Colombia: Six pipeline bombings in Nariño in 2018

Event

The Trasandino oil pipeline, located in the southwestern department of Nariño, was bombed early on Thursday, April 12, the sixth such bombing in the department since the beginning of the year. The April 12 incident occurred in the municipality of Ricaurte (San Francisco area).

Pipeline attacks regularly force the suspension of pumping activities as well as cause - sometimes disastrous - environmental pollution. The bombings also occasionally result in casualties, for example on March 24 when a soldier was killed and two others wounded in Tumaco municipality. The March 24 attack has been attributed to former members of the now-disbanded FARC guerrilla group (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), also suspected of being behind the April 12 bombing.  

Context

A peace deal between the FARC and the Colombian government was ratified by the Colombian congress in November 2016, officially ending an armed conflict that killed more than 260,000 people over five decades. However, dissident ex-FARC militants remain active in various areas of the country.

Advice

Due to the presence of a number of armed groups - including drug cartels, right-wing militias, local gangs, and the ELN guerilla group in addition to ex-FARC dissidents - some Western governments advise against travel to various regions of the country, including parts of Nariño.