Colombia blames FARC for power outage at major port

Bogota: A rebel bombing of an electric tower knocked out power to Colombia`s largest Pacific port, authorities said Tuesday.

The outage was carried out by the FARC guerrilla group, which detonated an explosive device that left some 450,000 people in the city of Buenaventura in the dark, the military said. The Pacific Power Company (EPSA) said technicians were working to restore service, which has been out since 8 pm Monday, but that access was difficult due to topography and vegetation. Founded in 1964, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia has been in peace talks with the government since November 2012, in a push to end Latin America`s longest running armed conflict. FARC boasts about 8,000 fighters. The port of Buenaventura has been hard-hit by violence that has plagued parts of the country`s Pacific Coast, a key drug-trafficking staging ground. In the first four months of this year, political violence has claimed the lives of 87 people in the port city.