Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Clashes in oilfields kill 17 soldiers and guerrillas

Maria Engqvist | 31.03.2004 12:06 | Social Struggles

15 government troops dead in fresh fighting in Colombia’s southern oil region. President Uribe seeks foreign help to beef up military muscle. US lawmakers promise more soldiers and mercenaries.

28.03.2004 (By Maria Engqvist, ANNCOL) On March 18, 19 and 20, FARC guerrillas attacked government forces in the oilfields of Orito municipality in the southern department of Putumayo, killing 15 soldiers. Furthermore 30 troops from the government's “Plan Energético” Army Battalion, which has been specially created to protect the oil infrastructure in Putumayo, were wounded in the fighting. Two of the attackers were also reported killed.

Canadian oil giant PETROBANK and several US companies are operating in the Putumayo oil region. PETROBANK installations and oil wells have been targeted by guerrilla attacks earlier this year, when rebels forced the foreign companies to suspend their activities.

Only days before the clashes in Putumayo, joint guerrilla forces from FARC and the smaller left-Catholic rebel army ELN attacked a paramilitary unit allied to the Colombian Army in Cesar department, killing two troops. Six other government troops were also reported killed in separate clashes with guerrillas.

Meanwhile visiting Washington, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe won backing from US lawmakers to extend Plan Colombia, a US military aid program, with many willing to increase US military and private mercenaries employed in the Andean nation.

The Senate's leader of minority Democrats, Tom Daschle told AFP that lawmakers were "impressed" with Uribe's fight against leftist rebels and terrorism.

"I don't think there could be a better partnership than the one we have with Colombia in assuring stability and security today, and this is part of it," he said.

"We talked about raising the military cap and many of us support it," he said.

President George W. Bush's administration wants to double the official US forces in Colombia, from 400 to 800 operatives, and mercenaries from 400 to 600.

Guerrillas have downed ten US military planes in recent years, and at least 18 US personnel have been killed. The FARC is holding three captured US agents together with a number of Colombian military officers and high-profile politicians, and have offered to exchange their detainees for captured guerrillas held in jail.

The government of right-wing President Uribe has so far rejected the proposal.


Maria Engqvist
- Homepage: http://www.anncol.org/side/2

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech