Military Forces of Colombia

Military Forces of Colombia
Fuerzas Militares de Colombia
The tri-service badge
Service branches

National Army
National Navy
Naval Infantry
Air Force

National Police
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief President Juan Manuel Santos
Minister of Defense Juan Carlos Pinzón
General Commander General Alejandro Navas Ramos
Manpower
Military age 18
Conscription 18 months Army and Air Force, 24 months Navy, 12 Months National Police
Available for
military service		 23,287,388 (2008 est.)[1], age 15–49 (2005 est.)
Fit for
military service		 17,976,288(2008 est.)[1], age 15–49 (2005 est.)
Reaching military
age annually		 875,595[1] (2005 est.)
Active personnel 444,518 [2] As of September 2013 (ranked 12th)
Expenditures
Budget COL$17,699,812 million (2013) [2]
(apx. US$9.1 billion)
Percent of GDP 3.3% (2012) [3]
Industry
Domestic suppliers Indumil
Cotecmar
Foreign suppliers  United States
 Israel
 Brazil
 South Africa
 Spain
 Belgium
 Germany
 France
 United Kingdom
 Sweden
 Canada
 Austria

The Military Forces of Colombia (Spanish: Fuerzas Militares de Colombia) are the armed forces of the Republic of Colombia.
More specifically, the Colombian Constitution (Spanish: Constitución Política de Colombia) includes two overlapping definitions of what could be defined as 'armed forces' in English:

This is a subtle yet important distinction, both in terms of emphasizing the civil nature of the National Police, and some differences that may apply to it as a service, as well as in clearing confusion when dealing with documents and references about the Colombian armed forces, in particular due to the large size of the police and the military-style operation and training of some of its most noticeable units, as a result of the Colombian Conflict.

Services

The Colombian armed forces consist of:
Military Forces:

And,

Strength numbers As of September 2013 [2]

ForceServiceOfficerSub-Officer/NCOEnlistedTraineeCivilianTotal
Military Colombian Army9,48533,917171,4343,6605,856224,352
Military Colombian Navy2,4578,73620,7731,1461,97435,086
Military Colombian Air Force2,4993,6034,1341,0502,74714,033
Public Colombian National Police6,6913,560 146,6879,3994,398170,735
Total444,206

Dependencies

The Specific Command of San Andres y Providencia was created on March 5, 1983 by the Ministry of Defense of Colombia. The Command is stationed in the islands of San Andres y Providencia which are located in the Caribbean sea northeast of Colombia between 10°49'00N y 16°10'10N and 76°15'00W y 82°00'00W.[4]

Funding

In 1999, Colombia assigned 3.6% of its GDP to defense, according to the National Planning Department. By 2007 this figure had risen to 6.1% of GDP, one of the highest rates in the world. The armed forces number about 250,000 uniformed personnel: 145,000 military and 105,000 police. These figures do not include assistance personnel such as cooks, medics, mechanics, and so on. This makes the Colombian military one of the largest and most well-equipped in Latin America. Many Colombian military personnel have received military training assistance directly in Colombia and also in the United States. The United States has provided equipment and financing to the Colombian military and police through the military assistance program, foreign military sales, and the international narcotics control program, all currently united under the auspices of Plan Colombia.

World factbook statistics

Rank Insignia

See also

References and notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The World Fact Book - Colombia". CIA. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Logros de la Política Integral de Seguridad y Defensa para la Prosperidad - PISDP - Septiembre 2013" (PDF) (in Spanish). Republic of Colombia Ministry of National Defense. September 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-22.
  3. ↑ "Military expenditure (% of GDP)". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  4. ↑

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Other Links

Colombian conflict (1964–present)

Participants

Timeline

Key aspects

• La Violencia (1948-1958)
• Marquetalia Republic
• The National Front
• Dominican Embassy (1980)
• Palace of Justice (1985)
• Patriotic Union Party extermination
• Humanitarian exchange
• Mapiripán Massacre (1997)
• Peace process (1999-2002)
• Bojayá massacre (2002)
• Valle del Cauca Deputies
hostage crisis (2002-2009)
• El Nogal Club bombing (2003)
• Parapolitics scandal (2006–7)
• Operation Emmanuel
• Andean diplomatic crisis (2008)
• Operation Jaque
 Lawsuits 

• Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola (2001)
• Rodriquez v. Drummond (2003)
• Doe v. Chiquita (2007)

 Kidnappings 

• Kidnappings in Colombia
• List of political hostages held by FARC

 Illegal drug trade 

• Illegal drug trade in Colombia
• War on Drugs
• Narcoterrorism

 Government aspects 

• Democratic security
• Plan Colombia
• Plan Patriota
• Colombia–United States relations
• Human rights in Colombia
• Politics of Colombia



Guerrillas
 Government of Colombia Paramilitaries

• FARC-EP
• ELN
• EPL
• List of FARC attacks

Former guerrillas
• M19
• MOEC
• CGSB
• ERP
• Jorge Alberto Rodriguez The 400
• Movimiento Armado Quintin Lame

Linked to
• PCCC
• Foro de São Paulo
• PCC(M-L)
• Cuban revolutionaries
• Provisional IRA
• ETA
• ANNCOL
• Fighters+Lovers
• Colombian drug cartels
• Some politicians

Former government program
• CONVIVIR

Linked to
• DynCorp International
•  United Nations
•  United States
•  European Union
•  Canada

• Águilas Negras
• Los Rastrojos
• Los Urabeños

Former paramilitaries
• AUC
• AAA

Linked to
• Spearhead Ltd
• Colombian drug cartels
• CONVIVIR
• Some Colombian
military personnel
• Some politicians

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