Colombia

The civilian-led Ministry of Defense (MOD) is responsible for internal security and oversees both the armed forces (including the army, air force, navy, marines, and coast guard) and the National Police. In the past, civilian management of the armed forces has been limited; however, over the past few years, the professionalism of the armed forces has improved, and respect for civilian authority on the part of the military has increased. In addition to the armed forces and the National Police, the public security forces include armed state law enforcement and investigative authorities, including the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) and the Prosecutor General's Technical Corps of Investigators (CTI). The DAS, which has broad intelligence gathering, law enforcement, and investigative authority, reports directly to the President but is directed by a law enforcement professional. The police are charged formally with maintaining internal order and security but in practice often share law enforcement responsibilities with the army in both rural and urban areas. There are approximately 192 municipalities that lack a state security presence. Many observers maintain that government action to combat paramilitarism has been inadequate, and in the past security forces regularly failed to confront paramilitary groups. However, the security forces confronted and detained significantly more members of paramilitary groups during the year compared with the previous year. Nevertheless, members of the security forces sometimes illegally collaborated with paramilitary forces. Members of the armed forces and the police committed serious violations of human rights.

The country's population is estimated at 41,713,000. Despite years of drug- and politically related violence, the economy is diverse and relatively advanced. Crude oil, coal, coffee, and cut flowers are the principal legal exports. In 1999 the country suffered its first recession in over 60 years, with a decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.3 percent and record unemployment of over 18 percent. The economy grew approximately 2 percent during the year, and unemployment stood at 16.8 percent at year's end. The inflation rate at year's end was 7.65 percent. Since 1999 the Government has adopted fiscally austere budgets and floated the peso. High levels of violence greatly inhibit business confidence. Narcotics traffickers continued to control large tracts of land and other assets and exerted influence throughout society, the economy, and political life. Income distribution is highly skewed; much of the population lives in poverty. Per capita GDP was approximately $2,087.

The Government's human rights record remained poor; there were continued efforts to improve the legal framework and institutional mechanisms, but implementation lagged, and serious problems remained in many areas. A small percentage of total human right abuses reported are attributed to state security forces; however, government security forces continued to commit serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings. Impunity remained a problem. Despite some prosecutions and convictions, the authorities rarely brought higher-ranking officers of the security forces and the police charged with human rights offenses to justice. Members of the security forces collaborated with paramilitary groups that committed abuses, in some instances allowing such groups to pass through roadblocks, sharing information, or providing them with supplies or ammunition. Despite increased government efforts to combat and capture members of paramilitary groups, security forces also often failed to take action to prevent paramilitary attacks. Paramilitary forces still find support among the military and police, as well as among local civilian populations in many areas.

The revised Military Penal Code, which took effect in August 2000, provides for an independent military judicial corps and for legal protection for troops if they refuse to carry out illegal orders to commit human rights abuses; the code also precludes unit commanders from judging subordinates. A series of military reform decrees, signed by the President in September 2000, provided greater facility for the military to remove human rights abusers or paramilitary collaborators from its ranks and provided for the further professionalization of the public security forces. The military judiciary continued to demonstrate an increased willingness to turn cases involving security force officers accused of serious human rights violations over to the civilian judiciary, as required by a 1997 Constitutional Court ruling, the new Military Penal Code, and an August 2000 presidential directive.

Police, prison guards, and military forces tortured and mistreated detainees. Conditions in the overcrowded and underfunded prisons are harsh; however, some inmates use bribes or intimidation to obtain more favorable treatment. Arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as prolonged pretrial detention, are fundamental problems. The civilian judiciary is inefficient, severely overburdened by a large case backlog, and undermined by intimidation and the prevailing climate of impunity. This situation remains at the core of the country's human rights problems. At year's end, the Superior Judicial Council (CSJ) reported that the judicial system was extremely overburdened; it received a total of 8.6 million suits in 1994-2000, of which 226,783 were criminal cases filed during 2000.

The authorities sometimes infringed on citizens' privacy rights. A number of journalists were killed, and journalists continued to work in an atmosphere of threats and intimidation, in some instances from local officials, but primarily from paramilitary groups and guerrillas. Journalists practice self-censorship to avoid reprisals. The paramilitaries and guerrillas targeted religious leaders. There were some restrictions on freedom of movement, generally because of security concerns. Violence and instability in rural areas displaced between 275,000 and 347,000 civilians from their homes in during the year. Almost one-fourth of these movements occurred in massive displacements. Exact numbers of displaced persons are difficult to obtain because some persons were displaced more than once, and many displaced persons do not register with the Government or other entities. However, while no consensus exists regarding the exact number of internally displaced persons (IDP's), observers agreed that there has been a significant increase in displacements over the past 3 years. The total number of internally displaced citizens during the last 6 years may exceed 1 million. There were reports that security force members, paramilitaries, and guerrillas killed, threatened, and harassed members of human rights groups. Violence and extensive societal discrimination against women, abuse of children, and child prostitution are serious problems. Extensive societal discrimination against indigenous people and minorities continued. Labor leaders and activists continued to be targets of high levels of violence. Child labor is a widespread problem. Trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a problem. "Social cleansing" killings of street children, prostitutes, homosexuals, and others deemed socially undesirable by paramilitary groups, guerrillas, and vigilante groups continued to be serious problems.

NGO's attributed a large majority of political killings, social cleansing killings, and forced disappearances to paramilitary groups. According to military estimates, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary umbrella organization has a membership of between 8,000 and 11,000 combatants. The AUC exercised increasing influence during the year and fought to extend its presence through violence and intimidation into areas previously under guerrilla control while conducting selective killings of civilians whom it alleged collaborated with guerrillas. Throughout the country, paramilitary groups killed, tortured, and threatened civilians suspected of sympathizing with guerrillas in an orchestrated campaign to terrorize them into fleeing their homes, to deprive guerrillas of civilian support and allow paramilitary forces to challenge the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) for control of narcotics cultivations and strategically important territories. They also fought guerrillas for control of some lucrative coca-growing regions and engaged directly in narcotics production and trafficking. The AUC increasingly tried to depict itself as an autonomous organization with a political agenda, although in practice it remained a mercenary vigilante force, financed by criminal activities and sectors of society that are targeted by guerrillas. Although some paramilitary groups reflect rural residents' desire to organize solely for self-defense, most are vigilante organizations, and still others are actually the paid private armies of narcotics traffickers or large landowners. Popular support for these organizations grew as guerrilla violence increased in the face of a slowly evolving peace process.

The Government continued to insist that paramilitary groups, like guerrillas, were an illegal force and significantly increased efforts to apprehend paramilitary members. State security forces captured three times as many paramilitaries during the year as during the same period in 2000; however, the public security forces' record in dealing with paramilitary groups remained mixed, and in some locations elements of state security forces tolerated or even collaborated with paramilitary groups.

In April the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, presented a report that strongly criticized the rising number of massacres and disappearances, and the growth of paramilitary forces in the country. In her annual report to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Ms. Robinson criticized the Government for failing to fight the paramilitaries. In addition, she expressed alarm at apparent links between paramilitary groups and members of the armed forces.

The FARC and the ELN regularly attacked civilian populations, committed massacres and summary executions, and killed medical and religious personnel. The FARC continued its practice of using gas canisters as mortars to destroy small towns, indiscriminately wounding government officials and civilians in the process. Guerrillas were responsible for the majority of cases of forcible recruitment of indigenous people and of hundreds of children. Guerrillas also were responsible for the majority of kidnapings. Guerrillas were responsible for forced disappearances of soldiers and police and continued a policy of killing, attacking, and threatening off-duty police and military personnel, their relatives, and citizens who cooperated with them. In many places, guerrillas collected "war taxes," forced members of the citizenry into their ranks, forced small farmers to grow illicit crops, and regulated travel, commerce, and other activities. Business owners have been kidnaped or threatened for refusing to comply with the FARC's "Law 002," announced in March 2000, which demanded that anyone with assets of $1 million pay taxes to the FARC or risk kidnaping. The FARC routinely committed abuses against citizens who resided in the demilitarized ("despeje") zone consisting of 5 southern municipalities, with a total population of approximately 120,000 persons. Numerous credible sources reported cases of murder, rape, kidnaping, extortion, robbery, threats, detention, and the forced recruitment of adults and children, as well as impediments to free speech and fair trial, and interference with religious practices.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life

Political and extrajudicial killings continued to be a serious problem. During the year, NGO's estimated that over 3,700 citizens died in such acts, committed principally by nonstate agents. Members of the security forces continued to commit extrajudicial killings. An analysis of data from the Center for Investigations and Popular Research (CINEP), published by the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), a nongovernmental organization (NGO), claimed that from June 2000 to June 2001, state forces committed 100 reported extrajudicial killings, including deaths that resulted from police abuse of authority. CINEP reported that, from January through September, state security force members committed 92 "intentional homicides of protected persons," and caused the deaths of 25 civilians during combat. CINEP reported that security forces were responsible for 119 intentional homicides of protected persons during the same period in 2000. Most of the incidents cited by the CCJ and CINEP were under investigation by military and civilian authorities at year's end. Civilian courts tried an increasing number of cases of military personnel accused of human rights violations (see Section 1.e.). Members of the security forces sometimes illegally collaborated with paramilitary forces, and the authorities continued to investigate past cases of collaboration with or failure to prevent massacres by paramilitaries. There were some reports that police and former security force members committed social cleansing killings. Investigations of past killings and massacres proceeded slowly.

On December 31, 2000, a soldier tossed a grenade at a group of civilians, killing three and injuring three more. On January 29, the authorities dismissed him from the army, and he then pled guilty to aggravated homicide and illegal weapons possession.

The authorities continue to investigate the murder on April 4 of policeman Carlos Ceballos Gomez, who testified in the investigation of illegal wiretapping by the Medellin GAULA kidnaping force (see Section 1.f.).

There continued to be reports that an undetermined number of off-duty policemen committed "social cleansing" killings, or that the police deliberately failed to prevent such killings.

The CCJ reported 161 massacres (defined as the simultaneous or nearly simultaneous killing of 3 or more persons outside of combat at a single location or at several nearby locations), in which 1,021 victims died, during the period from January through September, and estimated that the total number of massacres during the year exceeded 200. The CCJ attributes four massacres to acts of negligence or deliberate omission by state security forces. According to the MOD, during the year, 493 persons were killed in massacres (defined as 4 or more persons killed in 1 incident). The MOD figure does not include persons killed in prison riots; NGO's include such incidents in their statistics. The CCJ analyzed CINEP data from June 2000 to June 2001 and attributed 3 percent of civilian victims and persons killed outside of combat to state security forces.

A court of the first-instance ruling exonerated the soldiers involved in the August 2000 killing of six children by an army unit; however, the Superior Military Tribunal returned the case for reconsideration (see Section 1.g.).

The Procuraduria General (Inspector General), which conducts disciplinary investigations of all public sector employees, received 228 complaints against members of state security forces during the year, compared with 201 during 2000. The Inspector General's office investigated 183 members of state security forces on disciplinary charges related to massacres and forced disappearances. Of this number, the Inspector General sanctioned 20 members of the army, 14 members of the police, and 1 marine. The office exonerated 20 accused persons. As in the previous year, the office continued to refer all cases involving human rights violations to the Prosecutor General for criminal investigation. Five generals remained under investigation by the Inspector General during the year for failure to prevent paramilitary massacres in 1998 and 1999; one was convicted.

