In a video published Wednesday, September 4 on YouTube, Ivan Marquez proclaimed the creation of the Bolivarian Movement for the new Colombia, which will have a "clandestine operation". The former number two of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), who became head of the dissent of the former rebellion, had already announced last week the resumption of arms.
"The members of the new movement will have an activity in the social sector where they live, work or study, without their political affiliation being public," said Ivan Marquez, former chief negotiator of the peace agreement in 2016, returned has been in hiding for more than a year and which, according to the authorities, has taken refuge in neighboring Venezuela.
Ivan Marquez appears on the military lattice images, in front of flags of the former guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), alongside 15 armed men, including former guerrilla commanders Jesus Santrich and Hernan Dario Velasquez aka " El Paisa ".
"Treason" of the peace agreement
Wanted by Colombian justice, these three men announced on August 29 their return to arms, arguing the state's "betrayal" of the peace agreement signed by the former guerrilla and ex-president Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018).
With Ivan Marquez at their head, the rebels announced the creation of a new guerrilla, which takes again the former name of Farc, today disarmed and transformed into political party under the name of Common revolutionary alternative Force (Farc).
During its armed struggle of more than 52 years, the former guerrilla had united with two irregular political movements: the Clandestine Communist Party and the Bolivarian Movement for New Colombia, which had hundreds of supporters.
The Farc party rejected the return to arms of this group of dissidents and its appeal to the former guerrillas to join him.
"Coordinate efforts" with the ELN
Ivan Marquez announced that he was seeking to "coordinate efforts" with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), which also has about 2,300 combatants, and with other dissident groups.
President Ivan Duque has launched a military offensive against those whom he described as "a gang of narco-terrorists who rely on the accommodation and support of the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro" in Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro responded on Tuesday by accusing his Colombian counterpart of "maneuvering" to "trigger a conflict" on the pretext of the return to arms of former FARC leaders. On Wednesday, the Colombian authorities said they were "ready" to defend their sovereignty against the "threats" of the Venezuelan president.
With AFP