The Colombian Armed Forces will focus more on the use of intelligence
work than on man to man battle in its war against the FARC and ELN,
commander Freddy Padilla said Tuesday during the presentation of the
armed forces’ “Strategic Planning Guide 2010”.
Padilla told reporters the army won’t be investing in attracting more soldiers, but in a smarter distribution of its military force, deploying soldiers and material where they are necessary at that moment.
The guerrillas, pushed in the defense “dedicate a large part of their armed force to the defending of what they consider their strategic assets, meaning their illicit crops, hostages and their own leaders,” the general said. Because of that the use of intelligence will prove to be more efficient than the increase of use in bullets.
To decrease the number of human rights violations by the armed forces — hundreds of its members are investigated for the murder on civilians — the army will be stricter in its recruiting process and the punishment of those committing crimes.
