Colombia’s army identified FARC guerrillas as responsible for the explosion Sunday afternoon that burned nearly 1,000 barrels of crude oil in a mining field located near the Venezuelan border in Catatumbo, in the Norte de Santander department, magazine Semana reported Sunday.
Early reports indicated that around 30 FARC subversives arrived at the site and ordered the workers to leave the field owned by Alange Energy before beginning to destroy the petroleum facilities using various types of explosives.
Colombian officials have already been to the scene and indicated that the damage was only material. They did not find any dead or wounded workers as a result of what happened.
Special forces fought late into the night Sunday to protect the oil facility of the Canadian company, Alange Energy, which owns 19 sites throughout Colombia.