Colombia will send a diplomatic note to Venezuela to request information about the guerrilla leader Iván Márquez

() – The Government of Colombia will send the Government of Venezuela a diplomatic note to request information about the Colombian guerrilla leader Iván Márquez, after some media have spread reports about his alleged death in that country, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo reported this Wednesday.

During a meeting with journalists, Murillo said that the authorities in his country do not know where Márquez is and are investigating his whereabouts.

“I have instructed our vice chancellor (Jorge Rojas) to send a diplomatic note requesting specific information that confirms or not what we have just heard in the media,” he said.

The chancellor’s statement comes after this week some local media have published reports about Márquez’s alleged death.

Márquez is the leader of the Second Marquetalia, a faction of the dissidents of the demobilized guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In 2022, the Government of Colombia, then headed by Iván Duque, said that Márquez had gone to Venezuela and was protected by that country.

The current Government of Colombia, chaired by Gustavo Petro, seeks to dialogue with the guerrilla groups to advance its peace process.

Murillo said this Wednesday that Colombian authorities hope that the uncertainty about Márquez’s whereabouts does not affect the rapprochements with the Second Marquetalia.