Audio obtained by radio station Caracol would disprove news media that claimed that “Ivan Marquez,” the leader of guerrilla group “Segunda Marquetalia” had died last month.
The radio station aired a six-minute recording in which the guerrilla leader addressed his troops to “dispel some doubts” that surged after his reported death.
I begin this speech taking from the golden pages of our universal Caribbean vallenato, the certainty that the Magdalena minstrel Abel Antonio does not die yet, Abel Antonio dies when God needs him. I hope to dispel some doubts with these words.
Ivan Marquez
Marquez was additionally heard informing Segunda Marquetalia fighters about progress, or the lack thereof, in peace talks with the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Caracol said that it received the recording from unspecified “intelligence sources.”
The audio file was released a few days after a guerrilla website published a short essay that was signed by Marquez.
The government was unable to either confirm or deny CM& and Cambio, the two news outlets that reported that Marquez had died.
According to CM&, Marquez had died from injuries he suffered in an assassination attempt in July last year.
Following this attack, media also reported Marquez had died based on unidentified intelligence sources.
The Segunda Marquetalia commander was one of the top leaders of the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC until their demobilization and disarmament in 2017.
Marquez announced he had rearmed in 2019 in response to major issues in the peace process that followed the FARC’s demobilization.
Some two dozen other former FARC commanders joined the FARC’s former political chief to form Segunda Marquetalia in order to resume their insurgency.