As of December, the human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's office reported that it had approximately 788 open investigations of human rights violations by 1,342 individuals, including 234 members of the military and police, 770 presumed members of paramilitary groups, 240 presumed guerrillas, and 98 other civilians. As of December, the unit had arrested 1,293 persons, and another 891 arrest warrants for persons remained outstanding, of which 39 are for members of the military, the police, and the DAS. Prosecutors placed under arrest 132 members of the army, 97 police, 9 members of the DAS, and 7 members of the CTI during the year.

The Institute for Forensic Medicine reported 25,351 homicides for the year, 792 fewer cases than in 2000. The police and the Prosecutor General's office have insufficient resources to investigate most killings adequately. The Superior Judicial Council estimated based on a 1997 survey that 63 percent of crimes go unreported, and that 40 percent of all reported crimes go unpunished.

According to a March 2000 report by the MOD, during the first half of 1999, the most recent year for which information was available, the military judiciary convicted and sentenced 206 members of the National Police, army, and navy for serious offenses that the Ministry identified as violations of human rights: Homicide, bodily injuries, rape, attempted murder, illegal detention, and abuse of authority. Of the total number of convictions, 66 were for homicide and 113 were for bodily injuries. The average sentences issued in 1998 were 58 months' imprisonment for homicide and 15 months' imprisonment for bodily injuries, although sentences ranged from 2 years to 64 years for homicide, and 2 months to 2 years for bodily injuries. The civilian Criminal Procedure Code authorizes restriction to a military base as an acceptable substitute for imprisonment when military jails or prisons are unavailable.

In 1997 the Constitutional Court more narrowly defined the constitutional provision that crimes by state agents unrelated to "acts of service" must be tried in civilian courts (see Section 1.e.). As of November, the military judiciary had turned 1,373 cases, of which an estimated 41 percent were possible human rights violations, over to the civilian judiciary for investigation and possible prosecution, including cases involving high-ranking officers. The new Military Penal Code reiterates that the crimes of genocide, forced disappearance, and torture must be tried in civilian courts. In August 2000, the President reaffirmed these new legal norms through a directive sent to the military high command and the commander of the National Police (see Section 1.e.).

During the year, the military judiciary turned 66 cases over to the civilian judiciary, compared with 496 cases during 2000. The decrease does not reflect a reduced willingness to transfer such cases; a large backlog of cases from previous years were transferred during 2000. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary ruled on 31 conflicts of jurisdiction involving cases against the military during the year. Of these, 11 cases were assigned to the military judiciary and 20 were assigned to civilian courts.

The CCJ in its analysis of data from CINEP and other sources attributed four massacres during the year to state security forces. In none of these cases were killings attributed directly to members of the state security services; CCJ and CINEP attributed three of these massacres to state negligence, while the fourth was attributed to deliberate failure to prevent paramilitary violence. Of these four incidents, three involved prison riots, in which guerrilla and paramilitary inmates killed one another (see Section 1.c.). CCJ and CINEP concluded that prison guards were at fault in failing to prevent these deaths.

The fourth incident was a March 17 paramilitary massacre in San Carlos, Antioquia, which resulted in the deaths of 13 persons. CCJ and CINEP charged that army and police troops deliberately withdrew from the area of the attack 3 days prior to the massacre. At year's end, the office of the Inspector General was conducting a disciplinary investigation of 10 members of the military and police, regarding allegations that they permitted a truck that was carrying 15 hostages being held by paramilitaries to pass unchallenged. A separate investigation by the Prosecutor General's office also was in progress at year's end.

In May the authorities detained two army Fourth Brigade corporals on suspicion of having participated in the January 2000 murder of Uberney Giraldo and Jose Evelio Gallo, both long-demobilized guerrillas of the Socialist Renewal Current (CRS) and two others, after abducting them from the village of San Antonio, Antioquia department. Although two other army officers and four other soldiers were not detained, they remained under investigation. The Inspector General's office and the Prosecutor General's office continue to investigate the case at year's end.

In June a Rionegro, Antioquia department, court convicted in absentia army major David Hernandez Rojas and army captain Diego Fino Rodriguez of aggravated homicide in the 1999 murder of Antioquia peace commissioner (and former Vice Minister for Youth) Alex Lopera and two other persons, and sentenced them to 50 years in prison. A former member of the army's Fourth Brigade, Raul Gallego, was absolved. Two other soldiers were convicted of committing the killings and were serving prison sentences at year's end. Captain Fino and Major Hernandez remained at large at year's end following their escapes from military detention in March 2000 and June 1999 respectively. Another soldier and a civilian were convicted and sentenced in absentia for obstruction of justice and for assisting in Fino's escape.

In November retired army Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Plazas Acevedo, former chief of intelligence of the army's 13th Brigade, stood trial for the 1998 kidnaping and 1999 murder of Jewish business leader Benjamin Khoudari. At year's end, the court had not yet issued a final ruling. Civilian Jhon Alexis Olarte Briceno and army sergeant Guillermo Lozano Guerrero also remained on trial at year's end. Two other suspects were appealing their convictions for aggravated kidnaping and homicide to the Bogota Supreme Court.

Prosecutors continued to investigate the May 1998 Barrancabermeja massacre, as well as the July 2000 murder of Elizabeth Canas Cano, a key eyewitness. The Inspector General's office also was conducting an inquiry into the death of Canas. In August 2000, the Inspector General had sanctioned eight service members in connection with the massacre, including members of the army, the police, and the DAS, of which three--army Captain Oswaldo Prada Escobar, Lieutenant Enrique Daza and Second Lieutenant Hector Guzman Santos--were discharged. A police lieutenant colonel, captain, and lieutenant, as well as two DAS agents were suspended.

At year's end, the civilian trial continued of retired Colonel Bernardo Ruiz Silva, former commander of the army's now disbanded 20th Brigade (military intelligence) for allegedly organizing the 1995 Bogota killing of Conservative Party opposition leader Alvaro Gomez Hurtado. In March the judge reported a death threat against her (see Section 1.e.). The trial continued at year's end. Also on trial are army intelligence agents Henry Berrio Loaiza and Carlos Gaona Ovalle, retired army warrant officers Omar Berrio Loaiza and Franklin Gaona Ovalle, and civilian accused killers Hector Paul Florez Martinez, Manuel Mariano Montero Perez, Gustavo Adolfo Jaramillo Giraldo, and Hermes Ortiz Duran.

At year's end, marine Colonel Jose Ancizar Molano Padilla (then-commander of the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion) as well as marine Corporals Javier Fernando Guerrero, Eduardo Aristides Alvarez, and Jose Milton Caicedo were standing trial in a civilian court in Pasto for the 1995 social cleansing killings of alleged thieves Sifredy and Fredy Arboleda. The authorities continued to seek the capture of marine Sergeant Francisco Duarte Zuniga. A disciplinary investigation by the Inspector General continued at year's end.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the appeal of 5 army officers and 4 paramilitaries of their 1998 convictions in the case of the 1988 Nuevo Segovia paramilitary massacre, in which 43 persons were killed and 45 injured, and their sentence of 18 to 30 years' imprisonment for terrorism.

The Prosecutor General's office continued to investigate the 1987 kidnaping, torture, and death of Nydia Erika Bautista de Arellano, a member of the M-19 guerrilla group. The case was reassigned to civilian justice in July 2000. In 1994 the Inspector General had removed Brigadier General Alvaro Velandia Hurtado from the armed forces and sanctioned a sergeant in the case. In 1996 the Government had complied with a court order to pay compensation to Bautista's family for the involvement of MOD officials.

Credible allegations of cooperation with paramilitary groups, including instances of both passive support and direct collaboration by members of the public security forces, in particular the army, continued. Evidence suggests that there were tacit arrangements between local military commanders and paramilitary groups in some regions, and paramilitary forces operated freely in some areas despite a significant military presence. Members of the security forces actively collaborated with members of paramilitary groups--passing them through roadblocks, sharing intelligence, providing them with ammunition, and allegedly even joining their ranks while off duty.

The military high command, under the leadership of Minister of Defense Gustavo Bell and General Fernando Tapias, stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate collaboration between military personnel and paramilitary groups, and that the army would combat paramilitary groups. Although state security forces doubled operations against paramilitaries during the year and tripled the number of paramilitaries captured since 2000 (see Section 1.g.), security force actions in the field were not always consistent with the leadership's positions, and members of the security forces sometimes illegally collaborated with paramilitary forces. Credible reports persisted of paramilitary installations and roadblocks near military bases; of contacts between paramilitary and military members; of paramilitary roadblocks unchallenged by military forces; and of military failure to respond to warnings of impending paramilitary massacres or selective killings. Military entities often cited lack of information, manpower, and mobility to explain this situation. Impunity for military personnel who collaborated with members of paramilitary groups remained common.

In October Human Rights Watch issued "The Sixth Division," a report that stated that the army maintains close operational ties to paramilitary groups. The report highlighted reports from 1999-2001 of collaboration with paramilitary forces or acts of omission in preventing paramilitary crimes by officers of the army's 3rd, 5th, and 24th Brigades. Human Rights Watch sharply criticized the Government for failing to address effectively the problem of continued military-paramilitary cooperation and general impunity for human rights violators and also charged that the Government exaggerated the effectiveness of its actions against paramilitarism with "a sophisticated public relations campaign." Presidential Human Rights Program Director Reinaldo Botero vigorously denied that his office published distorted information and criticized the "immoderate tone" of the report. However, Botero welcomed the NGO's statement that high level Government officials clearly and publicly stated their policy to combat paramilitarism. Brigadier General Martin Orlando Carreno, commander of the Fifth Brigade, said that Human Rights Watch's allegations were based on erroneous information and noted that the Fifth Brigade had captured 147 members of paramilitary groups and killed 18 others in combat during the year.

In September 2000, the President signed military decrees that allowed for the dismissal of members of the public security forces who were complicit in paramilitary or other illegal activities; government agencies actively investigated allegations of collaboration or complicity with paramilitary groups by members of the security forces. From October 2000 through the end of 2001, the military dismissed approximately 600 members; however, it was not known how many discharges were for collaborating with paramilitary groups (see Section 1.e.).

On January 17, approximately 80 paramilitaries killed 27 civilians in Chengue, Sucre department. Early in the investigation, paramilitary Elkin Antonio Valdiris Tirado was captured and confessed to a role in the massacre. Valdiris also implicated two active duty marine sergeants; one was charged and was awaiting trial at year's end, while the other was detained pending formal charges. A civilian suspect also was awaiting trial at year's end. On August 29, in Sincelejo, Sucre department, presumed paramilitaries killed Yolanda Paternina, a prosecutor working on the case. Two CTI investigators on the case disappeared in mid-April near Berrugas, Sucre department and are presumed dead. The Inspector General's office opened a disciplinary investigation of then-Marine First Brigade commander Rodrigo Quinones, five other marine officers, the marine sergeants, and a police officer for possible acts of omission in failing to prevent the massacre.

