Rebel attacks delay Colombia's new
power link with Ecuador
Oct 10, 2007 - EFE
Colombia's leftist FARC rebels knocked down four
pylons of a new line of the electrical interconnection
system between their country and neighboring Ecuador,
whose inauguration had been scheduled for November,
authorities said Wednesday.
The attack occurred Tuesday in Huila province, some
456 kilometers (285 miles) southwest of the Colombian
capital.
According to the commander of the Colombian army's
9th Brigade, Col. Alfonso Lasprilla Villamizar, the
pylons may have been downed with a high explosive
known as anfo.
The guerrillas also planted anti-personnel mines
in the vicinity of the pylons.
The new link to Ecuador, a 230-kilovolt, double-circuit
transmission line that spans 378.6 kilometers (235
miles) and has 787 pylons, is being built by municipally
owned Empresa de Energia de Bogota.
According to figures from power company Interconexion
Electrica, 56 pylons of the interconnection system
had been knocked down in Colombia in 2007 prior to
Tuesday's attacks.
Due to the attack and the damage caused to the network's
infrastructure, the new line - the third linking the
two countries - will not be inaugurated until the
beginning of 2008. EFE
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