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| Attacks Cut Lifeline in Colombia |
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Posted by FoM on July 27, 2001 at 11:03:12 PT By Juan O. Tamayo Source: Baltimore Sun 
In a region so rich in oil that it's been called "Saudi Arauca," 70-year-old Transito Pelayo may die because a public hospital lacks $10 for blood tests needed to monitor her failing heart. And that, in one of the ugliest pages of Colombia's bloody war, is because leftist FARC guerrillas are trying to blackmail two U.S. and Colombian oil companies by mercilessly bombing an oil pipeline whose royalties cover 92 percent of all the region's government budgets. "They say they fight for the people, but they are hurting us," said Pelayo's daughter Rosalba, sobbing as doctors at the San Vicente Hospital sent her to a much more expensive private clinic for her mother's tests. FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has bombed the 18-inch pipeline 110 times since the beginning of the year, shutting it down almost completely and costing $400 million in lost crude sales income alone. With royalties shriveled to a trickle, compared with $100 million last year, state and municipal governments have halted all public works and most nonemergency procedures at public hospitals and laid off hundreds of workers. Not to mention the ecological damage caused by the millions of barrels of crude spilled, leaving huge black splotches around this Everglades-like waterlogged region of emerald-green savannas on Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela. Colombia's army sent in 2,000 reinforcements last month and banned all highway travel between dusk and dawn, but military and police officers say it's nearly impossible to totally secure the 483-mile pipeline. "This is an area totally dominated by the guerrillas," said Maj. Hector Castellanos, deputy police chief for the region. "If the Americans can't guard their border with Mexico, how can we guard this tube?" A bleak outlook And the future looks bleaker. FARC has ordered a statewide strike for later this month - to be enforced with guns and bombs, as well as by expanding the blockade it has maintained since March on beer, soft drink and bottled water distributors who are refusing its extortion demands. And the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia group, right-wing gunmen who regularly massacre suspected guerrilla sympathizers, has announced it will soon send 300 fighters to the region to drive off the rebels. "We are in a state of total collapse. This situation has overflowed all the limits," said Jorge Cedeno, mayor of the city of Arauca, capital of the state with the same name. Profitable business Bombing the pipeline has been a profitable guerrilla business since Occidental Petroleum, based in California, struck oil in 1985 in nearby Cano Limon and Colombia's national ECOPETROL company began operating the pipeline to the Caribbean port of Covenas. At first it was the leftist National Liberation Army that blackmailed subcontractors. The ELN also ensured that its sympathizers received a share of public works contracts and endorsed candidates for government offices. With 800 fighters in the region and 3,500 nationwide, the ELN holds a large slice of the political power in Arauca. But military control has passed to the 17,000-member FARC, which nearly doubled its presence here in the past year from 600 rebels to about 1,100. FARC is demanding most of the extortion profits, accounting for two-thirds of the 110 pipeline bombings this year - compared with 96 bombings in 2000 by both groups - that all but totally shut down operations. "The ELN used to sip from the pipeline through a straw. But now the FARC wants to put the tube to its throat and drink it all up," a top Occidental official at the Cano Limon field said. Top Occidental officials in Bogota have repeatedly said the company "remains committed to staying in Colombia" despite the bombing spree. "But, of course, this hurts us. It hurts everyone, but this company also," said a spokesman for the company, whose contract here expires in 2005. The poor and FARC Poor people such as Rosalba Pelayo, 45, whose hometown of Tame, 80 miles southwest of Arauca, has been ruled by FARC for several years, say they can't understand why FARC has become so troublesome. "We always coexisted. They were there, and we were there, so we had to recognize that fact of life. But now they have become bad boys. Why? Why? I just don't understand," Pelayo said. Sympathizers say FARC wants to prompt a debate on energy issues - Arauca's need for higher royalties, the right of "Yankee" Occidental to exploit national resources and the national government's abandonment of the region. "They want to drive this issue into the national stage, put it on the bargaining table," said Enrique Pertuz, a former Communist Party member of the Arauca state legislature. Peace talks fruitless FARC and President Andres Pastrana have been engaged in 30 months of nearly fruitless peace talks in