*REBELS BOMB COLOMBIA'S LARGEST OIL PIPELINE OCENSA, SPARK FOREST FIRE - ARMY

BOGOTA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Marxist "petro-guerrillas" bombed Colombia's largest crude export pipeline, Ocensa, for the third time this year early Tuesday and caused a large forest fire, the army said.

Ocensa, a consortium of British, Canadian, French and Colombian investors, declined to confirm army reports that pumping operations had been halted on the pipeline that serves the 405,000-barrel-per-day Cusiana-Cupiagua oil field, operated by BP Amoco .

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), February 08, 2000

Answers

I wonder if the guerrillas are Y2K-compliant.

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), February 08, 2000.

Their BOMBS must be!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), February 08, 2000.

Gee, maybe bombs actually destroyed the pipelines in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Brazil, etc., too.....

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 08, 2000.

"I wonder if the guerrillas are Y2K-compliant. -- Ed Yourdon"

Ed, I imagine yours is a tongue-in-cheek comment, but the really funny thing is that the guerillas claimed they *are* Y2K compliant! Wasn't there a genuine news item before Rollover (perhaps I saw it on this board, perhaps on Michael Hyatt's) about the tech-savvy FARC guerillas saying they were making sure their internet/email propaganda mechanisms would be ready, whereas the Columbian government would not be...

It's too funny, but apparently it's true.

--Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 08, 2000.

Here is something which is not quite so funny;

Only presented here 'just to get a clue' as to what it "means" when a 'large oil pipeline breaks', i.e. real world consequences.

An 'enlightening' case example for our Dear Reader:

"For 20 years, Texaco pumped oil from the Ecuadorian rainforest, one of the Earth's gems of biodiversity, and home to 300,000 Quichua, Siona, Secoya, Cofan, Shuar, and Huaorani Indigenous people. After extracting more than one billion barrels of crude oil, Texaco washed its hands and pulled out of Ecuador in 1992, leaving behind a colossal mess of toxic waste pits, oil spills, and poisoned communities.

Texaco's legacy to Ecuador;-

Spills totalling 17 million gallons of crude oil (50% more than the Exxon Valdez spill)

Discharge of 20 billion gallons of wastewater, with hydro-carbons,

heavy metals and other toxic contaminants

abandonment of hundreds of unlined toxic waste ponds

Construction of oil roads opening more than 2.5 million acres of the forest to colonization and subsequent destruction, cutting of trees, etc.

Besides extensive damage to rainforest ecosystems, Texaco's operations have affected the people of the Amazon, who use river and rain water for bathing, drinking, and fishing. Skin diseases, stomach ailments, respiratory diseases, headaches, malnutrition, and cancer have surfaced in Native communities affected by Texaco's operations.

Texaco refuses to cleanup, or even to compensate those people whose lives have been affected by their dirty operations."

etc, etc. Now...multiply that by how many oil spills and pipeline bursts/explosions...and you get a better "picture" of what is actually happening; despite these "spectacular" and 'over simplified' "new reports" of these 'events'.

-- steve (WhoCares@nymore.Right?com), February 08, 2000.

As a matter of fact, the guerillas are y2k compliant. There was a major article in the Miami Herald about it several weeks ago. I can get you a link if you like. They carry laptops with satelite phone hook-up's in their back packs. There is a deliberate strategy of damaging the infrastructure.

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), February 08, 2000.

Jose,

Honestly - do you feel the "rebels" are capable of causing more damage than irresponsible corporations in pursuit of profits for the few?

Who's the real "terrorist" here? http://wwww.bashar.com/GSP/McSpotLight.htm

Now, after reading the above - what exactkt do you think they are "rebelling" against?

No affront to you but let's (all) get real for a change...alright? Wouldn't that be refreshing...

-- steve (WhoCares@nymore.Right?com), February 10, 2000.