A guerrilla attrack that overturned an electricity tower has left half a million people in Colombia’s Pacific port city of Buenaventura without power, local media reported on Tuesday.
The coastal city located in the department of Valle de Cauca is the largest port city in Colombia, where more than 50% of imports enter the country, Colombia’s Semana news magazine reported.
Commander of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Paul Romero said there was terrorist activity in the region that knocked out power to the city port on Monday, triggering an emergency situation in hospitals, health centers, and educational institutions among other establishments.
By means of a fly-over, the navy detected the demolished tower and attributed this and the subsequent electricity blackout to the FARC after intercepting communications from the armed group’s mobile column Libardo Garcia.
Police commander Omar Rubiano similarly concluded that the blackout was caused by an attack on electricity towers located in the rural zone of Anchicaya, where the 30th Front of the FARC remains active.
The city-wide blackout lasted until 8:00 PM on Monday.
Attacks on the prominent port city are frequent. The most recent FARC attack to the port city with large-scale consequences was in 2013, when the FARC damaged an electrical tower which disabled the local electrical grid.
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