4. Attacks On Pipelines Hurt Environment
This attack doesn’t rank as the worst in terms of human casualties. If you’re concerned about the environment, however, this one will make your stomach roil. In June of 2015, FARC rebels bombed Colombia’s oil pipelines on two separate occasions. As a result, thousands of barrels of oil poured into the country’s rivers and ecosystem.
Over 150,000 people were left without access to potable water. Countless animals were injured, plant life destroyed, and entire ecosystems were disrupted. In sum total these bombings caused one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s history.
So why attack oil pipelines? For one, the extraction of oil benefits the rich. Both elites and the government have reaped huge profits through oil extraction. The FARC, meanwhile, has focused much of its attacks on the wealthy and the government.
As far as political immediacy, the attacks were launched after FARC rebels declared an end to the cease fire in 2015. Negotiations weren’t going the way FARC rebels wanted, so they stepped away from the table and stepped up attacks. The pipeline bombings may have been an effort to force concessions.
In a strange perversion of logic, the FARC rebels called the environmental damage an “undesired consequence” but ultimately blamed the damage on the government and elites. The FARC also said that the “eco-genocide” carried out by the government was far worse.
While the FARC may certainly have had legitimate grips concerning the extraction of natural resources, blowing up an oil pipeline and spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the environment seems like a bad way to express concerns. Many of those who suffered the worst were Colombia’s poor, as well as innocent animals.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos stated that Colombia’s fragile ecosystem might never recover from the damage. Santos also said that the act wasn’t an act of “war” but instead “barbarity”. Meanwhile, non-profits urged the FARC to leave the environment and local communities out of the conflict.