The Government is investigating a March 5 paramilitary incursion in the "peace community" of San Jose de Apartado, in Uraba region, Antioquia department, in which both residents and international observers were threatened, and a number of buildings were burned. Community members alleged that members of the army's 17th Brigade were involved in the raid. On July 30, 15 armed paramilitaries killed 1 man and displaced 64 families from the peace community of La Union, Uraba region, and announced a paramilitary takeover of the community, although they did not maintain control. Both FARC and paramilitaries are present in the mountains above this community. At the request of the peace community, 17th Brigade troops did not enter San Jose. Witnesses reported that the paramilitaries who entered San Jose in July 2001 identified themselves as the same persons who had committed the July 2000 massacre in the same community. The murder is under investigation. The authorities also are investigating the December 15 murder of a resident of San Jose de Apartado by three armed men in civilian clothing; the victim was not a member of the peace community. An NGO attributed the killing to paramilitaries; however, it remains unclear who was responsible.

Prosecutors also continue to investigate two paramilitary massacres in February 2000 in San Jose de Apartado and in July 2000 in neighboring La Union, in which 11 persons were killed. Members of the San Jose de Apartado peace community, as well as NGO's, accused the 17th Brigade of complicity in the attacks. On February 19, 2000, unidentified presumed ACCU paramilitaries killed five persons in San Jose de Apartado, and wounded three others; there were reports that the men wore the insignia of the 17th Brigade on their uniforms. On July 8, 2000, approximately 20 paramilitary assailants murdered 6 peasants in La Union, part of San Jose de Apartado. The attackers reportedly gave the citizens 20 days to leave the town. NGO's alleged that the 17th Brigade was complicit in both attacks, that army members were near La Union prior to the July 8 attack, and that a military helicopter hovered over La Union during the massacre. Government investigators continued to investigate complaints of military-paramilitary collusion in these massacres at year's end.

On February 19-20, 2000, a large group of AUC paramilitary attackers killed 42 persons, whom they accused of being guerrillas or guerrilla sympathizers at El Salado, Bolivar department. A military investigation did not find any substantiation for complaints that the military purposely failed to prevent the attack, or that the navy blocked relief groups from entering. An investigation by the Prosecutor General's office continued, and by year's end, 16 paramilitary suspects were detained and standing trial. (An arrest warrant remained outstanding for AUC leader Carlos Castano.) The Inspector General's office continued a disciplinary investigation of navy Rear Admiral Humberto Cubos Padilla and navy Rear Admiral Rodrigo Quinones, five other navy officers, and two police officers, but at year's end, had not yet charged any service member in the case.

In March 2000, the human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's office ordered the detention of army Captain Luis Fernando Campusano Vasquez and sought the capture of 15 other civilians, including Carlos Castano, who remained at large. They are suspected of being affiliated with area units that collaborated with a 300-person paramilitary group based at Vetas, Norte de Santander department, which committed 15 massacres in and around the towns of La Gabarra and Tibu between May and September, 1999. More than 145 persons whom the attackers claimed were guerrillas or guerrilla supporters were killed. Nearby elements of the army's 46th counterguerrilla battalion (Tibu) and 5th mechanized group (Cucuta), as well as police, did not intervene. In December the authorities arrested army Colonel Victor Matamoros and Captain Juan Carlos Fernandez, the former commander and the former intelligence director of the Fifth Mechanized Group, respectively. The two are charged with collaboration with and the formation of illegal paramilitary groups between 1997 and 1999.

The Prosecutor General's office has charged one army captain and two civilians for failing to prevent a paramilitary massacre of 22 persons in August 1999 in La Gabarra, Norte de Santander department. However, it did not file charges against retired army Brigadier General Alberto Bravo Silva, Colonel Roque Sanchez, and two other army officers. (Bravo retired in 1999 on orders from the President.) The Prosecutor General's office is trying in absentia AUC leader Carlos Castano and 14 others for homicide and subversion related to this massacre.

The May 29, 1999, paramilitary massacre in which six persons in Los Cuervos (near La Gabarra) were killed also remains under investigation; two former members of the military, two prison guards, and five civilians are under arrest and in detention. The Inspector General's office continued its investigation of (but had not charged) Bravo, Roque, army Colonel Victor Hugo Matamoros, army major Mauricio Llorente Chavez, and army lieutenant Luis Fernando Campuzano.

In March the Prosecutor General charged former Tibu military base commander Mauricio Llorente Chavez, former Tibu police commander Major Harbey Fernando Ortega Ruales, and 13 police agents with homicide and complicity in a July 17, 1999, paramilitary massacre in Tibu. The suspects remained under arrest at year's end.

In April the Prosecutor General's office ordered the detention of Colonel Rafael Alfonso Hani Jimeno, who was arrested later and charged with collusion with paramilitaries. Hani was the commander of the army's Palace de Buga Battalion, located in Tulua, Valle del Cauca department, during a period in 1999 when paramilitaries conducted a series of killings and displaced hundreds of peasant farmers. He also was alleged to have permitted a known paramilitary (whom Hani claimed was an informant) to live at battalion headquarters for months. At year's end, the charges against Hani had been overturned on appeal, but Hani remained under investigation. There were reports of threats against investigators and witnesses in this case. In February the Inspector General's office opened a separate disciplinary investigation of Hani.

On July 27, 2000, the Inspector General's office formally charged 5 army officers, including 4 generals, for failing to prevent the massacre of 19 persons in May 1998 in Puerto Alvira, Meta department. The five charged are former commanders of the army's Fourth Division, retired Major General Augustin Ardila Uribe and General Jaime Humberto Cortes Parada (the army's Inspector General); former commander of the 7th Brigade, retired Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscategui; commander of the 2nd Brigade, General Fredy Padilla de Leon (also the former head of the 7th Brigade); and the commander of the "Joaquin Paris" battalion, Colonel Gustavo Sanchez Gutierrez. Those involved denied the charges. The Inspector General's investigation was still in progress at year's end. In March the Superior Military Tribunal confirmed the June 2000 first instance military court's ruling to close the case. At year's end, the human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's office had under arrest one paramilitary, had released another suspect for lack of evidence, and had outstanding arrest warrants for AUC leader Carlos Castano and seven others.

In December 2000, the Inspector General's office charged 17 police and 9 army officials with collusion with paramilitary groups in approximately 160 social cleansing murders by members of paramilitary groups in northeastern Antioquia (including the communities of La Ceja, Guarne, and El Penon) during 1995-98. The Inspector General also charged two municipal officials with omission. The Prosecutor General's office also charged 21 of the 26 officials who faced disciplinary charges, as well as a suspected paramilitary. All of the individuals charged either were standing trial or awaiting court dates at year's end.

In April a military tribunal convicted Brigadier General Jaime Uscategui and sentenced him to 40 months' imprisonment for failing to prevent the July 1997 AUC paramilitary massacre of dozens of persons in Mapiripan, Meta department. The court also convicted Lieutenant Colonel Hernan Orozco (a primary witness against Uscategui) and sentenced him to 38 months in prison. Orozco was released in September, having served his entire sentence. Uscategui's sentence subsequently was reduced for time served and work performed, and he was released in July. In the view of many human rights groups, the term of Uscategui's sentence and early release, although legal, severely undercut the message sent by his conviction. In addition, human rights organizations criticized the sentence given to Colonel Orozco as punishment for his having come forward with the facts and the General's involvement in the massacre. A civilian judge hearing the case against other military and civilian defendants was threatened during the year (see Section 1.e.). In November the Constitutional Court announced that it would rule that Uscategui's case should be assigned to civilian jurisdiction. The court had not issued or implemented the ruling at year's end. The ruling is expected to nullify the military tribunal's conviction. The ruling is also an implied exoneration of Orozco because the Prosecutor General's office had decided in March 1999 not to press charges against Orozco.

In 1999 the CSJ had sent the cases of all other defendants in the Mapiripan case to the civilian courts for action, including charges against Lieutenant Colonel Lino Hernando Sanchez Prada for facilitating the massacre, which was determined not to be an act of service. At year's end, Lieutenant Colonel Sanchez and the five other defendants (two noncommissioned officers and three commercial pilots) remained on trial in the civilian judiciary. Two other civilian paramilitary defendants were indicted in December 2000 and remained on trial and in detention at year's end. In November 2000, the Prosecutor General indicted in a separate process Lieutenant Colonel Sanchez, two army sergeants, and eight members of paramilitary groups (including two civilian pilots).

The military judiciary announced no new developments during the year in its ongoing investigation of retired Brigadier General Fernando Millan Perez regarding allegations that he armed and equipped a paramilitary group in Lebrija, Santander department in 1997, which was believed to be responsible for at least 11 killings. In October 1998, the Superior Judicial Council had determined that Millan's alleged actions constituted an act of service and turned the case over to the military judiciary for prosecution. In July the Inspector General's office charged army General Fernando Millan Perez, army Colonel Hernando Sanchez Salamanca, and army lieutenant Oscar Esteban Hernandez Barragan.

In late July, the CTI detained General Rito Alejo del Rio, former commander of the 17th Brigade, on suspicion of illegal collaboration with paramilitaries in Uraba in 1995-97. Newly named Prosecutor General Luis Camilo Osorio publicly criticized the decision to arrest del Rio and complained that he had not been consulted. Human Rights Unit coordinator Pedro Diaz insisted that the Human Rights Unit prosecutor on the case had legal authority to issue the warrant. In early August, a Bogota judge freed del Rio under a habeas corpus ruling that claimed irregularities in the processing of the arrest warrant. The judge also ruled (under a highly controversial interpretation of Article 235 of the Constitution) that jurisdiction for the case rested exclusively with Osorio, not the Human Rights Unit prosecutor. Both Diaz and Deputy Prosecutor General Pablo Elias Gonzalez resigned shortly afterward. General Del Rio remained free; however, in November the office of the Prosecutor General summoned General del Rio to inquest. The investigation was still in progress at year's end. The office of the Inspector General continued a separate disciplinary investigation of del Rio.

An appeals court confirmed charges of collusion with paramilitaries in the 1996-97 social cleansing killings in La Ceja, Antioquia department, against army Lieutenant Colonel Jesus Maria Clavijo Clavijo, soldier Carlos Mario Escudero, and police agent William Mora; all three were awaiting trial in a civilian court at year's end. Clavijo remained detained at 5th Brigade headquarters. In two separate cases related to the same series of crimes in Antioquia, prosecutors also charged police agents Luis Alfredo Castillo Suarez, Juan Carlos Valencia Arbalaez, Carlos Maria Tejada, and Olimpo Rivera; and soldiers Javier Antonio Gomez Herran, and Osvaldo Leon Beltran, all of whom were awaiting trial at year's end. Prosecutors also arrested army Major Alvaro Cortes Murillo and army Lieutenant Colonel Alfonso Zapata Gaviria. Paramilitary Ricardo Lopez Lora was sentenced to 16 years in the La Ceja killings, another paramilitary is being tried in absentia, and a third has been absolved.

The case of retired army Colonel Jose Ancizar Hincapie Betancurt for collaboration in 1993-94 with a paramilitary group that killed 11 persons remained pending before civilian courts at year's end.

