Iván Márquez, a notorious Colombian rebel leader and founder of the armed group “Segunda Marquetalia,” has reportedly died in Venezuela, local news outlets reported over the weekend, citing sources close to the fighter.
Despite the reports, Mr. Márquez’s death could not be officially confirmed as of Monday, leading to conflicting stories about his condition.
Speaking to the press, Colombian Defense Minister Iván Velásquez said authorities were still trying to verify whether the rebel leader had indeed died after being wounded in an assassination attempt a year ago. Mr. Márquez was reportedly hospitalized in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, after the incident, but information remained scarce as he has not appeared in public since.
The Segunda Marquetalia group is a splinter dissident cell that emerged after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was dismantled in 2016 following a series of peace deals between the state and the left-wing guerrilla group.
Mr. Márquez, real name Luciano Marín, was one of the FARC’s top representatives in negotiating the peace deal, but he abandoned the truce in 2018 after the capture of his nephew, Marlon Marín, who was sent to the U.S on drug trafficking charges.
While most of the FARC eventually disarmed completely, Mr. Márquez led a faction of his former fighters to continue armed activities in 2019, a move that was seen at the time as jeopardizing the peace process.
FARC members have been skeptical of peace deals since the genocide of many of their former leaders in the 1980s and 1990s, after agreeing to lay down arms and participate in elections through the Unión Patriótica party.
After years of negotiations with right-wing governments, Colombia’s remaining armed groups are currently in talks with leftist President Gustavo Petro, who last week confirmed a six-month truce between the military and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining guerrilla group.
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