(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A FARC guerrilla attack on an oil pipeline has created an environmental disaster while destroying 12 homes and displacing more than 50 families.
The Colombian armed forces, state oil company Ecopetrol, and the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development are racing to form a contingency plan to prevent run off from the oil spill from contaminating the region's water supply. The Catatumbo River that has already been affected, flows into Venezuela where it empties into Lake Maracaibo.
The attack late Tuesday on the Caño Limón-Coveñas oil pipeline has led Ecopetrol to temporarily suspend its oil production in the Catatumbo until it has the situation under the control.
In response to the uproar regarding the most recent spate of attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on vital points of the country's infrastructure, the rebel group has again called for a bilateral cease-fire from Cuba, where it has been engaged in peace talks with the Colombian government since November 2012.
"Despite Santos' inconsistencies and distortions, the guerrilla joins the national and international clamor for a bilateral cease-fire," FARC secretariat member and spokesperson JoaquÃn Gómez said Wednesday.
Gómez continued that while differences still exist, "these disagreements shouldn't prevent us from pacting a bilateral cease-fire". He said such an agreement "is all a matter of political will".
According to Ecopetrol, the company has registered more than 16 attacks by the FARC on pipelines, wells, oil production equipment, maintenance teams and oil transportation vehicles during the last two weeks.
"Those who are directly affected by these attacks are the Colombian citizens especially the poorest, because oil production is reduced, transportation is reduced and therefore the funds for social investment are less, this means fewer schools, fewer health centers, less infrastructure and less finances to pay for their pensions," said Juan Carlos Echeverry, president of Ecopetrol, in a statement released Wednesday regarding the most recent attacks.
Tuesday's attack on Colombia's largest oil pipeline that transports crude oil from the northeastern Arauca province to the Caribbean coast where it is shipped for refinement, is just one in a number of atrocities perpetuated by the FARC since the group called off its unilateral cease-fire in May.
Buenaventura was left powerless late last month after the FARC destroyed a tower that supplied electricity to the Pacific port city of 400,000.
Then on June 11, an attack o the Transandean pipeline in the department of Nariño caused an oil spill of around 4,000 barrels and affected as many as 7,000 families in the region near the city of Tumaco.
Environment Minister Gabriel Vallejo said it will take up to 12 years to fully recover from the damage to the environment.
The long-suffering Colombian public is demanding answers of President Juan Manuel Santos and the legitimacy of the peace dialogues.
In response. Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo tired to address the public's concerns. "There are concerns regarding the attitude of the FARC," he said, while adding that he continues to support Santos. "We reiterate our support of President Santos in the search for a negotiated exit to the conflict, in spite of the difficulties," he said.
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