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Colombia

Colombia: Attacks on infrastructure (24 Aug 2015)

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Guerrilla attacks against private sector infrastructure pose a severe risk to operational continuity in Colombia. As the armed forces have become more effective in dealing with attacks by insurgents, guerrillas have increasingly focused on infrastructure in rural areas. Militants primarily target infrastructure associated with the oil and gas sector, resulting in substantial losses for the industry and major environmental damage. Using data compiled by Verisk Maplecroft’s Global Alerts Dashboard, the ‘Map of the week’ shows that there were 294 attacks directly targeting, or otherwise affecting, infrastructure between July 2014 and July 2015. Of these, 102 targeted hydrocarbons infrastructure, 65 of which involved the detonation of improvised explosives on isolated stretches of the Caño Limón-Coveñas, Trans-Andean, San Miguel-Orito and Bicentenario pipelines. Such activities frequently put assets and personnel at risk, as well as causing supply chain disruption for operators.