Bogota (AFP)

Former FAR guerrilla leaders, who have marginalized themselves from the peace process in Colombia, have announced that they have resumed arms, denouncing "the treason" by the State of the historic pact signed in late 2016, in a video aired Thursday on YouTube.

"We announce to the world that the second Marquetalia (cradle of the Marxist rebellion in 1964, ed.) Began in the name of the universal right of peoples to stand up in arms in the face of oppression," says the former number two Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), Ivan Marquez in this 32-minute video.

He appears with other former rebel leaders, who have also been in hiding for several months.

From the jungle of southeastern Colombia, Ivan Marquez announces "the continuation of guerrilla operations in response to the betrayal by the State of the Havana peace agreements" which allowed the disarmament in 2017 of some 7,000 combatants Farc, turned into a political party.

Commander Marquez had been the leader of the rebel delegation to Cuba's four-year peace negotiations with the government of Juan Manuel Santos' centrist president (2010-2018).

At his side appear another armed negotiator, Jesus Santrich, wanted by the courts for alleged drug trafficking and hiding out three months ago, as well as former commander Hernan Dario Velasquez, alias El Paisa.

They are surrounded by 17 men and women armed with rifles, in front of a sign displaying the acronym Farc-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army).

- Reconciliation with the ELN -

"Deception, duplicity and perfidy, the unilateral amendment of the text of the agreement, the non-implementation of its commitments on the part of the state, judicial arrangements and insecurity force us to resume the maquis", adds Ivan Marquez.

"We have never been defeated or defeated ideologically, that's why the fight continues," he says, adding that the new group will seek to co-ordinate "efforts with the ELN guerrillas and with those comrades who have not folded their flags ".

The National Liberation Army (ELN), considered the last active guerrilla in Colombia, has grown in recent years, from 1,800 to about 2,300 fighters, according to the authorities.

Peace talks, which began in 2017, were buried by the government of the current right-wing president Ivan Duque, following an attack on the ELN-claimed Bogota police academy that left 22 dead. last January.

The Farc's dissident groups also number some 2,300 armed fighters, who are mainly dedicated to narco-trafficking and illegal mining, according to the military intelligence services.

After the signing of peace, the Farcs had turned into a political party under the name of the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force. But hundreds of former rebels have marginalized themselves from the process of ending more than half a century of fratricidal war.

Ivan Marquez, appointed as FARC parliamentarian, distanced himself more than a year ago, already reproaching the state for not fulfilling its commitments.

- "Coup bas" according to the Farc -

Jesus Santrich, suspected of drug trafficking and accused by the United States of conspiracy to ship cocaine after the peace agreement, disappeared three months ago and is subject to an international arrest warrant .

Like El Paisa, they are required by the Special Peace Jurisdiction (JEP), to try crimes committed during the armed confrontation and who can decide alternative sentences to prison.

The Duque government, which tried to change the deal it deems too lax to former guerrillas, had not reacted yet Thursday.

Farc party leader Rodrigo Londoño, aka Tymoshenko, for his part, denounced a "low blow", but said that "the vast majority of people remain in the process" of peace.

In the same vein, former president Santos estimated on Twitter that "90% of the FARC remain in the peace process" and called to "suppress the deserters".

"They will gather other ex-combatants dissatisfied with the process (...) This can intensify if they achieve unity with the ELN," political analyst Dario Villamizar told AFP. military offensive "of the state as" he has not conducted so far against dissidents "FARC.

© 2019 AFP