian security forces captured three times as many paramilitaries in 2001 as they had done in 2000. Despite these improvements, there is continuing evidence of significant toleration and collusion with right-wing paramilitary groups.

Oftentimes these are tacit arrangements allowing paramilitaries to continue their operations despite military presence in the area. In other instances the collusion is more overt, with military members joining the paramilitaries when off duty, granting paramilitaries permission to pass through roadblocks and providing them with information and ammunition.

-- By Jessica Moore, Online NewsHour