Colombia Makes Arrests Without Warrants

ANDREW SELSKY / AP 10sep02

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia stepped up its emergency powers Tuesday to battle growing insurgency violence, announcing it can detain people without warrants, restrict travel and impose curfews.

The move was the strongest yet taken by President Alvaro Uribe, who assumed office on Aug. 7 pledging to bring order to this violent South American nation.

Uribe imposed the "state of unrest" on Aug. 12, and immediately ordered a new tax to help finance the stepped-up war against rebels and paramilitaries. He also ordered an expansion of the country's police and military.

Going further, Uribe's government declared Tuesday it can conduct searches without presenting warrants and the president can create special zones in which travel can be restricted and curfews imposed. A military commander would be in charge of all security forces in the zones, but could also question civilian residents and visitors.

Judicial authorities would still have to authorize searches, but security forces would not have to present the warrants when conducting raids.

"We've been tardy in taking measures of this nature," Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez told parliament.

"In many cases, the security forces have had evidence of the presence of terrorist groups ... but have had to deal with a restrictive legal framework that kept them from reacting quickly," Ramirez said.

The new measures announced Tuesday suspend some constitutional guarantees.

Under the decree, Colombia's security forces can arrest suspects without warrants. The detainee would then have to be brought before a prosecutor within 24 hours. Prosecutors would then have an additional 36 hours to charge the suspect with a crime.

Authorities can also tap communications lines with a judicial order in order to seek criminal evidence or to prevent a crime, the government said in a statement.

Foreigners in Colombia must appear before the authorities when ordered to, or face expulsion from the country.

Colombians, who elected the hardline Uribe by a landslide, have widely supported his efforts to crush the insurgents and impose state control over this turbulent nation. But there was some fear the government was going too far.

Gustavo Gallon, director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, a human rights group, said security forces have been unable to find and arrest thousands of Colombians who already have warrants out for them, and are now being asked to arrest people with no warrants.

"Paradoxically, in seeking to create more security for the population, they are creating more insecurity," Gallon said.

One of the strongest measures authorizes the government to create "Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation."

One of the strongest authorizes the government to create "Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation."

"They are geographic areas affected by the actions of criminal groups in which the government can apply exceptional measures to guarantee the protection of civilians and institutional stability," the government statement said.

A military commander would be authorized to verify where residents and visitors in the zone live and what they do for a living.

Colombia's war, now in its 38th year, pits two leftist rebel armies against the government and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups.