Colombian rebels kidnap 23 oil workers

Suspected Farc guerrillas kidnap workers carrying out exploration work in remote jungle area

guardian.co.uk, Reuters, Tuesday 8 March 2011 03.58 GMT

Suspected Farc guerrillas have kidnapped 23 local oil contractors carrying out exploration work in a remote jungle area of Colombia for a Canadian energy company, authorities said.

The governor of Vichada, Juan Carlos Avila, said gunmen forced the contract workers out of the camp from which they were conducting work for Talisman Energy Inc, which is a partner of state oil company Ecopetrol.

"They entered the camp and forced the 23 to go with them into the jungles," Avila told Caracol radio, saying all those kidnapped were Colombian nationals.

The Colombian army said the gunmen appeared to belong to a local unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, Latin America's oldest surviving rebel insurgency.

A spokeswoman for Talisman in Canada could not immediately comment on the incident.

Colombia has enjoyed a boom in oil and mining investment as violence from its long war has subsided, but illegal armed groups remain a threat in remote areas where the state's presence is weak.

The Farc operates in Vichada province along with illegal cocaine-trafficking gangs, in the oil-rich flatlands of eastern Colombia near the Venezuelan frontier.

Kidnappings have become rarer as security has improved, but this large-scale hostage-taking shows the risks still facing oil and mining firms. Companies are still targeted for extortion by armed groups.

The Farc still kidnaps for ransom but it is also holding around 15 police and soldiers hostage for political leverage.

The country's oil infrastructure has also been targeted recently. Last month, the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline was attacked and earlier the Transandino oil line was halted for a few days by a suspected rebel bomb.

Last month, a coal rail line operated by the coal producer Cerrejon was also hit by a bomb in a second attack on the installation in a month.

Once written off as a failing state mired in drug violence, Colombia has enjoyed a sharp decline in bombings, kidnappings and attacks since 2002, when the government began a US-backed security crackdown on armed groups.

Foreign direct investment grew more than five-fold as violence waned and oil and mining companies moved into areas once considered off limits for exploration.

The Farc and cocaine-smuggling militias linked to former paramilitaries are still proving resilient in remote jungles, mountains and flatlands, however, where the Colombian state has yet to establish a strong foothold.

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