Colombia will send a diplomatic note to its counterparts in Venezuela “asking for specific information that confirms or not” the death of the guerrilla leader alias Iván Márquez, assured Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.
Since Tuesday, October 22, there have been versions that mention the death of the former head of the extinct FARC guerrilla.
(See: Who is the Monster of the Cañaduzales who died in the FARC attack?).
“We don’t know where it is“Márquez, Murillo said on Wednesday the 23rd.”We hope that this does not affect the approaches to dialogue with the Second Marquetalia“he added.
The Second Marquetalia was founded in 2019 by members of the FARC who took up arms after the signing of the historic peace agreement in 2016. The rebels are today starting new peace talks with the government.
“We have investigated in several ways, but so far we have no confirmation. Neither denial“, he assured the media, on Tuesday the 22nd, the government’s peace commissioner, Otty Patiño, after being consulted about the speculation.
(See: Deforestation in Colombia increases due to the ‘failure’ of negotiations with dissidents).
“The only information (we have) is that he may have died as a result of surgery. but no more“added without further details the highest advisor of the President Gustavo Petro in matters of peace policy.
In July 2023, local media had already speculated about Márquez’s death after he suffered an attack in Venezuela in 2022. The Government denied these versions and in March 2023 the police announced that he was in Colombia.
In May of this year, Márquez reappeared in a video of 16 minutes expressing their support for proposals from the Petro government.
The guerrilla leader participated in Havana in the talks prior to the 2016 treatythat demobilized the bulk of the FARC.
Humberto de la Calle and Iván Márquez, in the peace negotiations.
For a short period he returned to civilian life and was elected senator, until in August 2019 he made public his return to hiding.
Márquez’s return to arms meant one of the strongest blows to the peace process that reintegrated thousands of rebels from what was the largest guerrilla in America into civilian life.
Petro tries to deactivate the six-decade armed conflict dialoguing with the guerrillas and some powerful gangs.
(See: Colombian government extends ceasefire with a dissident bloc for 6 months).
But The process has had setbacks such as the breakdown of dialogue with the ELN or the abandonment of the tables of an important faction of the Central General Staff (EMC), another dissident group of the FARC under the command of Iván Mordisco.
AFP
