Posted on 09/05/2005 11:11:25 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Suspected rebels dynamited six energy pylons, leaving more than 2.3 million people in southwestern Colombia without electricity, officials said.
An army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities believe Colombia's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was responsible for the attacks early Monday morning that triggered the blackout.
The FARC and a smaller guerrilla group have been fighting the Colombian government for four decades. They often blow up energy towers, bridges, oil pipelines and other infrastructure in an effort to wreak havoc on the economy.
The rebels have de-facto control of large parts of the region where the pylon attacks occurred, and in the past few months have launched several deadly assaults on military installations in the area.
More than 18,000 of the 50-meter (165-foot) tall electrical towers dot Colombia's vast and mountainous territory, making them an easy target. Rebels blew up 121 electrical towers last year, down from an all-time high of 483 in 2002, according to the government.
In most of the attacks, the power outages are not widespread, but Gallon said Monday's attacks hit key pylons linked to large circuits.
Colombia's southern neighbor Ecuador began exporting some energy to the affected area Monday afternoon. But well over a million people were still without power at nightfall, said Gabriel Gallon, spokesman for state-controlled electric company ISA.
ISA officials scrambled for other temporary fixes for areas still in the dark, while the army worked to secure areas around the downed towers so repair crews could enter, said Colombian Mines and Energy Minister Luis Ernesto Mejia. Rebels often sow land mines around the towers after dynamiting them.
Mejia said once the region is secure it could take two days to repair the damaged pylons.
Separately, two people were killed Monday night when a car bomb exploded in an area of southwest Colombia that was without power earlier in the day due to the FARC's attacks, police said.
Col. Henry Plazas, police chief in the city of Pasto, said the two victims may have been preparing a bomb attack when the explosives went off accidentally. A woman walking down the street at the time of the explosion was injured, Plazas said.
He said it was not immediately clear whether the FARC was responsible.
AP-ES-09-06-05 0115EDT
Sniff...Chavez?? Is that you?
Yeppers, FARC is supported and aided by Chavez.
The more power American cities rely on over limited transmission lines makes us even more vulnerable.
Everytime that I see FARC, why does the name Clinton come to mind.
Anything from Carter?
Just a rumor that the narcoterrorists now have a nuclear submarine...
Probably a plot by the candle industry.
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