Several Colombian media outlets and the Reuters news agency announced the death of the current leader of Segunda Marquetalia, one of the most important FARC dissident organizations after the 2016 peace accords. Márquez was one of the negotiators of that agreement, although in 2019 he returned to arms and has been wanted by the Colombian State ever since.
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Sources from the Reuters news agency and Colombian media say that the guerrilla Luciano Marín Arango, known by his alias ‘Iván Márquez’, died in a hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 6. Márquez was the leader of one of the dissident groups that oppose the peace agreement signed in 2016 between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian State.
Márquez’s whereabouts had been a mystery for several months, specifically since June 2022, when he suffered a severe attack. Apparently, the sources consulted by these media, belonging to the Segunda Marquetalia, point out that the guerrilla could have died as a result of a progressive worsening of his health due to his injuries.
Márquez was a fundamental figure in understanding the history of the Colombian armed conflict. For decades he was an active part of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), being one of its most important members. In fact, he became head of the negotiating commission and spokesman for the FARC during the peace negotiations with the Colombian State in Havana, which led to an agreement signed in 2016.
2019: the return to the underground
In a shocking video broadcast on August 29, 2019 through a YouTube channel, the former guerrilla commander announced his return to the armed struggle and his entry into hiding. In the thirty-two-minute message, Márquez accused the Colombian state, specifically the right-wing government of former President Iván Duque, of having betrayed the peace agreement negotiated in Havana. He forcefully declared that the fight must continue, claiming that he and his companions were forced to take up arms again.
Following the signing of the peace agreement, former FARC combatants had founded a political party that secured ten seats in Congress (five in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives). Márquez was elected as a senator in 2018, although he never took office. His subsequent return to arms led to his being expelled from the party.
Later, in 2022, the conservative Duque gave way to Gustavo Petro, who became the first leftist president in the history of Colombia.
Despite the peace pact reached in 2016 with the FARC, the South American country continues to be ravaged by violence. The desire to end decades of internal conflict has not yet been achieved. But since he took office, President Petro has sought to negotiate with the remaining armed groups in the interest of achieving “total peace.”
News in development…
with Reuters
