Vanessa Buschschlueter,bbc news
Twitter/@BrunoRguezPThe Colombian government and a group of left-wing rebels say they will begin formal peace talks later this month.
The group calls itself the “Second Marquetalia” and broke away from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) after the group signed a peace deal in 2016.
The talks are part of President Gustavo Petro’s plan to bring “comprehensive peace” to Colombia.
Although talks with other rebel groups are progressing slowly, President Petro insists they are the only way to ensure peace in the conflict-torn Andean country.
The Second Marquetalia is one of the main dissident groups that emerged after most FARC rebels laid down their arms in 2016.
The group, believed to consist of about 1,000 militants, is involved in cocaine smuggling and kidnapping for ransom and is known for attacks on Colombian security forces.
Last month, the Colombian military dismantled a secret “factory” where members of the Second Marquetalia group allegedly loaded drones with explosives they planned to detonate over police stations and military bases.
While the group is most active on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, it also has branches in other parts of the country.
Its leader, who goes by the pseudonym Ivan Marquez, was one of the main negotiators of the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC.
However, three years after the agreement was signed, He appeared in a video with other former FARC leaders calling on his followers to take up arms again.
His appearance in the film – which was confirmed by the Colombian Defense Ministry – put to rest rumors that he had been killed.
He accused the Colombian government of “betraying” the peace agreement, saying it was “indifferent” to the hundreds of social leaders and former rebels who were killed in the years after it was signed.
But Mr Marquez’s signature appears on the document recording the agreement between the government and Marquetalia II, which is scheduled to begin in Venezuela’s capital Caracas on June 24. Talks began the next day.
The group’s own leadership has been weakened since its founding in 2019
In 2021, Jesus Santrich, Henry Castellanos Garzon (better known by his pseudonym Romagna) and Hernan Darius Velasquez, nicknamed “El Paisa”, was all killed.
The dissident rebels’ main negotiator is not their leader, Mr. Marquez, but a man named Walter Mendoza, who joined the FARC in the 1970s.
He is notorious for creating an elite rebel force that specializes in complex operations.
Armando Novoa will lead the government side.
Cuba, Norway and Venezuela will serve as guarantors
The rebels are believed to be operating from a base in the border area between the two countries.
