The FARC has been fighting the Colombian national government for over 40 years. While their attacks have included high-profile kidnappings, extortion, and protection rackets, the group often targets critical infrastructure ? typically the oil/extraction industry ? for bombings and sabotage. These undertakings not only bring the media spotlight on the group, but also adversely affect the national economy, bringing dismay upon it by the local citizenry. Further, continued attacks wears away at the confidence of the electorate in its government, President Alvaro Uribe , who ran on an anti-rebel platform and who may seek a re-election bid in May 2006. While the FARC did not outright claim responsibility for the attack, authorities have laid blame squarely on the group.

This particular attack took place along the Ecuadorian border, an area largely controlled by rebels in Cauca province, in the southwest of Colombia. The group targeted six electrical towers, leaving 2.3 million people in the dark. This has not been that common in 2005; however, in 2002, the group damaged upward of 483 towers. Typically, outages have not been of this caliber, but the September 5 attack hit crucial towers to “large circuits.” Ecuador began exporting electricity to the affected area. It will take days before the towers are repaired, as the Colombian army must secure the area before repair crews can begin repairs. This attack, however, was underscored with Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Antonio Parra Gil, who has long had positive relations with the US, condemning the US’ Plan Colombia, saying, “I see Plan Colombia as bad,” calling it US interventionism, and claiming that the Plan has had “nothing but negative effects on Ecuador.” Noting that neighboring countries will have an impact on each other, in this case, Ecuador is “[having] a very serious social, economic, and security problem as a result of what is happening in Colombia.” Plan Colombia has totaled nearly $3 billion in an effort to eradicate drugs initially, but also so-called narco-terrorists. Colombia continues to combat the leftist guerrilla movement and its money laundering, kidnapping rings, and its trafficking. Ecuador rejected in June 2005 a US military aid package that was conditional upon providing diplomatic immunity to US military personnel. Parra Gil intends to establish a six-mile boundary along the Colombian border from which crop dusting with herbicide is banned, as it is carried into Ecuador and is detrimental to human, animal, and plant health. In the meantime, Ecuador is forced to man its own border with troops and police to prevent FARC and other rebels from sneaking across to avoid detection and to continue their nefarious dealings.

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