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The National Liberation Army

Decent Essays

The FARC and the ELN are two Colombian groups that started as just revel groups but later became more of a terrorist group. Both of them have had a serious impact in Colombia’s history, and therefore in the oil industry’s history. Even though, they might not planned to have an effect in the oil sector, they have definitely been a deteriorated the growth of the industry. The National Liberation Army or as it is most commonly known the ELN, was formed in Colombia after the age of the “violencia” in 1964, and is the second largest terrorist group in all of Colombia. It started as an idealist group that used to enforce their ideals by using violence and fear. Moreover, it was financed and supported by Cuba; since many of its leaders were …show more content…

However, once the government opened discussions with the Soviet Union, the funds stop coming in from the Soviet Union, so they started to rely on kidnapping, ransoms and illegal drug trafficking activities to finance themselves, just like the ELN. Due to the fact that the FARC is opposed to the wealth inequality, the oil industry is constantly threatened by the terrorist group. The FARC, as well as the ELN, has kidnaped people in the oil industry in order to hold them for ransom, and the FARC have also attacked some of the crucial pipelines along the territories in which they are present. Due to this fact, the oil industry is not always producing oil at the rate that they would prefer hindering their growth and development. Moreover, the FARC have not only attempted stop oil production and transport, but they have also place a number of bombs in the cities and towns, which create insecurity and prevent people to go to work, especially in distant locations such as oil fields. Furthermore, in 2015 the FARC initiated a peace process with the Colombian government. This peace agreement can be both detrimental and beneficial for the oil sector; that being said, since 2015 when both parties agreed to cease fire in order to start the peace negotiations there has been a significant reduction in the attacks to pipelines and oil fields around the country (Thompson, 2016). On the other hand, the demobilizations with the signing

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