By December that number had more than doubled to 43,200, and is due to reach 55,000 by the end of this year. Beginning in August, President Andres Pastrana issued a series of decrees reshaping the military justice system and for the first time giving the government discretionary authority to dismiss officers. Military courts were ordered to relinquish all jurisdiction over grave human rights violations by officers. A new Military Justice Corps was also created with professional judge advocates independent of the rest of the military structure. In an unprecedented move, Defense Minister Luis Ramirez unceremoniously dismissed 388 military officers in October.
Military experts concur that the long-overdue reform package is making a difference.
But Rempe and others stress the nation's deeper structural problems will be solved only when the Colombians demonstrate the kind of social and political commitment sadly lacking in the past. The military know that. They are on the front end of it. It's not about killing guerrillas. Bush meets Pastrana President Bush will meet with President Andres Pastrana of Colombia on Tuesday in Washington to discuss the drug war and the peace process in the war-torn country.