The outgoing president of Colombia, Iván Duque, confirmed to local media on Saturday that the government is assessing the veracity of the reports that are indicating that the top dissident leader of the unarmed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), alias Iván Márquez, would have been killed in Venezuela.
“Right now it is information that is being verified. We are working with our intelligence to verify that information, and obviously as soon as we have some corroboration, we will inform in a timely manner,” Duque told local Colombian journalists on Saturday.
If Márquez’s death is confirmed, he would be the fifth leader of FARC dissidents died in Venezuelan territory, according to the count previously disclosed by security sources.
Márquez, who was one of the FARC leaders involved in the Havana agreements signed in June 2016, which sought to end several decades of armed struggle in Colombia, which left people dead and displaced in the South American nation.
Time after the signing of the agreements, which took place in the government of Juan Manuel Santos, Márquez and a group of former guerrillas returned to arms in what is known as the Second Marquetalia.
Asked by a reporter about the most recent information they have on Márquez’s location, Duque stated: “He has been in Venezuela, protected by Nicolás Maduro, the whole world knows that.”
Until the time of writing the note, there were no statements in this regard from the government of Nicolás Maduro.
According to a report by the Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP), called an x-ray on “the trajectories and territorial dynamics of the FARC dissidentsbetween 2002 and 2011 it is estimated that around 13,600 combatants of this guerrilla demobilized individually, but in 2008 it reached a maximum figure of around 3,027 people.
After the signing of the Final Agreement, “dissidence gained strength and described it as an imposed Roman peace.” From a single front -says the report-, it was passed to between 16 and 18 structures, which integrated 1,200 combatants.
However, others abandoned the peace process years later and returned to arms, as is the case of the Second Marquetalia.
Also read: Who are the FARC dissidents and how do they operate?
How many groups make up the FARC dissidents?
At the end of 2021, Alejandro Restrepo, coordinator of the Conflict, Peace and Post-Conflict line of the PARES Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, told the voice of america that in 2017, when they began the investigation, they had identified the incipient presence of these groups in about 30 municipalities. By December 2021 they had evidence that they were located in 138 municipalities.
According to this research, there are three fundamental groups operated:
FARCEP, led by the late Miguel Santanilla Botache, alias “Gentil Duarte”. Other leaders of this group are Néstor Gregorio Vera, alias “Iván Mordisco”, and Euclides España Caicedo, alias “Jonier”.
This group would be concentrated with a greater presence in southwestern Colombia.
Second Marquetalia: led by Iván Márquez, who was the second in command of the FARC; Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias “El Paisa”, and Henry Castellanos Garzón, alias “Romaña”.
According to PARES investigations, this group has had the intention of configuring itself as the heir to the ideological and political guidelines of the FARC as a guerrilla.
The Colombian government led by Iván Duque has accused them of supporting the administration of President Nicolás Maduro and of operating from the neighboring country, which has been denied by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Scattered group: they put their most predatory economic emphasis and focus on the classic illegal economies, which were fuel for the war, according to the PARES investigation.
Previous reports of deaths of FARC dissident leaders
At the end of May, the Colombian Ministry of Defense authorities reported that Miguel Botache Santillana, known as ‘Gentil Duarte’ and an important leader of one of the two FARC dissidents, had died in an attack in Venezuelan territory.
According to the Colombian Ministry of Defense, Gentil Duarte would have died at the hands of the rival dissidence Segunda Marquetalia, led by Iván Márquez and against those who were fighting for the control of drug trafficking routes and cocaine production areas.
Colombia then maintained that Duarte had taken refuge in Venezuela after two operations carried out against him in Colombian territory last year.
[Con colaboración de Carolina Alcalde en Caracas, Venezuela y Carolina Ruiz en Bogotá, Colombia]
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Add Comment