After the second presidential round, on June 19, Luciano Marín, alias Iván Márquez, violated one of the security regulations of the ex-FARC dissidents: to speak several times in less than 24 hours on his personal communication radio.
Intelligence records known to the newspaper TIME They point out that he communicated on several occasions with two men, identified as Óscar Fernández and César Ramírez, to refine the statement in which they stated that they were willing to negotiate with the incoming government of Gustavo Petro.
In an enthusiastic tone, he even suggested looking for two ELN emissaries to reach a possible dialogue en bloc. These last two have been identified as Pablo Torres and Camilo Chamarra.
These communications were the prelude to the violent attack of which he was a victim 11 days later in a camp zone located in Venezuelan territory.
Brain death?
But FIntelligence sources assured him five days ago Time that Márquez not only lost several fingers, but also received a severe blow to the head that kept him confined in an ICU of a hospital in Caracas.
And the weekend, President Iván Duque himself confirmed the information. He even told the magazine Week that, apparently, Márquez – who was one of the chief negotiators of the FARC in Havana – was in a vegetative state.
“Human sources assure that it would have brain death”, he told TIME an intelligence officer.
Nevertheless, In the video they recorded and broadcast on July 10, they denied that he was in serious condition: “Fortunately, he was unharmed, he only suffered minor injuries and is in good health. From his combat trench, he will continue the fight for the ideas of a new Colombia.”
Indeed, his own men confirmed the scoop of TIME that Márquez, the self-styled head of the Second Marquetalia, had been the target of an attack with explosives.
family trip
and although no one has come out to confirm or deny this information, there are two facts that seem to ratify it.
As he usually does with some frequency, the head of the dissidents has not appeared in videos again.
And now it is known that several of his relatives were secretly moved to Venezuela. Human sources assure that they would be accompanying Márquez in a clinic in the center of Caracas.
Initially it was said that Iván Márquez had been transferred in a military helicopter from the camp area where he suffered the attack to a private medical center. But then it was said that he would be in a military hospital with the consent of the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Passport and companion
To achieve the transfer of Márquez’s relatives, intelligence sources affirm that several passports and identification cards were issued.
Two of them appear in the name of Óscar Fernández and César Ramírez. It is not known if they are front identities of relatives or real names of relatives.
Nor has it been established what fate befell Iván Márquez’s sentimental partnerwho accompanied him at the time of the violent attack.
What is clear is that the attack was similar to the one suffered by Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias el Paisa, also in Venezuelan territory.
The former head of the fearsome column Teófilo Forero of the FARC, and his lieutenant, alias Lulito, were surprised with a powerful explosive charge planted on the road and that exploded as they passed.
the heir
Those who saw their bodies say that only their faces were recognizable. That’s why The version gains strength that Iván Márquez has not regained consciousness after the impact suffered.
In Caracas they assure that it is unlikely that the dissidents will come out to recognize the death of their leader. However, they have already begun to place a possible heir.
This is Alberto Cruz Lobo, alias Enrique Marulanda, who would be one of the 13 children of Pedro Antonio Marín, alias Manuel Marulanda Vélez or Tirofijo. Lobo was the one who read the statement about Márquez’s state of health.
The National Police offers a reward of up to 3,000 million pesos for the capture of Enrique Marulanda.
TIME established that the identity of the mother of Enrique Marulanda, the possible heir of Iván Márquez, is unknown. And that, in addition to the dissidents who are still in Venezuela, they are also investigating whether it is true that before the attack on Iván Márquez, one of the Mexican cartels to whom the Second Marquetalia had been selling cocaine paid for a shipment with rifles.
