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Guerrilla attack on oil pipeline
pollutes 3 Colombian rivers
A Thursday night guerrilla
attack on the Trasandina oil
pipeline in southern Colombia
has released at least 4,000
barrels of petrol into three
rivers -- the Putumayo, the San
Miguel and the Riosucio, local
authorities said on Friday.
The authorities of Narino
department, where the pipeline
lies, met with colleagues from
the neighboring department of
Putumayo, to examine the vast
ecological damage caused by the
spill.
Authorities said that Colombia's
largest rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), had carried out
the attack and blew up the
pipeline with explosives close
to the Ecuador border.
The FARC, and the second largest
armed rebel group the National
Liberation Army (ELN), have
committed repeated attacks on
the country's petroleum
infrastructure. In the 1990s,
the ELN repeatedly dynamited the
oil pipeline that runs from Cano
LImon to the Covenas refinery in
the departments of Arauca in the
east and Sucre in the northeast.
The ELN, which has reduced its
attacks, said the 1990s campaign
was a protest against the
presence of international oil
companies in Colombia.
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