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Colombia Foreign Military Influence
The first major foreign influence on the development of
the
modern Colombian military came with the arrival of the
first of
three Chilean training missions in the early 1900s.
Chilean
officers were instrumental in the early efforts to build a
professional and modern military institution in Colombia.
During the early twentieth century, European countries
also
contributed to the development of the Colombian armed
forces. In
the early 1920s, a French mission provided advice and
technical
training that led to the creation of the Colombian Air
Force. A
Swiss training mission, contracted by the Colombian
government in
1924, remained in the country until 1933. A mission from
Germany,
present from 1929 until 1934, assisted in the development
of the
navy. A British naval mission also participated in the
Colombian
training program between 1936 and 1938 and had a lasting
influence
not only on the Colombian navy's official traditions but
also on
their insignia. Following the departure of the British,
the first
United States Navy mission was established.
By the end of World War II, the United States had
established
itself as the principal foreign influence on the Colombian
armed
forces. The strong United States influence continued in
the 1960s,
when attention turned from the issue of hemispheric
defense to
concern for the maintenance of internal security in the
face of a
communist menace. During the next two decades, thousands
of
Colombian soldiers received training at United States
military
schools, participating in courses that ranged from
counterinsurgency tactics to such topics as international
law and
security or resource management issues. Throughout the
1980s,
Colombia participated in annual joint maneuvers with the
United
States Navy and United States Air Force along the coast of
South
America.
United States military doctrine and tactics remained
the
dominant foreign influence in the 1980s. At the same time,
however,
the armed forces' early exposure to Prussian-style
professionalism
and to the influence of other nations also was evident. By
the late
1980s, the Colombian armed forces had in its equipment
inventory a
substantial amount of matériel from several European
countries--among them France and the Federal Republic of
Germany
(West Germany)--as well as from Argentina and Brazil. The
United
States continued to supply by far the greatest amounts of
equipment, however, much of it on preferential terms.
Bilateral
military relations remained excellent in the late 1980s as
new
efforts were begun to improve the Colombian armed forces'
capabilities in the area of narcotics control and
interdiction.
Data as of December 1988
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