Paramilitary groups committed numerous extrajudicial killings, primarily in areas where they competed with guerrilla forces for control, and often in the absence of a strong government security force presence. Several major paramilitary campaigns during the year included massacres in Sucre, Norte de Santander, Magdalena, and Valle del Cauca departments. The office of the Human Rights Ombudsman received complaints regarding 125 massacres during the year. The MOD reported that paramilitary forces were responsible for the deaths of 1,015 civilians in the period from January to November. According to the MOD, during the year, the paramilitaries killed 281 persons during massacres. The CCJ reported 161 massacres during January-September, of which 102 massacres (representing 671 victims) are attributed to paramilitaries. The CCJ attributes a total of 1,929 political killings and 319 social cleansing killings to paramilitary groups in the period from June 2000 to June 2001. Paramilitary activities also included kidnaping, intimidation, and the forced displacement of persons not directly involved in hostilities (see Sections 1.b., 1.c., 1.g., and 2.d.). Paramilitary groups targeted journalists and teachers (see Section 2.a.), human rights activists (see Section 4), labor leaders (see Section 6.a.), community activists, national and local politicians (including the President), peasants, and other persons whom they accused of supporting or failing to confront guerrillas. Paramilitary forces killed indigenous people (see Section 5).

AUC paramilitary groups were suspected of hundreds of selective killings throughout the country, especially in Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Norte de Santander, Bolivar, and Sucre departments. The FARC, the ELN, or both had a strong presence in these areas as paramilitary forces vied with them for control of territory or resources, including coca cultivation. Paramilitary groups continued to kill political leaders and peace activists, including Ismael Valencia, the former mayor of Calima Darien, Valle del Cauca department; and nun and human rights activist Yolanda Ceron in Tumaco, Narino department. Six members of the CTI were killed during the year in various parts of the country; paramilitary forces were suspected of responsibility in two of these killings; in the others the responsible group had not been identified at year's end.

Paramilitary massacres and incursions continued in Antioquia, Sucre, and Bolivar departments as part of an ongoing paramilitary effort to wrest territorial control from the guerrillas. A similarly fierce struggle for control continued in Norte de Santander, Cauca, and Valle del Cauca departments.

On January 5, presumed paramilitaries killed 14 persons in the villages of Chiquinquira and Mesetas, Penol municipality, Antioquia department.

On February 13, gunmen shot and killed Ivan Villamizar, a former regional ombudsman, in Cucuta, Santander department. One presumed paramilitary was captured and charged with the murder.

On March 21, a suspected paramiltary gunman shot and killed business owner and farmer Gonzalo Rodrigez, brother of ELN leader Nicolas Rodriguez, in Socorro. The victim reportedly had no involvement with guerrillas.

On March 24, paramilitaries reportedly kidnaped between 24 and 30 persons in La Llorente, Narino department. Three persons, not among those reported kidnaped, were killed in separate incidents and confirmed dead after this incursion. The identity and fate of the other persons reportedly kidnaped has never been confirmed.

From January through April, the AUC mounted a successful offensive to displace the ELN from the northeastern neighborhoods of Barrancabermeja, Santander department. By April, more than 180 civilians had been killed and another 4,000 displaced. The human rights NGO CREDHOS reported at year's end that 360 persons were killed in political violence in the period from January to November in Barrancebermeja and surrounding areas. The Prosecutor General's office and Inspector General's office are investigating numerous complaints of military and police collusion with paramilitaries in Barrancabermeja.

On April 14, in the Alto Naya region (on the border of Cauca and Valle del Cauca departments), paramilitaries murdered 20 persons with machetes and guns (reportedly raping at least 1 victim first), and displaced hundreds more. Responding to the massacre, the army and navy captured 70 paramilitaries, including a paramilitary bloc commander, in a joint operation. All of the suspects were under arrest and awaiting trial at year's end. The Prosecutor General's office and the Inspector General's office also are investigating allegations that army troops may have been guilty of failing to prevent the massacre. No charges have been filed against any service member.

On July 4, a large group of AUC paramilitaries kidnaped 43 young men in Peque, Antioquia department and forced them to herd stolen cattle. Seven of the men later were found dead and severely mutilated. As some of these victims were taken into an area where there was AUC-FARC combat, it remains unclear whether the paramilitaries or the FARC killed them. FARC guerrilla troops arrived in Peque following the incident and offered security to its residents. The guerrillas departed later on July 11, after which the army and police arrived. Vice President and Minister of Defense Bell also visited Peque on July 12. Most of the 3,500 persons displaced by this incident returned by late July. The army reported that limited manpower and mobility, as well as other demands on army resources at the time, prevented rapid reaction to the crisis in Peque. The Inspector General was investigating complaints of military omission or collusion, but has not identified individual suspects in the case.

On September 5, presumed AUC paramilitary gunmen killed Congressman and Lower House Peace Committee Acting Chairman Jairo Hernando Rojas. The Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit was investigating the case.

On September 15, approximately 20 AUC paramilitaries killed 9 persons in Frias, Magadalena department, accusing them of being guerrilla informants. Contrary to some press reports alleging slow military reaction, international organizations verified that the army arrived promptly at the scene. There had been no previous threats or warnings reported for that location.

In October presumed paramilitaries kidnaped 13 fishermen in Cienaga de Santa Marta, Magdalena department; the bodies of 6 were found (see Section 1.b.).

On October 10, AUC paramilitaries shot and killed 24 persons in the communities of La Habana and Alaska, near the city of Buga in Valle del Cauca department. Human Rights Ombudsman Eduardo Cifuentes publicly accused the army's Palace de Buga battalion of omission in failing to reach the area until the following morning. According to the army, this area, contested between the FARC and paramilitaries, was difficult to reach quickly in combat conditions. In late October, army troops captured 10 civilian paramilitary suspects, and the case remained under investigation by the Prosecutor General's office at year's end.

On December 1, AUC paramilitaries shot and killed 15 persons on a remote country road in Boyaca department. According to press reports, local officials said that the mass slaying signals a possible push by the AUC into the mineral rich region that had been a bastion of guerrillas.

The Prosecutor General's office continues to investigate a series of attacks in November 2000, when paramilitary forces killed 15 fishermen in Nueva Venecia (La Cienaga de Santa Marta), Magdalena department, and kidnaped another 22 persons, whose bodies later were discovered.

Prosecutors continue to investigate an April 2000 massacre of 21 men by approximately 50 paramilitary attackers at Tibu, Catatumbo region, Norte de Santander department.

Prosecutors continued to investigate the February 2000 ACCU massacres in five neighborhoods of Las Ovejas.

In May 2000, a paramilitary group that identified itself as the "Calima Front" claimed responsibility for the killings of 12 civilians in the village of Sabaletas, Valle del Cauca department. The group also claimed to have killed 14 other persons it suspected of being guerrillas in the same area. According to Human Rights Watch, the army's 3rd Brigade created and supports the Calima Front, which Human Rights Watch believes was responsible for at least 200 killings between July 1999 and July 2000, as well as the displacement of over 10,000 persons. The Prosecutor General's office and the Inspector General's office continue investigating claims of continued military collusion with the Calima Front.

At year's end, paramilitary and "La Terraza" gangster Juan Pablo Ortiz Agudelo (alias "Bochas"), already convicted and imprisoned for another murder, was appealing charges filed against him for the 1999 murder in Bogota of journalist, comedian, and human rights activist Jaime Garzon Forero. Under the law, a defendant has the right to appeal charges; if the charges are confirmed, the case proceeds to trial. AUC leader Carlos Castano has been charged with ordering the killing, but remains at large.

Paramilitary leader Mario James Mejia ("el Panadero") was convicted of eight murders and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment for the February 1999 "Barrancabermeja II" massacre, which left nine persons dead. Pedro Mateo Hurtado Moreno and three other paramilitary suspects in the massacre remained at large at year's end.

In July a Bogota judge, citing lack of evidence, acquitted five suspects in the 1998 killing of Eduardo Umana Mendoza, perhaps the country's best-known and most controversial human rights lawyer. The five were released, after 3 years in detention.

In March a Medellin court sentenced two paramilitaries to 35 years' imprisonment for the 1998 killing of human rights activist Jesus Maria Valle, the president of the Antioquia Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. Seven other suspects were exonerated, and AUC leader Carlos Castano was convicted in absentia of the formation of paramilitary groups but absolved of the murder.

Accused paramilitary Ivan Urdinola Grajales remained in detention in connection with the 1989-90 "Trujillo I" massacres in Valle del Cauca department, and also is implicated in the 1994 "Trujillo II" massacre. Prosecutors also have an outstanding warrant for the detention of one other paramilitary member in the Trujillo I case. In May 2000, a court upheld charges against paramilitary Norberto Morales Ledesma for involvement in the Trujillo II massacre. Two other members of paramilitary groups implicated in both Trujillo I and Trujillo II remain at large.

In November Carlos Castano admitted in his published memoirs that he was responsible for the 1990 murder of presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro, among other crimes.

Although authorities have captured several regional commanders, top paramilitary leaders largely remained beyond the reach of the law. MOD figures published in July indicated that 954 paramilitaries were captured between January and November (a 3-fold increase over the same period in 2000) and 109 were killed. The Ministry of Defense also reported in mid-October that 24 soldiers were killed and 31 wounded in clashes with the AUC.

In January police in Barrancabermeja arrested Franklin Eugenio Aguilar Rengifo in connection with a kidnaping. On January 12, police captured Danilo Cordoba Moya, presumed regional AUC commander for the northern part of the country, in Zambrano, Bolivar department. On January 28, the CNP arrested paramilitary leader Gustavo Adolfo Soto Garcia in San Carlos de Guaroa, Meta department. On March 22, Roberto Carlos Delgado, leader of the AUC's Southern Liberators bloc, was captured along with five others including retired army colonel Jesus Uruena Paz. In May the police captured Dumar de Jesus Gerrero, commander of the AUC's forces in the central regions of the country. On May 19, military units captured Francisco Javier Correa Gonzalez, leader of AUC forces in the northeastern neighborhoods of Barrancabermeja.

The guerrillas of the FARC, the ELN, and the People's Liberation Army (EPL) continued to commit killings, often targeting noncombatants in a manner similar to that of paramilitary groups. The MOD attributed a total of 1,075 civilian deaths to guerrillas between January and November. According to the MOD, during the year, guerillas killed 158 persons during massacres. The CCJ reported that guerrillas were responsible for 458 political killings in the period from June 2000 to June 2001, the most recent period for which figures are available, compared with 236 political killings in the period from October 1999 through March 2000. The Ministry of Defense attributed 880 civilian deaths in massacres to guerrillas during 2000. The Human Rights Ombudsman attributed 22 massacres to the FARC during the first 6 months of 2000 and 9 massacres to the ELN. The Ombudsman also attributed 89 killings to the FARC and 31 killings to the ELN during the first 6 months of 2000.

Common guerrilla targets included local elected officials and candidates for public office, teachers (see Section 2.a.), civic leaders, business owners, and peasants opposed to the guerrillas' political or military activities. Guerrilla groups also killed religious leaders (see Section 2.c.), members of indigenous groups (see Section 5), and labor leaders (see Section 6.a.). Some communities controlled by guerrillas also experienced social cleansing killings of criminal or other "undesirable" elements. The CCJ reported 10 such killings for the period of June 2000 to June 2001. Guerrilla campaigns around the demilitarized area, in the Norte de Santander, Antioquia, and southern departments often involved significant civilian casualties and prompted significant displacements (see Section 1.g. and 2.d.).

