Colombia rebel admits oil pipeline bombing mistake

                  BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- A top rebel leader has backtracked on
                  earlier denials and admitted that his men bombed Colombia's largest oil
                  pipeline last month, killing at least 70 people, media said Thursday.

                  In a video statement, Nicolas Rodriguez, alias "Gabino," head of the
                  5,000-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), described the Oct. 18
                  attack on the Ocensa pipeline as a "grave error" and vowed to punish those
                  responsible.

                  The blast and ensuing inferno virtually wiped the northwest gold-mining
                  village of Machuca off the map and led to one of the worst losses of civilian
                  lives during Colombia's three-decade-old guerrilla war.

                  "It was a terrible error and those responsible will be punished. It was a grave
                  mistake by our companions who carried out the action without weighing the
                  consequences of the spillage of crude oil," Rodriguez said in the video,
                  excerpts of which were published in the leading El Tiempo newspaper.

                  "The people of Machuca are our family. They know it was a mistake and we
                  are investigating those responsible," he added.

                  In the days after the tragedy, the ELN claimed responsibility for blowing up
                  the tube but accused the army of starting the fire as villagers scavenged for
                  spilled fuel.

                  Defense chiefs denied the allegations and condemned the "vile cynicism" of
                  the ELN, which a week earlier met with government officials and civic
                  leaders to pave the way for talks aimed at ending the long-running civil
                  conflict that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last 10 years alone.

                  The Cuban-inspired ELN, the country's second largest Marxist rebel army,
                  has traditionally targeted energy infrastructure in protest at what it sees as the
                  "excessive" involvement of foreign multinationals in Colombia's oil industry.

                  The Ocensa pipeline, operated by a British, French and Canadian
                  consortium, pumps about 400,000 barrels of high-quality crude per day
                  from the Cusiana-Cupiagua oil field operated by British Petroleum Co Plc in
                  the eastern plains region.

                  The attack caused political leaders to question whether President Andres
                  Pastrana should press ahead with his top election pledge to broker peace
                  with the ELN and the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
                  (FARC).

                  The incident also dealt a severe blow to the ELN's credibility at a time when
                  it was seeking to boost its image as a political force. Analysts say the ELN
                  may have little option but to seek a political solution to its uprising after being
                  weakened by a string of attacks by ultra-right death squads on its
                  strongholds in northern and northeast Colombia.

                  The ELN, however, insists it is still powerful in military terms. Meanwhile,
                  the FARC, buoyed by a series of devastating strikes on the security forces,
                  is looking to hold separate peace negotiations with Pastrana in a huge area
                  of southeast Colombia that has been demilitarized to make way for talks.
 

                  Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.