DATE=3/22/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA WAR
NUMBER=5-45977
BYLINE=BILL RODGERS
DATELINE=BOGOTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT=
INTRO: Colombia's guerrilla conflict directly affected
millions of Colombians Tuesday when they were left
without electricity following a series of rebel attacks
against the power system. As V-O-A's Bill Rodgers
reports from Bogota, the guerrillas appear to be
demonstrating their ability to disrupt the country.
TEXT: Tuesday's power outage blacked out Colombia's
capital, Bogota, and other major cities in the central
and northeastern parts of the country. In all, nine of
Colombia's 32 departments were left without power for
much of the day - and authorities estimate the blackout
caused at least ten million dollars in damage to the
Colombian economy.
The power outage was directly related to a series of
attacks over the weekend by rebels of the leftist
National Liberation Army, or E-L-N (Eds: Ejercito de
Liberacion Nacional) against the country's electrical
grid. E-L-N guerrillas Sunday dynamited a major
substation in the department of Antioquia and downed 17
electrical towers throughout the country.
Authorities say the rebel action damaged more than one-
third, or 36-percent, of the nation's electrical
generating capacity. As a result, demand for
electricity in the rest of the country put too great a
strain on the system - causing what became the largest
national blackout in recent years.
In an editorial Wednesday, the newspaper El Espectador
observed that the power outages have brought the war
home to millions of people in Colombia's major cities.
The newspaper noted that many of these city residents
perhaps had never been so directly affected by the
decades-old guerrilla conflict - Latin America's
longest.
The E-L-N has been systematically attacking the
nation's electrical grid to press its demand that the
government not privatize the energy sector. But
Colombian authorities say the rebel action simply
causes greater economic hardship for Colombians,
including the poor. Analyst Sergio Uribe says the E-L-
N's strategy may be counterproductive.
/// FIRST URIBE ACT ///
The E-L-N has a great gift for self-destruction.
These guys are telling the government that the
cost for stopping the sabotage of the country's
electrical system is number one - to be paid one-
billion dollars in cash, and number two - not to
sell off the state-owned enterprises. This just
sort of blows your mind away (shocks you) because
we're not in the 60's and their ideology seems to
have stayed in the 60's.
/// END ACT ///
The E-L-N, formed in 1964, has just five thousand
fighters - compared to Colombia's largest guerrilla
group, known as the FARC, which has an estimated 17-
thousand. The government of President Andres Pastrana
has opened preliminary peace talks with the FARC in a
large demilitarized zone in the southern part of the
country.
The E-L-N also has been pressing the government to open
discussions, but the two sides have failed to agree on
a rebel demand to set up a similar demilitarized zone
for talks. Some analysts believe the latest E-L-N
attacks on the electrical system may be aimed at
pressuring the government to bow to its demands.
The impasse demonstrates the difficulty of ending
Colombia's guerrilla conflict. Again, analyst Sergio
Uribe.
/// URIBE ACT ///
I think everyone wants peace, the problem is how
do you achieve peace? Do you have to show you
are capable of destroying a town - is that one
way? Or do you have to show you have an air
force that can bomb the hell out of a guerrilla
column? Or do you have to sabotage the electrical
distribution system to such an extent that Bogota
has no light? Which of all these elements are
the ones that can tell you how to make peace?
/// END ACT ///
The guerrilla war, which has left some 30-thousand
people dead in just the past decade, shows no sign of
ending soon. And Tuesday's massive blackout is a
reminder of the conflict's continuing costs for
Colombia. (Signed)
NEB/WFR/KL/gm
22-Mar-2000 15:07 PM EDT (22-Mar-2000 2007 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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