MILITARY JUSTICE REFORM: SLOW BUT ON TRACK

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 001850

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2016
TAGS: PGOV MARR MOPS PHUM SNAR CO
SUBJECT: MILITARY JUSTICE REFORM: SLOW BUT ON TRACK

REF: A. 05 BOGOTA 3235


B. 05 BOGOTA 10963

Classified By: Political Counselor Jeffrey DeLaurentis;
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Colonel Rodrigo Martinez, Deputy Director of
Colombia's Military Justice System, met with Poloffs on
February 28 to discuss military justice reform progress. He
said Congress is expected to approve the "shock" reform
package, which would create an administrative process for
service-related misdemeanors, in its next session, which
begins March 16 and ends in June. The Military Justice
office expects to implement these reforms within weeks of
approval. Congressional approval for the second, more
comprehensive, wave of reforms is not expected until after
the next Congress takes office in August. End Summary.


2. (C) Poloffs meet with Colonel Rodrigo Martinez, Deputy
Director of the Military Justice System, on February 28 to
get an update on military justice reform. According to
Martinez, Congress did not approve the "shock" reform package
introduced last spring before recessing in December.
Irregularities in the last of the four required rounds of
debate in the Senate caused the President to send the reforms
back to the Senate for one more debate after the next session
starts March 16. The goal is to circumvent possible
constitutional challenges to the "shock" reforms.
Congressional approval is expected to follow soon after the
last debate. The "shock" reforms will create an
administrative process for service-related misdemeanors,
which make up 40 percent of the military justice case load,
and would prevent the "collapse" of the military justice
system under the weight of over 14,500 cases -- which
Martinez says is "imminent." (Refs A and B provide more
detailed information on the proposed reforms.) Martinez says
that the administrative process created by the "shock"
reforms could be implemented within weeks of Congressional
approval. Implementing the reforms only requires training of
magistrates on the new administrative system. He added that
the Military Justice System staff have been working on
training materials for magistrates while Congress has been
out of session; magistrate training will take approximately
one week.


3. (C) As noted in Ref B, the second wave of reforms, which
involves an overhaul of the entire military justice code,
will be introduced in the new Congress in August. Martinez
expects debate to be lengthy.


4. (C) Martinez noted that Brigadier General Puentes, the
Military Justice System Director, as well as a group of
military magistrates, were in London this week on a
UK-sponsored program on the British military justice system.
WOOD