Massive blackout

last updated 8 January 2015

Cauca, Colombia

Nearly 3 million people were left without electricity in southwest Colombia this week, after four 165-foot electrical towers were destroyed in what appeared to be rebel bombings. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, is known to operate in the region, and frequently targets energy towers and pipelines to disrupt the economy. Last year alone, guerrillas blew up 121 of the towers. The attacks rarely cause widespread outages, but this time they destroyed key lines to the main circuits serving the entire southwest corner of the country.