BOGOTA, Colombia -- Officials said
                   normal power supplies would be restored well before the start of the workday
                   Wednesday in Bogota, after a sabotage campaign by Marxist rebels left a
                   large section of central and northeast Colombia without electricity.

                   Power was lost in Bogota and at least six other cities following the bombings
                   of 11 high-voltage power pylons and an electricity substation over the
                   weekend and Monday, a public holiday.

                   Colombian officials blamed the National Liberation Army, or ELN -- the
                   smaller of two leftist insurgencies in the country -- for the attacks. The rebels
                   oppose the planned sell-off of state-owned national grid ISA and state-run
                   power generator ISAGEN, and were able to take the country's three largest
                   hydroelectric dams off the nation's power grid.

                   "Terrorist groups think this is how they're going to obtain peace, but all they
                   are obtaining is the repudiation of Colombians who want to work and move the
                   country forward," Finance Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo told Caracol radio.

                   The government has said it will not drop its plans to sell off ISA, scheduled for
                   the second half of the year, or ISAGEN, set for the second quarter of this
                   year.

                   Attacks on the rise

                   The utility privatizations, expected to raise at least $1 billion, have been
                   ordered by the International Monetary Fund as part of a $2.7 billion loan deal
                   made with Colombia last year.

                   An ISA official verified that the blackouts appeared to be the work of rebels.

                   "... This blackout is the result of successive attacks on (power) lines and that
                   is producing power cuts in various parts of the country," ISA president Javier
                   Gutierrez told reporters.

                   Rebels have stepped up attacks on power installations this year in an apparent
                   effort to gain concessions from President Andres Pastrana in peace talks
                   expected to start soon.

                   The ELN has bombed about 300 pylons across the country over the last year,
                   and at least half are still out of action.

                   Bogota traffic chaotic

                   Bogota streets were in chaos Tuesday when traffic lights malfunctioned.
                   Some office workers were trapped in elevators, and some water supplies
                   were affected.

                   Most larger businesses and government offices, however, have emergency,
                   gasoline-powered generators.

                   Brokers on the Bogota stock exchange said the electronic trading system
                   functioned only intermittently, leading to turnover of U.S. $400,000, well below
                   the U.S. $1 million daily average.

                   About 73 percent of Colombia's total generating capacity of 11,600 megawatts
                   comes from hydroelectric power.

                   An ISA statement said ELN rebels downed five electricity pylons in northwest
                   Antioquia province, and six others elsewhere, isolating the San Carlos dam,
                   with a generating capacity of 1,250 megawatts, from the grid.

                   The dams at Guavio and Chivor, with a combined maximum capacity of
                   around 1,800 megawatts, increased output to meet peak demand Tuesday
                   morning as Colombians returned to work after a three-day holiday weekend.
                   But the Colombian Association of Power said the surge caused an overload
                   that shut down the section of the grid that connects Guavio and Chivor.

                   The blackout marked the first time that residents of the Colombian capital felt
                   the effects of the sabotage campaign that last month left the country's
                   second-largest city, Medellin, in the dark and forced power rationing for
                   millions.

                                The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.