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Colombia Conscription and Military Service
According to Article 165 of the Constitution, "all
Colombians
are bound to bear arms when public necessity so requires,
in order
to defend the independence of the nation and the
institutions of
the country." The military service law stipulated that all
Colombian males, upon reaching eighteen years of age, were
obliged
to present themselves for military service. Colombian
males
maintained a military service obligation until reaching
fifty years
of age. Those males over the age of thirty who had
fulfilled their
service requirement were considered members of the
military
reserves until reaching forty-five years of age; those
under the
age of thirty who had completed their military service
would first
be called up in the event of a national emergency.
In 1988 women remained exempt from the service
obligation and
played virtually no role in Colombia's armed forces.
Military
service exemptions also were routinely granted to priests
and
physically handicapped individuals as well as to
individuals who
could prove themselves to be essential for the support of
their
families. Individuals who received an exemption based on
family
hardship were required to pay a special tax in lieu of
performing
the obligatory service. Deferments were available for
students, who
had to renew them annually, and for young men who already
had a
brother in the service. Detention in jail also enabled one
to
obtain a deferment; those convicted of crimes that
deprived them of
their political rights were not subject to conscription.
Despite legislatively mandated military service, in
practice
only about 16,000 to 18,000 of an estimated 150,000 to
200,000
eligible male youths were drafted annually. In 1987 the
term of
service for these youths was one year, reduced from the
previous
requirement of two years' service. The number of youths
carrying
out the obligatory service requirement in 1987 rose to an
estimated
28,200. The requirement could be fulfilled by duty with
either the
army, the navy, the air force, or the National Police. In
1987 over
90 percent of these youths were completing their service
with the
army. Upon completing their service, conscripts were given
a
reservist card (tarjeta de reservista). This card
was an
indispensable document in proving an individual's identity
throughout his adult life.
Conscripts were selected for service by lotteries
carried out
in each municipality. The majority of those selected
reportedly
were poor and from rural areas. During the early 1980s, an
attempt
was made to enforce more uniformly the military service
obligation,
regardless of socioeconomic standing. Although by 1988
youths from
middle-class families were being increasingly called on to
complete
their military service, those from wealthy families
continued to
evade the obligatory service requirement.
Because of the low level of education of many
conscripts--who
were commonly referred to as recruits--basic training
frequently
included literacy instruction as well as courses in
military
science and field maneuvers. This training customarily was
carried
out at the military's applications schools rather than
with units
in the field.
Male citizens between the ages of sixteen and fifty
were
eligible for enlistment in the army or navy. The army's
minimum age
for enlistees was nineteen, the navy's sixteen. Those
enlisting
under the age of twenty were required to present proof of
permission granted by either their parents or their
guardian. Both
enlistees and conscripts had to take physical and mental
examinations, the passing grades for which could be
adjusted
according to the military's manpower needs. Those showing
aptitude
were eligible for training in technical fields, such as
electronics.
Those individuals considered candidates for the
noncommissioned
officer (NCO) corps were selected from the volunteers in
each
conscript class. In turn, those who wished to become
career
military officers were screened by a board of officers and
were
required to pass an examination in academic and practical
military
subjects. Upon meeting these minimal requirements, the
individual
was appointed to the lowest NCO grade. Gaining admission
to the
Military Cadet School--which was considered difficult for
most
enlistees, given the school's high educational and
physical
entrance requirements--was viewed as a prerequisite for a
career as
a commissioned officer. Consequently, the wide gap between
enlisted
personnel and the officer corps--a function of the
disparity
between the two groups' socioeconomic standing and
educational
background--generally meant that there was little
opportunity for
NCOs to become commissioned officers.
Military promotions for the NCOs and the commissioned
officer
corps were strictly regulated by law. Promotions for the
higher
ranks of the commissioned officer corps required
congressional
approval. A variety of decrees and statutes established
the
professional requirements for an officer to achieve a
specific
rank. These laws also spelled out the minimum number of
years that
an officer had to remain in a rank before being eligible
for
promotion, the obligatory retirement age for each rank,
and the
maximum number of officers in each rank. Generals were
required to
retire at the age of sixty-five. It was not uncommon,
however, for
exceptions to this regulation to be made in the case of
highranking military officials.
Data as of December 1988
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