On January 18, guerrillas of the FARC's 57th front shot and killed Henry Perea Torres, the mayor of Jurado, Choco department. Perea, who had taken office on January 1, represented the Indigenous Social Alliance and had criticized the murder several days earlier of fellow indigenous leader Armando Achita.

On February 6, presumed ELN guerrillas killed nine farmers who actively opposed the creation of an ELN encounter zone, in La Cristalina community near Puerto Wilches, Santander department.

On February 13, FARC guerrillas killed nine young hikers in the Purace National Park in Huila department. The FARC stated that they had mistaken the hikers for paramilitaries and promised the victims' relatives that the culprits would stand revolutionary trial. The killers remained at large at year's end.

From May 22-29, FARC guerrillas kidnaped and killed approximately 23 peasants in Alto Sinu, Cordoba department. An estimated 110 families were displaced following these attacks. The attacks appeared to have been part of an AUC-FARC struggle to control territory and coca cultivation, and to terrorize the local population.

In August presumed ELN guerrillas set off a series of bombing attacks in Medellin, Marinilla, and San Francisco, Antioquia department. Two persons were killed and approximately 81 persons were injured.

On September 6-7, FARC guerrillas killed 10 coca leaf pickers. As many as 40 other persons were reported dead, but the FARC prevented government authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from recovering the bodies. The attacks appeared to be an effort by the FARC to take back the area around La Gabarra, which had been seized by paramilitaries in a series of attacks in 1999 that included three large massacres. This area remains hotly contested between illegal armed groups, both for coca cultivation and for access to the Venezuelan border.

On September 24, the FARC kidnaped and later killed Consuelo Araujo, a former Minister of Culture and the wife of the Inspector General (see Section 1.b.). Other kidnap victims were released or rescued.

In October ELN guerrillas destroyed a building in El Penol, Antioquia department, killing a policeman, his wife and child, and two other civilians.

On November 16, FARC units at an illegal checkpoint at Santuario, Putumayo department executed an unarmed soldier from the 12th Brigade and a taxi driver.

The authorities blamed FARC guerrillas for the December massacre of 15 farmers in Samana, Caldas department.

The human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's office continues to investigate deaths, disappearances, and kidnapings of off-duty army and police personnel (see Section 1.b.). For example, in late July, the authorities discovered the bodies of army Sergeant Eliud Sarmiento Ruiz and soldiers Eduardo Barreto, Moise Murcia Robayo, and Carlos Coronado Lopez in a common grave in Cundinamarca department. The four men, whose hands were bound and whose bodies showed signs of torture, had been kidnaped by the FARC on July 1 while they were off-duty, out of uniform, and unarmed.

Investigations into reported killings by FARC members within and on the periphery of the despeje continued. The investigation continued of the December 2000 killing of congressional peace commission chairman Diego Turbay Cote, his mother councilwoman Ines Cote, and five other persons in Caqueta department (near the FARC demilitarized zone). In November three suspects in the Turbay killings were released for lack of evidence.

In early October 2000, the FARC attacked the remote village of Ortega and killed eight persons, including two women and two children. The guerrillas also burned 20 homes, a school, and a church. In June 2000, the FARC massacred at least 11 civilians at Nutibara, Antioquia department, and injured 15 other persons.

The ELN is suspected of involvement in the February 6 killing of nine farmers in the La Cristalina community, in Santander department (Magdalena Medio region). Some of the victims were members of a civil society organization opposed to a proposed demilitarized zone for the ELN in southern Bolivar and Antioquia departments. One of the victims was a young pregnant woman.

The authorities charged in absentia FARC 34th front member Fernando Zapata Hinestroza for the killing of 21 police officers and 8 civilians, including 2 children, during the March 2000 attack on the twin towns of Vigia del Fuerte, Antioquia department, and Bellavista, Choco department. The authorities also are seeking the arrest of three other FARC members in this case. Seven police officers captured in the assault were released individually during the year.

Guerrillas killed citizens using bombs, artillery and antipersonnel land mines, and continued their practice of using gas canisters to attack small towns, thereby killing civilians indiscriminately (see Section 1.g.).

The authorities still have not captured FARC eastern bloc commander German Briceno Suarez ("Grannobles") and U'wa tribe member Gustavo Bocota, who have been indicted for involvement in the March 1999 killings of kidnaped foreign activists for indigenous rights Terence Freitas, Lahe'ena'e Gay, and Ingrid Washinawatok near Saravena, Arauca department. The investigation of the case continued at year's end.

At year's end, the authorities had not yet captured Arley Leal and Milton de Jesus Tonal Redondo ("Joaquin Gomez" or "Usurriaga") of the FARC's 32nd Front in connection with the 1998 murder of Father Alcides Jimenez in Putumayo. The Inspector General's office continued to investigate possible government negligence in failing to prevent the killing.

In July the MOD reported that, from January through November, security forces killed 979 and captured 1,623 guerrillas. The Prosecutor General's office reported that as of December it had 98 open investigations against 240 guerrillas, had 227 guerrillas in custody, and had 262 warrants outstanding for the capture of guerrillas.

Approximately 80 cases regarding the country were before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) at year's end. The great majority involved violations of the right to life. At year's end, the IACHR was expected to make a decision about whether to move a case involving paramilitary and military involvement in the 1996 killing of 19 merchants to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

In response to the killings of thousands of members of the Patriotic Union (UP) leftist coalition (see Section 1.g.), a May 2000 law classified "political genocide" as a crime; however, it provided that political genocide could be committed only against members of legally constituted (i.e., nonguerrilla) groups.

The IACHR continued the process of trying to reach an amicable settlement of the UP's 1996 complaint charging the Government with "action or omission" in what the UP termed "political genocide" of the UP and the Communist Party. As part of the process, since June 2000, the Government has provided protection through the Interior Ministry to surviving UP and Communist Party members. Despite these efforts, NGO's reported to the IACHR that at least 20 persons associated with the UP were killed during the year.

There continued to be incidents of social cleansing--including attacks and killings--directed against individuals deemed socially undesirable, such as drug addicts, prostitutes, transvestites, homosexuals, beggars, and street children. The CCJ attributed one social cleansing killing to security forces during the period from June 2000 to June 2001; it attributed 319 killings to paramilitary groups, and 10 to the guerrillas. AUC social cleansing killings of homosexuals, prostitutes, drug users, and mentally ill persons were reported in Barrancabermeja, Cucuta, and numerous other municipalities. Barrancabermeja residents also have reported AUC attempts to impose "social controls" (such as curfews or dress codes) and the exercise of vigilante justice (see Section 1.e.).

b. Disappearance

The 1991 Constitution and the Criminal Code explicitly prohibit forced disappearance; however, it continued to be a problem. In May 2000, Congress passed legislation that criminalized forced disappearance, genocide, torture, and forced displacement by putting them into the Criminal Code. The law entered into effect in July 2000, allowing these crimes to be tried in civilian courts. Human rights activists noted that the final law did not require that military defendants be tried in civilian, rather than military, courts; however, the reformed Military Penal Code, which entered into effect in August 2000, did include such a requirement (see Section 1.e.). More than 3,700 cases of forced disappearance have been reported formally to the authorities since 1977. Very few have been resolved. Many of the victims disappeared in the course of confrontations between illegal armed groups and the State, or between paramilitaries and guerrillas. The great majority of victims of forced disappearance have never been seen or heard from again. The human rights NGO CREDHOS reported at year's end that 71 persons disappeared between January and November in Barrancabermeja and surrounding areas.

The CCJ attributed five forced disappearances to state security forces in the period from June 2000 to June 2001. The Inspector General's office investigated 183 members of state security forces on disciplinary charges related to massacres and forced disappearances (see Section 1.a.).

The CCJ attributed 296 forced disappearances to paramilitaries in the period from June 2000 to June 2001. In many instances persons kidnaped by paramilitary groups later were found dead (see Section 1.a.).

In mid-April two investigators working on the January massacre in Chengue, Sucre department, disappeared (see Section 1.a.).

The law prohibits kidnaping; however, it remained an extremely serious problem. According to the Free Country Foundation (Fundacion Pais Libre), 3,041 persons, or 8 persons per day, were kidnaped during the year, compared with 3,706 in 2000. Paramilitary groups kidnaped 9 percent of these persons. Guerrilla groups were responsible for 63 percent of the kidnapings. Criminals kidnaped 10 percent. An estimated 205 minors were in captivity as of October. Members of the Government's elite antikidnaping squads known as GAULA (a combined police and military unit) and other units of the security forces freed 697 persons during the year. The Free Country Foundation reported that 98 persons died in captivity during the year. Arrests or prosecutions in kidnaping cases were rare.

According to the MOD, 22 police hostages remain in captivity, and the FARC and ELN were responsible for the forced disappearances of 40 others. The army reports that the FARC kidnaped 24 soldiers and was responsible for the forced disappearances of 51 other soldiers outside combat; the ELN was responsible for the forced disappearances of 8 soldiers. During the year, the FARC released 189 captured soldiers and police (see Section 1.d.). However, the FARC captured 20 soldiers and police in combat. FARC and ELN guerrillas kidnaped 22 police officers and were responsible for the forced disappearances of 40 others. At year's end, the FARC and ELN reportedly held 22 police and 44 soldiers captive.

On March 24, paramilitaries reportedly killed or kidnaped between 24 and 30 persons in La Llorente, Narino department; however, the identities of these persons, their number, and their fate was never confirmed (see Section 1.a.).

On May 16, AUC paramilitaries kidnaped 190 farm workers in southern Casanare department and stated they would begin forcible recruitment in the area. Under pressure from army troops, the AUC released the hostages unharmed after 36 hours.

On June 2, six unidentified assailants kidnaped Embera-Katio indigenous leader Kimi Domico Pernia in Tierralta, Cordoba department. Local Embera-Katio members believe that local paramilitary groups kidnaped Pernia as retaliation for Embera-Katio participation in FARC attacks (see Section 5). In December AUC military commander Salvatore Mancuso told the press that Pernia had been killed.

In October presumed paramilitaries kidnaped 13 fishermen in Cienaga de Santa Marta, Magdalena department. By October 10, the bodies of 6 of the kidnap victims had been found (see Section 1.a.), while another 3 hostages had escaped.

On November 19, the AUC in a letter to the Governor of Antioquia department reported that on November 18, it had abducted six mayors from eastern Antioquia, as well as their human rights adviser. The kidnaping apparently was in retaliation for meetings that the mayors had held with representatives of the ELN to seek respect for the lives of the civilian population in their municipalities. The ELN unilaterally had committed to a truce until April 2002, demanding in turn that the mayors request that the Government withdraw police from their towns. The paramilitaries released the hostages on November 20.

In March 2000, a paramilitary group led by Jhon Jairo Esquivel Cuadrado kidnaped seven members of the CTI at Minguillo, Cesar department. Esquivel was captured in July 2000 and was awaiting trial at year's end. There were no indications that the abducted investigators were still alive.

