Machuca massacre | |
---|---|
Location | Machuca, Antioquia Department, Colombia |
Date | 18 October 1998 2:00 am |
Attack type | bombing |
Deaths | 70 |
Injured | 30+ |
Perpetrators | ELN |
The Machuca massacre (Spanish : La Masacre de Machuca) was a massacre that took place in the Colombian village of Machuca, near Segovia, Antioquia on October 18, 1998. Guerillas belonging to the National Liberation Army (ELN) dynamited an oil pipeline, which caused a spreading fire to the village. Seventy people lost their lives, many of them children.
On October 18, 1998, members of the Cimarrones subgroup of the ELN bombed a section of the Ocensa pipeline in Antioquia Department. The blast caused a fireball of crude oil that engulfed the village of Machuca. [1] At first, at least forty were believed to be killed. [2] The death rate eventually hit 70. It was one of the deadliest incidents to civilians in the three decade long Colombian conflict. [3]
The ELN took responsibility for the bombing, but not the deaths. It said that the Colombian army were the ones who ignited the spilled oil. The head of the Colombian armed forces condemned the ELN. [3]
On November 12, Nicolas Rodriguez, head of the ELN, said that the attack was a "grave mistake" and that they would investigate those responsible. State defense chiefs denied the allegations. [4] The bombing hurt the credibility of the ELN, especially as it entered peace negotiations with the government just a week prior to the attack. [5]
The pipeline was operated by British Petroleum (BP). The Guardian reported that BP provided arms equipment to the Colombian army brigade guarding the pipeline, a claim it denied. [6]
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasant self-defense groups formed from 1948 during the "Violencia" as a peasant force promoting a political line of agrarianism and anti-imperialism. They are known to employ a variety of military tactics, in addition to more unconventional methods, including terrorism.
The Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline is a crude oil pipeline in Colombia from the Caño Limón oilfield in the municipalities of Arauca and Arauquita in Arauca Department on the border of Venezuela to Coveñas on Colombia's Caribbean coastline. It is jointly owned by the state oil firm Ecopetrol, and U.S. company Occidental Petroleum. The pipeline is 780 kilometres (480 mi) long.
The National Liberation Army is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla insurgency group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict, which has existed in Colombia since 1964. The ELN advocates a composite communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism and liberation theology. In 2013, it was estimated that the ELN forces consisted of between 1,380 and 3,000 guerrillas. According to former ELN national directorate member Felipe Torres, one fifth of ELN supporters have taken up arms. The ELN has been classified as a terrorist organization by the governments of Colombia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union.
The Popular Revolutionary Army or Ejercito Popular Revolucionario is a leftist guerrilla movement in Mexico. Though it operates mainly in the state of Guerrero, it has conducted operations in other southern-Mexico states, including Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.
The Colombian conflict began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups and crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups, fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory. Some of the most important international contributors to the Colombian conflict include multinational corporations, the United States, Cuba, and the drug trafficking industry.
The Guevarista Revolutionary Army was a revolutionary, guerrilla group operating in Colombia. It formed in 1992 as an offshoot of the ELN. It was named after and inspired by the Argentine Che Guevara.
The Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis refers to the kidnapping of 12 Deputies of the Assembly of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, on April 12, 2002 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to pressure a prisoner exchange between them and the government and to negotiate the demilitarization of the municipalities of Florida and Pradera to initiate peace dialogues.
This is a timeline of events related to the Colombian conflict.
Henry Okah is the assumed Nigerian guerrilla leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a title he denies.
Mineral industry of Colombia refers to the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials in Colombia. Colombia is well-endowed with minerals and energy resources. It has the largest coal reserves in Latin America, and is second to Brazil in hydroelectric potential. Estimates of petroleum reserves in 1995 were 3.1 billion barrels (490,000,000 m3). Colombia also possesses significant amounts of nickel and gold. Other important metals included platinum and silver, which were extracted in much smaller quantities. Colombia also produces copper, small amounts of iron ore, and bauxite. Nonmetallic mined minerals include salt, limestone, sulfur, gypsum, dolomite, barite, feldspar, clay, magnetite, mica, talcum, and marble. Colombia also produces most of the world's emeralds. Despite the variety of minerals available for exploitation, Colombia still had to import substances such as iron, copper, and aluminum to meet its industrial needs.
The September 2011 – March 2012 Idlib Governorate clashes were the violent incidents that took place in Idlib Governorate, a province of Syria, from September 2011 and prior to the April 2012 Idlib Governorate Operation.
The Hama Governorate clashes were a series of incidents of fighting during late 2011 and early 2012 in the Syrian Governorate of Hama, as part of the Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War.
The Battle of Tremseh was a military confrontation between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army in Tremseh, Syria, in the late hours of 12 July 2012 during the Syrian Civil War leading to the reported death of dozens of rebels, and an unknown number of civilians. On 14 July 2012, the UN observer mission issued a statement, based on the investigation by its team that went to the town, that the Syrian military mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, in what the BBC said was a contradiction of the initial opposition claims of a civilian massacre. They said that the number of casualties was unclear and added that they intend to return to the town to continue their investigation.
Terrorism in Colombia has occurred repeatedly during the last several decades, largely due to the ongoing armed conflict the country has been involved in since 1964. Perpetrators of terrorist acts in the country range from leftist guerilla forces including FARC, ELN and M-19, to drug cartels such as the Medellín Cartel, to right-wing paramilitary forces including the AUC.
The 2018 Colombia police stations attacks occurred on January 27, 2018, when two hand grenades were thrown at police stations in Barranquilla and Soledad. About five officers died and 48 people were wounded, the latter of which included some civilians. On January 28, two policemen died after an attack on a police station in Santa Rosa del Sur, bringing the death toll to seven. All the dead were serving officers in the National Police of Colombia.
On 17 January 2019, a vehicle was driven into the General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá, Colombia. The truck forced its way into the facility, hit a wall and detonated, killing 22 people and injuring 68 others. Suicide attacks are unusual in Colombia. The car contained about 80 kilograms (180 lb) of pentolite. It was the deadliest attack on the Colombian capital since the 2003 El Nogal Club bombing and the first terrorist attack on the capital since the 2017 Centro Andino bombing. The National Liberation Army (ELN) accepted responsibility for the attack and justified it as a response to the bombings made by the Colombian government during the unilateral ceasefire.
On 18 October 2019, a bombing occurred in a mosque in Haska Meyna District, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, killing at least 73 worshippers. Dozens more were injured in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility.