[ad_1]
Colonel Pedro Javier Rojas Guevara, who had been in the institution for more than 30 years, presented his letter of resignation last September. He assures that values such as trust were lost with the arrival of General Eduardo Zapateiro to the military high command.
Colonel Pedro Javier Rojas, director of the Army Doctrine Center, leaves the institution after 33 years as an active member and after leading the Damascus doctrine, which is the “articulating axis of the second great reform of the National Army of Colombia” , as stated in an academic document published in 2017. According to information revealed to the media, the colonel lost confidence in the institutional high command, chaired by General Eduardo Zapateiro.
Also read: This is how the seven soldiers who raped the 12-year-old Embera girl tried to defend themselves.
“It is time to step aside. There were circumstances that we have explained sufficiently that motivated that decision and we already have our eyes set on new challenges and challenges, but with the absolute tranquility of the duty fulfilled “, he assured in an interview with The W. Colonel Pedro Javier Rojas, who has commanded the so-called Damascus doctrine since 2011, submitted his resignation letter on September 22, a request that has not yet been resolved by President Iván Duque.
“I must respectfully but emphatically declare to the President of the Republic that I have absolutely lost confidence in the institutional High Command, headed by General Eduardo Zapateiro, commander of the National Army, which, without a hint of doubt, not only prevents continuing under his orders but, in addition, it goes against my Christian principles and values such as loyalty, fidelity and transparency, “he stated in the resignation letter, according to information from Time
According to the colonel, there is a leadership crisis within the Army. The situation would have worsened, according to his statements, after the arrival of General Zapateiro. Under his mandate “there are 25 fewer generals than there should be and officers of other ranks have also come out,” he explained. In addition, Rojas assures that he could not continue in a work context where ethics and trust were lost.
Colonel Rojas states that the current commander of the military institution does not believe in the Damascus doctrine, which is “the greatest intellectual leap that the Army has made in decades,” as he explained in a radio interview. It is about a series of reforms, consigned in an academic article published in 2017, in the magazine ‘General José María Córdoba’. The guideline, whose planning began in 2011, allowed the Army to position itself before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
You may be interested: They ask CPI to verify the actions of the Military Forces in cases of sexual violence
The document talks about the transformation of the Army in the context of new technologies and the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement. “Given the increase in cyber threats, it was necessary to adopt the measures and controls to protect the institution within the spectrum of the electronic warfare and cyber intelligence. Precisely, working on cyber defense issues implies a commitment to guarantee the security of the information ”, says the doctrine.
According to Colonel Rojas, the new commander Zapateiro, who took office at the end of 2019, would violate one of the fundamental lines of the Damascus doctrine, since there it was stated that the military institution must “incorporate and encourage the leadership model oriented to persuasion and mutual trust between commanders, superiors and subordinates ”. Finally, the next retired officer assures that the guideline has been a success, since, among other things, it has made it possible to strengthen the strategic system with more than 979 tactical tasks.
General Zapateiro, until now, has not commented on this matter.
[ad_2]