Kidnaping continued to be an unambiguous, standing policy and major source of revenue for both the FARC and ELN. According to the Free Country Foundation, politicians, cattlemen, children, and businessmen were the guerrillas' preferred victims. The Foundation reported that guerrillas committed 63 percent of the 3,041 kidnapings reported during the year; ransom payments continued to serve as an important source of revenue for the FARC and the ELN. The FARC often purchased victims kidnaped by common criminals and then negotiated ransom payments with the family. In March 2000, the FARC announced "Law 002," which required persons with more than $1 million in assets to volunteer payment to the FARC or risk detention. There were many reports that guerrillas tortured kidnap victims (see Sections 1.c. and 1.g.) Several released kidnap victims claim that the FARC are holding more than 200 persons in the despeje zone.

On March 14, ELN guerrillas attacked a wellhead belonging to Occidental Petroleum Colombia and kidnaped an unarmed guard, who was released uninjured a week later.

On April 16, the ELN kidnaped 130 employees of Occidental Petroleum. They released all hostages by April 19.

On July 15, the FARC kidnaped former Meta governor Alan Jara, as he was riding in a U.N. vehicle with the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) Director and government officials. In response to strong and widespread criticism, the FARC alleged falsely that Jara was collaborating with paramilitaries and said that he would be subjected to a "revolutionary trial." At year's end, Jara still was held by the FARC, reportedly in the despeje.

On July 28, the FARC kidnaped 15 persons, including the wife and two sons of a congressman, from a residential building in Neiva, the capital of Huila department (near the border of the despeje). The FARC released six of the captives; however, it reportedly took nine remaining hostages to the despeje.

On September 20, the FARC kidnaped 11-year-old Laura Ulloa from her school bus in Cali. She remained in captivity at year's end.

The FARC also kidnaped Consuelo Araujo, former Minister of Culture and wife of the Inspector General and at least 10 others on September 24 near Valledupar, Cesar department. The other victims were quickly released or rescued by the army, but a guerrilla killed Araujo on September 29 (see Section 1.a.). Within a few days of the Araujo kidnaping, the FARC also took another 65 hostages near Valledupar, who were released quickly due to heavy pressure on the FARC by the army.

On July 26, approximately 70 guerrillas from the FARC's Teofilo Forero Front stormed an apartment complex in Neiva, Huila department and kidnaped 15 persons. Six hostages quickly were released, but the remaining nine reportedly were taken to the despeje.

On November 7, FARC guerrillas kidnaped Mireya Mejia Araujo, a peace counselor in Cesar department. The guerrillas released her on November 29 with a message to the governor that the FARC was concerned over the growth of paramilitary forces and about the need for more social spending.

Andres Felipe Navas, kidnaped at 21/2 years of age by the FARC in April 2000, was released in November. (The FARC continued to hold an adult member of the same family at year's end.)

Early in the year, the FARC released Juliana Villegas, daughter of the head of the National Association of Industrialists, whom they had kidnaped in November 2000.

The FARC refused repeated calls from relatives, humanitarian groups, and the public to release police Corporal Norberto Perez, whose 12-year-old son Andres Felipe Perez died of cancer in December.

Guerrillas kidnaped journalists (see Section 2.a.).

Guerrillas continued to kidnap political leaders (see Section 3). During the year, the FARC kidnaped Liberal Congressman Orlando Bernal Cuellar in August, Liberal Congressman Luis Eladio Perez in June, and Huila department Congressman Consuelo Gonzalez in September. At year's end, all three remained in captivity, along with Conservative Party Congressman Oscar Lizcano, who was kidnaped in June 2000. In May the FARC kidnaped Jairo Antonio Correa, the mayor of Dabeiba. The Federation of Colombian Municipalities reported the kidnaping of at least 10 mayors, (3 by guerrilla groups, the rest by unidentified groups) during the year (see Section 3).

The FARC, the ELN, and other guerrilla groups regularly kidnaped foreign citizens throughout the year; some were released after weeks or months of captivity. On July 18, the FARC kidnaped three German nationals (a German government development official, his brother, and a friend). On September 23, the official's brother escaped and reported that the development official was in poor health due to long forced marches and lack of medical attention for a heart condition. The two remaining German hostages were released on October 12. A Slovak priest was kidnaped in September but quickly released. In July 2000, a representative of the NGO Doctors without Borders was kidnaped by a fringe guerrilla group. The victim was released in January and reportedly left the country.

Despite government search efforts and continued pressure by the Government on the FARC to account for three American missionaries kidnaped by FARC guerrillas in January 1993, their whereabouts and condition remained unknown.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution and criminal law explicitly prohibit torture, as well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; however, there were reports of police and military torture and mistreatment of detainees. In May 2000, Congress criminalized torture (see Section 1.b.), and the reformed Military Penal Code directed that trials of members of the military and police accused of torture be held in civilian, rather than military, courts (see Section 1.e.). The Inspector General's office received 29 complaints of torture by state agents during the year, compared with 101 during 2000. CINEP reported that between January and September state security forces tortured six persons; five cases were attributed to the police, and one case was attributed to the army.

Colonel Jose Ancizar Molano Padilla (then-commander of the 2nd Marine infantry battalion), Captain Alvaro Hernando Moreno, Captain Rafael Garcia, Lieutenant Carlos Eduardo Jaramillo, and four noncommissioned officers were on trial at year's end for torturing 12 marines with asphyxiation and electric shocks in December 1995.

CINEP reported 158 cases of torture by paramilitaries in the period from January through September.

Paramilitary groups increasingly used threats both to intimidate opponents and to raise money. Letters demanding payment of a war tax and a threat to mark victims as a military target if they failed to pay were typical. In 1999 CINEP reported that nearly half of those threatened were public school teachers and that approximately half of all threat recipients were residents of Antioquia department.

Guerrilla groups also tortured and abused persons. The bodies of many persons kidnaped and subsequently killed by guerrillas showed signs of torture and disfigurement. CINEP reported 40 cases of torture by guerrillas during the period from January through September. Numerous former kidnap victims and hostages taken by the guerrillas during combat reported severe deprivation, denial of medical attention, and physical and psychological torture during captivity (see Section 1.b.). The MOD also reported numerous cases of soldiers and policemen tortured or mutilated and killed after surrendering (see Section 1.g.).

Prison conditions are harsh, especially for those prisoners without significant outside support. Severe overcrowding and dangerous sanitary and health conditions remained serious problems. In early June, the Supreme Court of Valledupar, Cesar department, ruled in favor of Valledupar prison inmates who had filed a writ of appeal complaining of lack of water, sanitation, natural light, and prolonged isolation from contact with relatives. The court ordered the Prison and Penitentiary Institute (INPEC) to resolve these problems. There are approximately 7,000 prison guards from the INPEC who report to the Ministry of Justice. Guards and prison staff frequently are untrained or corrupt.

Only three prisons--Valledupar, Bogota's La Picota prison, and Acacias--appear to meet international standards for treatment of prisoners. In the country's other prisons, inmates pay to eat, drink, sleep on a mattress, wash clothes, or make telephone calls, and also pay protection fees to fellow inmates or to corrupt prison guards. According to the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners, outside, private sources continued to provide the majority of prisoners' food in most prisons. In 1999 INPEC reported that the daily food allowance for each prisoner was $1.44 (2,700 pesos). In late November, the director of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country, Anders Kompass, described the country's overcrowded prisons to a news conference as terrible.

According to INPEC, in September the country's prisons and jails held approximately 51,251 inmates, 24 percent over their capacity of 41,191; the occupancy rate was 37 percent over capacity at the end of 2000. According to INPEC figures, overcrowding has improved, but remains severe. Medellin's Bellavista prison, the country's largest, housed 6,219 inmates at year's end although it originally was built to house 1,800 inmates (a 245 percent occupancy rate). Bogota's La Modelo prison had a 160 percent occupancy rate, compared with 169 percent in 2000, and the Palmira prison outside Cali held 14 percent above its planned capacity, compared with a 192 percent occupancy rate in 2000.

An estimated 17.8 percent of the country's prisons were between 40 and 80 years old, 3.5 percent between 80 and 201 years old, and 2.4 percent more than 201 years old. The Justice Ministry made significant progress in implementing its plan, announced in February 2000, to renovate prisons and build 11 new prisons and expand prison capacity by 18,000 persons by 2003. During the year, the Government renovated prisons in Valledupar, Acacias, Popayan, Barne, and the high security pavilion in Bogota's La Picota penitentiary. The Government already had completed, had under construction, or had contracted to add 10,600 beds at the end of the year.

An estimated 42 percent of all prison inmates (21,364 persons) are pretrial detainees. The remaining 58 percent (29,887 persons) are split roughly between those appealing their convictions, and those who have exhausted their appeals and are serving out their terms. There are no separate facilities for pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners. According to the MOD, in 2000 a total of 4,145 persons (8 percent of inmates) were in pretrial detention in police stations. Despite a 1999 Constitutional Court ruling that ordered the transfer of detainees from overcrowded police station holding cells to prisons, Bogota's 21 police stations still held 1,657 prisoners awaiting transfer to prisons at the end of 2000, the most recent estimate available.

Local or regional military and jail commanders did not always prepare mandatory detention registers or follow notification procedures; as a result, precise accounting for every detainee was not always possible.

The Government frequently failed to prevent deadly violence among inmates. In the period from January through September, INPEC reported 19 disturbances and 62 violent deaths in the penitentiary system. For example, in January two inmates were killed and one wounded during paramilitary-guerrilla fights at the prison in Bucaramanga, Santander department. In June the ELN kidnaped five paramilitaries from municipal prisons in El Bagre, Antioquia department. Also in June, three inmates died and four more were injured in fighting at the Palmira prison, Valle del Cauca department. On July 2-3, 10 persons were killed and 23 injured in an armed battle between paramilitary and guerrilla convicts in Bogota's La Modelo prison. State security forces were unable to reestablish control for 17 hours. Sixteen inmates reportedly remain unaccounted for following April 2000 fighting between paramilitaries and organized crime groups, which left 27 dead and 43 wounded in Bogota's La Modelo prison.

Escapes from prison continued to be a very serious problem; from January through September, INPEC reported 168 escapes. A total of 781 inmates escaped during 2000, most when granted 72-hour passes to leave the prisons. The Prosecutor General's office and the Inspector General's office continued to investigate abuse of these passes. Some of those who escaped during the year were highly dangerous criminals. On February 19, 20 prisoners escaped from the prison in Neiva, Huila department, when the FARC blew a hole in the wall with a rocket. In early May, Omar Yesud Lopez Alarcon, the head of the northern branch of the paramilitaries who is accused of masterminding a number of massacres, escaped from the Modelo de Cucuta prison. On May 7, the FARC released 65 prisoners from a prison in Caloto, Cauca department, during a FARC attack. On June 23, 98 inmates (including 19 guerrillas) escaped from La Picota prison by blowing a hole in a wall with a gas cylinder. FARC inmates said that FARC commanders had orchestrated the escape. The La Picota incident prompted the resignation of the director of INPEC. On July 22, 73 prisoners escaped from prison when 300 FARC troops attacked the town of Bolivar, Cauca department.

