Last Tuesday, October 25, the Senate approved in a second debate the project that intends to gradually eliminate compulsory military service in the country. This is a constitutional reform that has been promoted by Senator Humberto de la Calle and House Representative Daniel Carvalho.
(Read: They ask Petro not to follow “Argentina’s mistakes that lead to poverty”).
It should be noted that the proposal does not seek to end the total service completely but with its mandatory nature. This initiative would modify article 216 of the Political Constitution so that it reads: “The public force will be integrated exclusively by the Military Forces and the National Police. Compulsory military service will only be allowed in cases of foreign war or internal commotion“.
To this article is added a gradual clearing that would be completely eliminated by 2030 when the authors of the initiative hope that the Public Force be professionalized and the National Government implement the social service for peace.
De la Calle told EL TIEMPO that the proposal seeks to lower the obligation in an “extraordinary and progressive” manner. He clarified that they do not want to weaken the Armed Forces.
(See: The reasons that led Gustavo Bolívar to resign from the Senate).
“We’ve been open-minded talking to different groups, including the active military who are charged with these decisions, and we’re broad-minded to look for some middle ground. There are soldiers who say: do not eliminate the service, eliminate the obligation, because there are many Colombians who have the military as a life project“said the senator.
For now, the initiative goes to the House of Representatives and there are still six more debates to reform this article of the Political Constitution. It is important to note that the project was discussed in the midst of a controversy over the collapse of the elimination of social service as an alternative to compulsory military service. An article contemplated in Law 418, which is one of the legal frameworks of the ‘total peace’ of Gustavo Petro.
(Keep reading: Agrarian reform: Government will no longer buy 3 million ha of land).
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