AP Top NewsNestle Dairy Plant in Colombia Destroyed

Nestle Dairy Plant in Colombia Destroyed
By Associated Press

January 18, 2007, 8:46 PM EST

BOGOTA, Colombia -- A pickup truck carrying 660 pounds of explosives destroyed a dairy plant owned by Swiss food giant Nestle SA in southern Colombia, an attack police attributed Thursday to leftist rebels.

The attack was the second this week against a Nestle facility in Caqueta state, located in the country's impoverished southern half and engulfed in coca, the base ingredient of cocaine. The state is a long-time stronghold of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.





One person was injured in the attack Wednesday evening in Doncello, 220 miles south of Bogota, as milk trucks were entering the plant, said Col. William Urrego, police commander in Caqueta.

An unidentified man sneaked past security, parked the truck loaded with plastic explosives inside the facility, then ran toward the plant's gates. Minutes later, a blast flattened the plant.

"Given the way the attack was carried out, there's no doubt it was done by the FARC," said Urrego, referring to Latin America's oldest and most potent insurgency, which has been trying to overthrow Colombia's government for more than four decades.

Police have not identified or arrested any suspects in the attack, which appeared to be part of a FARC offensive directed against Nestle. The plant was one of six operated by the Swiss multinational in Caqueta, said Mario Miranda, a company spokesman in the capital of Bogota.

On Monday, two cold-storage tanks owned by a Nestle supplier outside the town of San Vicente de Caguan were blown up in an attack also attributed to the FARC. No one was injured.

Miranda denied Colombian media reports that the FARC in recent days demanded the company pay money or face an attack. "I have no idea why these attacks have taken place," Miranda said.

Nestle has operated in Caqueta for 32 years, he said.

Caqueta is overrun by rebels who depend on the drug trade to finance their insurgency. Coca is the region's main cash crop, and the United States last year quietly cut off economic aid to the state, citing security concerns and a lack of private investment.