Key narcotics traffickers and some guerrilla leaders obtain cells with many comforts, some of which--such as access to two-way radios, cellular telephones, and computers--allowed them to continue their illegal activities from inside jail. However, the high security wing of La Picota prison in Bogota has undergone renovations that have altered considerably this comfortable lifestyle.

There are separate prison facilities for women, and in some parts of the country, separate women's prisons exist. Conditions at women's prisons are similar to those at men's prisons but are far less violent. According to the Criminal Procedures Code, no one under the age of 18 may be held in a prison. Juveniles are held in separate facilities operated by the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF).

The ICRC continued to have routine access to most prisons and police and military detention centers. The ICRC continues to have ad hoc access to civilians held by paramilitary groups and guerrilla forces. However, the FARC and ELN continue to deny the ICRC access to police or military hostages (see Sections 1.b. and 1.g.).

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution includes several provisions designed to prevent illegal detention; however, there continued to be instances in which the authorities arrested or detained citizens arbitrarily.

The law prohibits incommunicado detention. Anyone held in preventive detention must be brought before a prosecutor within 36 hours to determine the legality of the detention. The prosecutor must then act upon that petition within 36 hours of its submission. Despite these legal protections, instances of arbitrary detention continued.

In August the office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, a group of NGO's, and two private individuals filed four Constitutional Court challenges to the 2001 Law on Security and National Defense on the grounds that, among other things, it would infringe on the right to due process of persons detained or investigated by the military (See Section 1.e.). The law does not specify the maximum period detainees may be held before being turned over to civilian authorities.

Conditional pretrial release is available under certain circumstances, for example, in connection with minor offenses or after unduly lengthy amounts of time in preventive detention. It is not available in cases of serious crimes, such as homicide or terrorism.

AUC paramilitaries in the northeastern neighborhoods of Barrancabermeja, Magdalena department illegally exercised "social controls," such as curfews for young persons and punishing domestic violence. In May police had to rescue a man who was kidnaped by the militias and beaten for fighting with his wife in the street.

Guerrillas, particularly the FARC, pressed the Government and Congress to adopt a permanent prisoner exchange law. Initiating regular prisoner exchanges remained a top guerrilla priority and featured prominently in the FARC's negotiating points at the peace talks. Neither the Congress nor the Government attempted to pass such legislation, and there was minimal popular support for it during much of the year. In June the FARC released 42 captured soldiers and police in exchange for 15 imprisoned FARC members, then unilaterally released an additional 247 soldiers and policemen (see Section 1.d.). During the year, 145 soldiers and police either were captured in combat or kidnaped while off-duty are presumed to be held by the FARC or the ELN. The ICRC was not permitted access to them.

The Constitution prohibits exile, and forced exile is not practiced by the State. However, there were numerous instances of individuals pressured into self-exile for their personal safety. Such cases included persons from all walks of life, including politicians, journalists, human rights workers, slum-dwellers, business executives, farmers, and others (see Sections 2.a. and 4). The threats came from various quarters: Some individual members of the security forces, paramilitary groups, guerrilla groups, narcotics traffickers, other criminal elements, or combinations of the above.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The civilian judicial system, reorganized under the 1991 Constitution, is independent of the executive and legislative branches both in theory and in practice; however, the suborning or intimidation of judges, witnesses, and prosecutors by those indicted or involved is common. The Human Rights Ombudsman's office reported receipt of 568 complaints of denial of the right to due process during 2000, the most recent year for which statistics were available. The office received 773 such complaints in 1999. Judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys continued to be subjected to threats and acts of violence.

The judiciary includes the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State (the appellate court for civil cases), the Superior Judicial Council, and lower courts. The CSJ, which oversees the administration of the judiciary, also has responsibility for determining whether cases involving members of the security forces are to be tried in civilian or military courts. The Prosecutor General's office is an independent prosecutorial body that brings criminal cases before the courts.

The Constitutional Court adjudicates cases of constitutionality, reviews all decisions regarding writs of protection of fundamental rights ("tutelas"), and reviews all decisions regarding motions for cessation of judicial proceedings. Jurisdictional clashes among the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, and the CSJ were common, due to the lack of a single supreme judicial authority capable of deciding issues of jurisdiction or constitutional interpretation.

In April 2000, the Constitutional Court overturned much of the 1999 law creating a specialized jurisdiction (which had replaced the anonymous ("faceless") regional courts system in July 1999). Arguing that defendants have the right to know the identity of their accusers, the Constitutional Court overturned elements of the law that permitted some prosecutors and witnesses to remain anonymous under exceptionally dangerous circumstances. The Court also ruled that specialized jurisdiction judges and prosecutors no longer could transfer cases to other colleagues when they believed their own security to be at risk.

The Constitutional Court's decision preserved first instance specialized jurisdiction courts created by the 1999 law, which try certain crimes, including kidnaping, hijacking, paramilitarism, guerrilla subversion, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and human rights abuses. Specialized jurisdiction prosecutors still are permitted 12 months to investigate and develop cases, rather than the 6 months afforded to regular civilian judiciary prosecutors.

The Constitution specifically provides for the right to due process. Judges determine the outcome of all trials; jury trials are rare. The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and has the right to representation by counsel, although representation for indigenous people and the indigent historically has been inadequate. In mid-1999, the CSJ's administrative chamber reported that the civilian judiciary suffered from a backlog of approximately 3,069,000 cases (including approximately 604,000 criminal cases) and that there were approximately 338,000 outstanding arrest warrants. Approximately 223,000 writs for protection of fundamental rights ("tutelas") were before the Constitutional Court for its legally mandated review. At year's end, the CSJ reported that the judicial system was extremely overburdened; it received a total of 8.6 million suits in 1994-2000, of which 226,783 were criminal cases filed during 2000. These backlogs have created large numbers of pretrial detainees (see Section 1.c.)

Defendants in trials conducted by the regular courts have the right to be present and the right to timely consultation with an attorney. Regular court defendants and their attorneys have the right to question, contradict, and confront witnesses against them, to present witnesses on their own behalf, and to have access to government evidence relevant to the case. The country's judiciaries, including regular civilian, specialized jurisdiction, and military, continue to be overwhelmingly Napoleonic in character; everything is processed in writing. Public trials are still rare, and there are juries only in rare instances; however, cross-examination of witnesses does occur. Defendants also have the right to appeal a conviction to a higher court.

The Constitution provides for a special criminal and civil jurisdiction within indigenous territories based upon traditional community laws (see Section 5).

As part of the Ministry of Defense, the military judiciary falls under the executive branch, rather than under the judicial branch. The lack of transparency and accountability in the workings of the military judiciary contribute to a general lack of confidence in the system's ability to bring human rights abusers to justice. The new Military Penal Code, which entered into effect in August 2000, denied unit commanders the power to judge subordinates; called for the creation of an independent military judicial corps; and provided legal protection for service members who refuse to obey illegal orders to commit human rights abuses. The reformed code does not allow torture, genocide, and forced disappearance to be related to acts of service--the constitutional standard for trying crimes in the military judiciary. Therefore, these crimes must be tried in the civilian judiciary (see Sections 1.a. and 1.b.). In August 2000, the President issued a directive to the armed forces and the police that excluded from military criminal jurisdiction the crimes of genocide, torture, forced disappearance, and acts against humanity.

The new military justice system is composed of magistrates of the Military Court of Appeals, lower military court judges, investigating judges, prosecutors, and judge advocates (auditor de guerra) at the General Inspector, division, and brigade levels. The Executive Director of the Military Penal Justice, Corps Brigadier General Jairo Pineda, reports directly to the Minister of Defense, a civilian. Military prosecutors report to Brigadier General Pineda, not to unit commanders as under the previous system. The new Military Penal Code provides for the right of representatives of the civilian judiciary to be present at military trials of military personnel.

A 1997 Constitutional Court decision transferred jurisdiction for the investigation and prosecution of serious human rights violations and other alleged crimes not related directly to acts of service from the military judicial system to the civilian judiciary. (Previously the CSJ assigned most cases involving high-level military personnel to the military courts, where convictions in human rights-related cases were rare.) The Constitutional Court ruled that, in the case of doubt, jurisdiction should be assigned to the civilian system. However, in 1998 the CSJ determined that it was not bound by the Constitutional Court's 1997 decision. In that instance the CSJ's decision ended a civilian investigation of the relationship between Brigadier General Fernando Millan and paramilitary groups in Santander department (see Section 1.a.).

The 1991 Constitution provides that general-rank officers be tried by the Supreme Court. The new Military Penal Code provides that the Supreme Court (not the Superior Military Tribunal) has first instance jurisdiction in cases that date from August 12, 1999, involving criminal acts by generals, admirals, major generals, vice-admirals, brigadier generals, rear admirals, and magistrates and prosecutors of the Superior Military Tribunal. Cases that already were in their trial phase before this date must continue under the old military penal code. The new code also makes the Supreme Court the court of second instance review of rulings by the Superior Military Tribunal, thereby giving the Supreme Court--a body composed entirely of civilian magistrates--effective authority over the military judiciary. An August 2000 presidential directive also "raises to the category of law" the 1997 Constitutional Court decision that serious human rights violations and other crimes not directly related to acts of service must be tried by civilian courts.

CSJ figures quoted at the end of 2000 by the Ministry of Defense indicated that when conflicts of jurisdiction arose, the total number of cases assigned to military courts dropped from 50 percent in 1992 to approximately 15 percent in 2000, while cases assigned to civilian jurisdiction rose from 40 percent in 1992 to 60 percent over the same period. During the year, the CSJ assigned 11 cases out of 31 conflicts of jurisdiction involving military or police suspects to the military penal system and 20 cases to civilian jurisdiction.

The military judiciary demonstrated an increased willingness during the year to turn cases of military officers accused of human rights violations or criminal activities over to the civilian judiciary; however, such officers generally were of lower rank. In November the Ministry of Defense released figures that indicated that since the 1997 Constitutional Court decision, the military judiciary has transferred 1,372 cases to the civilian judicial system; there was no information available as to how many of these cases dealt specifically with human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law, nor how many cases remained in the military judicial system. However, a March 2000 report by the Ministry of Defense stated that 41 percent of the cases transferred involved serious crimes such as homicide, torture, illegal detentions, and infliction of bodily injuries; the rest were common crimes. Out of the total of 1,314 police and military cases transferred, 58 cases were transferred during the year, 496 cases were transferred in 2000, 79 in 1999, 266 in 1998, 295 in 1997, and 171 cases were transferred on an unknown date.

During 2000 the military judiciary found 122 members guilty of violating "human or fundamental rights." The average prison sentence was 58 months for homicide and 15 months for inflicting bodily injury.

In a key ruling, the military judiciary convicted General Jaime Humberto Uscategui Ramirez of failing to stop the 1997 massacre in Mapiripan, Meta department (see Section 1.a.). Uscategui was sentenced to 40 months in prison and loss of salary. Uscategui served a reduced sentence, however, and many human rights activists claimed that the message sent by his conviction was undercut by his early release. Furthermore, the key witness against Uscategui, Lt. Col. Hernan Orozco, was sentenced to 38 months imprisonment. Orozco served the entire sentence and was released in November. However, the Constitutional Court announced in November its ruling that the CSJ should transfer Uscategui's case to the civilian judiciary, arguing that Uscategui's alleged crimes were not service-related acts. This ruling, which had not yet been issued formally and implemented by year's end, in essence nullified the military judiciary's conviction, and means that Uscategui's case will fall to the Prosecutor General's office for investigation and prosecution. (Orozco is not expected to face investigation, as the Prosecutor General's office had declined in 1998 to press charges against him.)

