Colombia facing oil pipeline attacks before presidential election
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-colombia-rebel-attacks-20140405,0,2704210.story
The head of the Colombian government delegation for peace talks with the FARC rebel group, Humberto de la Calle, right, and High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo arrive for a new cycle of negotiations at the Conventions Palace in Havana.
Colombia facing oil pipeline attacks before presidential election
By Chris Kraul
April 4, 2014, 4:29 p.m.
BOGOTA, Colombia Attacks by insurgents on Colombia's oil pipelines and labor force could intensify before May's presidential election and June's 50th anniversary of the founding of the country's largest rebel group, analysts said Friday.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC, has been blamed for most previous bombings, which are seen as a brutal reminder of the rebels' capabilities as peace negotiations with the government continue in Havana, said Orlando Hernandez, a Bogota-based security consultant with Agora Consultorias.
"It's a way for the rebels to say they aren't finished as a fighting force, contrary to what the government has been insisting since the talks started in 2012," said Hernandez, a former Colombia National Police officer who advises multinational companies on security issues.
The attacks amount to a "cheap and effective way of pressuring the government at the negotiating table," said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of the Medellin think tank InSight Crime, which tracks Colombian organized crime.