Luciano Marín, alias ‘Iván Márquez’, head of the Second Marquetalia, a dissident of the former FARC guerrilla, and who was speculated to have died in an attack in Venezuela, is in Colombia, the director of the Police, General William René Salamanca.
“I have information that ‘Iván Márquez’ is in Colombia,” said General Salamanca in a press conference at the General Francisco de Paula Santander Police Cadet School, in Bogotá.
The officer did not give more details about the situation of ‘Iván Márquez’, who between 2012 and 2016 was the FARC’s chief negotiator in the dialogues with the Colombian Government that took place in Havana and concluded with the signing of the peace agreement with that guerrilla in November 2016.
Despite the role he played in that negotiation, ‘Iván Márquez’ decided to return to arms in August 2019 when, after missing for several weeks, he reappeared in a video at the head of a group of armed men to announce the creation of a dissident group. FARC, which called Second Marquetalia, alleging that the Government was failing to comply with the agreement.
In that group, which took its name from the place where the FARC was born in 1964, there was also Seuxis Paucias Hernpandez, alias ‘Jesús Santrich’, who also took up arms and died in a confrontation in Venezuela in May 2021, according to unofficial versions.
I would negotiate again
It was said several times that ‘Iván Márquez’ had been wounded or killed, also in Venezuela, but last October authorities said they had confirmation that he was alive and willing to negotiate peace with the Government again, as head of the Second Marquetalia. .
At the beginning of February of this year, the Government and the Second Marquetalia announced the beginning of a peace process, a dialogue that has not yet begun and for which the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, appointed Armando Novoa, former member of the Council, as chief negotiator. National Electoral (CNE).
With respect to this peace process, Caracol Radio said today that the dialogue table is scheduled to be set up in mid-April and that logistics and security are being coordinated so that ‘Iván Márquez’ is at the talks facility.
The Second Marquetalia has already designated its representatives for that dialogue, which will be Giovani Andres Rojas, alias ‘Spider’; Jose Aldinever Sierra, alias ‘Zarco Aldinever’, and Jose Vicente Lesmes, alias ‘Walter Mendoza’
The Colombian Government also maintains peace talks with the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and with the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident of the FARC that, unlike the Second Marquetalia, did not sign the agreement. 2016. EFE