In September 2000, the President signed 12 decrees to reform and strengthen the military. One decree provides for the separation from service of all uniformed members of the military regardless of their time in service, at the discretion of the top military commanders. Previously, the Minister of Defense could at his discretion separate from service only those who had served at least 15 years in the military. Other decrees establish three levels of misconduct and the crimes classified at each level. A total of 27 crimes are punishable with immediate dismissal; these include: torture, forced disappearance, genocide, facilitating by any means the knowledge of protected information or access to classified documents without authorization, failure to enter into combat or to pursue the enemy having the capacity to do so, and retreating before the enemy or abandoning post without having used elements of defense that might be available. A higher-ranking officer such as a unit commander is granted initial authority to issue disciplinary sanctions. Those under investigation may be suspended for up to 90 days with half pay; those suspended may perform administrative duties. The decrees also state that in the event that another authority should learn of crimes, the military must inform that authority and provide all relevant information to it. Another decree states that, with limited exceptions, any officer sentenced to prison by the military or the civilian justice system is to be separated from service.

From October 2000 through the end of 2001, the military dismissed a total of approximately 600 members; however, it was not known how many discharges were for collaborating with paramilitary groups. No information was available from the MOD regarding the specific reasons for any of the dismissals, nor were their names announced. It was not known how many were dismissed due to allegations that they were responsible for human rights abuses or for collaborating with paramilitary groups in such abuses. The MOD has confirmed the claims of many human rights NGO's that a large number of those dismissed have entered the ranks of illegal paramilitary groups.

When military officers were tried, convicted, and sentenced for human rights violations, they generally did not serve prison terms but were confined to their bases or military police detention centers, as permitted by law. The Ministry of Defense reports, and the Prosecutor General's office concurs, that military and police prisoners charged by civilian prosecutors routinely are suspended from their duties and placed on half-pay. Officers and noncommissioned officers are removed from any command duties. Some perform administrative functions while in detention. Armed Forces Commander General Tapias has cited a lack of adequate military prison facilities as a primary cause for escapes from military detention areas. To address these concerns, in September Minister of Defense Bell announced that a new high security prison would be opened at Tolemaida military base in October. Although the military is responsible for operating the facility, the civilian INPEC will provide oversight.

On August 13, the President signed the Law on Security and National Defense (Law 684 of 2001), which among other things, expanded the authority of the armed forces to detain suspects in the absence of civilian authorities. Various human rights groups protested the law's final version. Four different lawsuits (one by the Human Rights Ombudsman's office, one by a group of NGO's, and two by individuals) challenging the law have been filed before the Constitutional Court (see Section 1.d.). They contend that various aspects of the law violate the right to due process as provided for in the Constitution and the Criminal Code. Article 58 of the law does not limit specifically the time the military can detain a suspect before turning that person over to civilian law enforcement, although Article 70 mandates that suspects be turned over to civilian authorities as soon as time and distance permit, and that any delay must be justified appropriately. Article 60 gives civilian authorities up to 60 days from the receipt of a complaint of a human rights violation to decide whether to investigate formally alleged crimes by military or police during operations, significantly less than the year allowed for investigations of civilian authorities. Some legal experts also have complained that the provisions that allow the Government to declare a zone a military theater of operations, in effect, give military commanders authority over regional civilian authorities. While the law does not grant explicitly military commanders authority over regional civilian authorities, it permits the President to delegate to the military the authority to enforce presidential decrees and orders.

Judges have long been subject to threats and intimidation, particularly when handling cases involving members of the public security forces or of paramilitary, narcotics, and guerrilla organizations. Violent attacks against prosecutors and judges continued, and prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys continued to be subjected to threats and acts of violence. Prosecutors reported that potential witnesses in major cases often lacked faith in the Government's ability to protect their anonymity and were thus unwilling to testify, ruining chances for successful prosecutions.

For example, in March Bogota judge Lesther Gonzalez Romero received threats which appeared to be related to important cases she had tried or is trying, such as the three 1997 CINEP murders, the 1997 Mapiripan massacre, and the 1995 assassination of Alvaro Gomez. Also in March, Medellin judge Adalgisa Lopera Aristizabal and her family left the city following a death threat. Judge Lopera was trying terrorism, narcotics, and paramilitarism cases.

The investigation continues of the April 2000 murder of specialized jurisdiction prosecutor Margarita Maria Pulgarin Trujillo in Medellin; AUC members were the prime suspects in her killing. One suspect has been charged in absentia; no one has been detained in the case.

On August 29, presumed paramilitaries killed Yolanda Paternina, a prosecutor investigating the January Chengue massacre, in Sincelejo, Sucre department. Two other investigators working undercover on the case disappeared in mid-April near Berrugas, Sucre department. There have been no arrests in these cases.

In July the reformed Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code went into effect. The revised code created a number of new crimes such as genocide (see Section 1.a.), but reduced the sentences for a number of serious crimes, including kidnaping and extortion, and the amount of time served necessary for parole.

The Inspector General's office investigates misconduct by public officials, including members of the military and police. The Inspector General's office can draw upon a nationwide network of hundreds of government human rights investigators covering the country's 1,097 municipalities. The office received 228 complaints related to massacres and forced disappearances during the year, compared with 201 in 2000. Of complaints received during the year, 146 are under preliminary investigation, 23 resulted in formal disciplinary investigations, and 14 resulted in formal charges being filed. Of the 101 persons under investigation at year's end for complaints related to massacres and forced disappearances, 45 were army, 28 were police, 5 were air force, 22 were marines, and 1 was from the INPEC. The Inspector General's office can only impose administrative sanctions; it has no authority to bring criminal prosecutions or impose criminal sanctions but can refer all cases to the Prosecutor General's office for investigation. The Inspector General's office referred all cases of human rights violations received during the year to the Prosecutor General for investigation, and reported that that the majority of these cases are investigated by the Prosecutor General's office.

The Supreme Court elects the Prosecutor General for a 4-year term, which does not coincide with that of the President, from a list of three candidates chosen by the President. The Prosecutor General is tasked with investigating criminal offenses and presenting evidence against the accused before the various judges and tribunals. However, this office retains significant judicial functions and, like other elements of the civilian judiciary, it is struggling to make the transition from a Napoleonic to a mixed legal system that incorporates an adversarial aspect.

In an attempt to address impunity, the Prosecutor General in 1995 created a special human rights unit as part of the regional courts system. As of December, the group of 30 prosecutors had 788 open cases involving massacres, extrajudicial killings, kidnapings, and terrorism during the year, with 1,342 suspects under investigation, of which 234 were members of state security forces. The unit's prosecutors have issued arrest warrants against members of the security forces and of paramilitary, guerrilla, and drug trafficking organizations. As of December, the human rights unit had under arrest 275 members of state security forces, had charges filed against 214, and had 56 members of the state security services on trial for a variety of charges including homicide, torture, kidnaping, and sponsorship of paramilitary groups. The security forces demonstrated a greater willingness to follow up with instructions that those ordered arrested be removed from their duties, denied the right to wear a uniform, or turned over to civilian judicial authorities. The Ministry of Defense and the Fiscalia reported that all military and police charged with a human rights crimes are suspended from their duties and placed on half-pay. At year's end, 107 military and 74 police were suspended. However, for various reasons including lack of resources for investigation, lack of protection for witnesses and investigators, lack of coordination between government organs, and in some cases, obstruction of justice by individuals, impunity continued to be very widespread.

In addition to providing public defense attorneys in criminal cases, the Human Rights Ombudsman's 34 departmental and regional offices throughout the country provide a legal channel for thousands of complaints and allegations of human rights violations. However, in practice the Ombudsman's operations are underfunded and understaffed, slowing its development of a credible public defender system. Human Rights Ombudsman Eduardo Cifuentes was active during the year in criticizing and reporting human rights violations and in visiting the sites of massacres. His office has worked to improve training and support of its personnel and has begun to build a nationwide Early Warning System, now operational, to help prevent massacres.

Within the FARC-controlled despeje zone, local FARC leaders effectively supplanted judicial authorities and declared the establishment of an alternative, FARC-run "justice system." In the face of FARC intimidation, all elements of the civilian judiciary fled the zone. Residents of the zone regularly were denied the right to a fair trial. Continuing concern about arbitrary FARC justice in the zone led the authorities to stress that governmental justice must be present.

The Government states that it does not hold political prisoners.

The Government granted the ICRC access to monitor approximately 3,900 cases of imprisoned citizens accused of terrorism, rebellion, or aiding and abetting the insurgency, which are crimes punishable under law.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The law provides for the protection of these rights; however, at times the authorities infringed upon them. The law generally requires a judicial order signed by a prosecutor for the authorities to enter a private home, except in cases of hot pursuit. The MOD continued training public security forces in legal search procedures that comply with constitutional and human rights. Due to intimidation, corruption, or the absence of evidentiary proof collected directly by prosecutors, judicial authorities routinely set free paramilitary and guerrilla suspects captured by the security forces in or out of combat.

The authorities may intercept mail or monitor telephones only with a judicial order. This protection extends to prisoners held in jails. However, various state authorities sometimes monitored telephones without obtaining prior authorization. There were unconfirmed reports by some human rights groups that members of the security forces subjected them to surveillance, harassment, or threats (see Section 4).

In April then-Prosecutor General Alfonso Gomez Mendez announced a formal investigation of extensive illegal wiretapping by the Medellin GAULA (a combined police and army antikidnapping unit)(see Section 1.b.). Investigators working on the October 2000 disappearance of ASFADDES workers Angel Quintero and Claudia Patricia Monsalve uncovered evidence that the GAULA tapped 2,500 telephone lines without proper authorization, including those of ASFADDES and other human rights organizations (see Section 4). Police captain Harvey Gerardo Grijalba Suarez was arrested but subsequently released for lack of evidence. Nine other persons, including two other police officers, were investigated but not charged in the case. Prosecutors are investigating the April 4 murder of police officer Carlos Ceballos Gomez, who testified in the case (see Section 1.a.). The Inspector General's office is conducting a separate disciplinary investigation.

In August the Prosecutor General's anticorruption unit cleared six members of the DAS who were suspected of illegal wiretapping in Bogota over the course of several years.

Guerrillas used wiretaps and accessed bank accounts of citizens at roadblocks to select kidnap victims.

In 1999 the Government announced that no one under the age of 18 could enter military service, even with the consent of a parent; previously, individuals over 16 years of age but below age 18 could volunteer to join the military with parental permission but were barred from serving in combat.

The Ministry of the Interior reported increased recruitment of minors by illegal armed groups during the year. The MOD reported that an increased number of minors deserted from illegal armed groups; 93 children under the age of 18 surrendered to state security forces during the year, compared with 72 in 2000 and 29 in 1999.

In August the Human Rights Ombudsman reported increased recruitment of minors by paramilitary groups. In late July, a previously unknown armed group kidnaped 10 youths, whom they first attempted to recruit, from a gove