The director of the National Police of Colombia, William Salamanca, assured this Thursday that Luciano Marín Arango, alias ‘Iván Márquez’, leader of Segunda Marquetalia, one of the dissidents of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is in that South American country.
“I have information that is in Colombia,” Salamanca briefly told the media, without providing more details, although he warned that the Police would go after those who commit crimes as they have done on other occasions, including Márquez and alias ‘Iván Mordisco’, leader of another FARC dissident, the Central General Staff, which recently interrupted the peace talks it had established with the Government of President Gustavo Petro.
‘Regarding alias location'[Iván] Mordisco’, we know that it is in Colombian territory, but I cannot mention where it is. “As we have reached some of those criminals who hide in remote places, we have reached them and brought them to appear before justice, we will also reach ‘Mordisco’, along with Iván Márquez,” the official stressed.
According to intelligence information reported by W Radio, the Second Marquetalia has about 1,750 members, of which 1,162 are in arms and the rest are part of their support networks.
Conversations
Since last year, versions have circulated about the alleged location of Luciano Marín Arango, named ‘Iván Márquez’, which initially placed him in Venezuela, although such reports could never be reliably verified by the authorities, who, on the contrary, denied relative rumors. to his death. “What we know is that he is alive,” Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva Durán stated last August.
Shortly after, Bogotá confirmed that he spoke with ‘Márquez’ and other senior officers of the Second Marquetalia in the interest of exploring new peace talks. The then Peace Commissioner, Danilo Rueda, admitted that “limitations” were identified, although he referred to progress regarding the themes and methodology that would guide the negotiations, which began last February.
Meanwhile, the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office charged ‘Márquez’ in November 2023 with the murder of a soldier who the FARC held hostage for almost five years, under charges of “homicide of a protected person” and “aggravated extortionate kidnapping”, which would constitute a “war crime.” With RT