a demilitarized region the size of Switzerland in southern Colombia that Pastrana ceded the rebels in 1998. But most others see it differently. "This is a fight between two groups of bandits to enrich themselves and gain more power by simple extortion," Castellanos said. FARC communiques have vowed that the pipeline bombings will not stop until government officials they accuse of pro-ELN leanings resign - including Cedeno, state Gov. Hector Gallardo and nine of the state's 12 assemblymen. Economy hindered FARC's bombing spree has hobbled the economy of Arauca city, which has expanded from 15,000 to 60,000 residents since 1985 as royalties have paid for paved roads, electricity, fancy municipal offices and a municipal wave pool. The city received $5,500 in royalties during May, less than 1 percent of the amount it had expected to receive. The Cano Limon pipeline's income is split 40-40-20 between Occidental, ECOPETROL and royalties. Occidental has laid off 500 contract workers, and businessmen say 2,000 people have lost their jobs bottling and delivering beer and soft drinks - now smuggled from Venezuela and sold at twice the usual price. The San Vicente hospital closed two of its three surgery rooms, cut outpatient services by half and stopped paying salaries since March, forcing many employees to borrow from loan sharks at 10 percent interest per month. Hospital's budget tight The hospital cannot afford to repair its four ambulances - broken for months - and its laboratory has money to perform only 10 of the 50 types of diagnostic tests it once carried out. "Another week or two of this and people will begin dying, if they haven't already," said Javier Vargas, hospital director for subsidized services to poor patients. Gallardo and Cedeno have asked for negotiations among rebels, the national government and regional officials on economic development programs in return for a rebel promise to stop bombing the pipeline. "The solution is not to armor-plate the tube militarily, but to armor-plate it socially," Cedeno said, arguing that an improved economy would give the region's residents an enticement to help protect the pipeline. Oil: Guerrillas are bombing a pipeline responsible for most of a poor area's income, hobbling its economy and leading to reduced health services. Source: Baltimore Sun (MD) Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News U.S. Presence Grows in Andes Oil Rigged - Americas.org Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #3 posted by Rambler on July 28, 2001 at 07:33:26 PT |
| This is the real issue.This is the main reason for the Plan Colombia sham,and now the "Andes Initiative". Big oil,Texas Tea,Black Gold. The article makes it seem as if the local economies have been crippled by the FARC.What a bunch of crap!Just what percentage of the profits from this oil that Occidental is sucking out of Colombia were the local,indigenous people recieving in the first place? Big Oil is the main lubricant for this Drug War fiasco in South America,and Lehder is right,all of a sudden,Venezuela will be the object of the next "Plan". This is going to get way uglier. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Lehder on July 27, 2001 at 13:17:53 PT |
| Two thirds of the world's proven reserves of crude oil lie in the Middle East. North America has 7.1% of proven supply and South America 8.7%. http://environment.about.com/library/weekly/aa092600.htm?once=true& How does South America's supply break down by country? Venezuela has by far the lion's share of 77 billion barrels while Colombia has known reserves of only 2.6 bb. (World consumption is just under 80 million barrels per day.): Colombia's known oil reserves amount to 2.6 billion barrels, far fewer than those of the world's major oil powers. But only about 20 percent of the country's potential oil regions have been explored, due to the violence. Desperate for more investment, President Andrés Pastrana's administration sweetened the terms a year ago, allowing foreign companies more of the profit from Colombian oil operations.... Venezuelan oil weighs heavy in U.S. strategy for the region. The third-largest U.S. oil supplier and the hemisphere's sole OPEC member, Venezuela has 77 billion barrels in Where will the next great oil discoveries be made? Some say Israel, some say Iraq. I have no opinion. But I predict that cocaine will be discovered in Venezuela. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Sudaca on July 27, 2001 at 11:27:45 PT |
| "And that, in one of the ugliest pages of Colombia's bloody war, is because leftist FARC guerrillas are trying to blackmail two U.S. and Colombian oil companies by mercilessly bombing an oil pipeline whose royalties cover 92 percent of all the region's government budgets. " Yes, and the two U.S. oil companies are very well represented in the "factic powers" (I mangle a good South American euphemism).. However, this issue doesn't have the same purported support as the "drug war" so there we go. [ Post Comment ] |
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