Colombia’s chief prosecutor suspended the arrest warrants of nine commanders of the Segunda Marquetalia guerrilla group on Thursday.
The move came a day after President Gustavo Petro granted the group of former FARC commander “Ivan Marquez” political status, clearing the way for peace negotiations.
Marquez is not among the commanders who will likely take part in the negotiation team of Segunda Marquetalia.
Presumed guerrilla negotiators
The list also doesn’t include “El Zarco Aldinever,” the second in command of the guerrilla organization that allegedly has more than 1,700 members.
Marquez and some 20 other former commanders abandoned the peace process with the FARC and announced their rearmament in 2019.
According to the FARC dissident, the foundation of their new guerrilla group was due to irregularities in the implementation of the peace deal with the FARC that had been negotiated by Marquez since 2012.
Since their formation, the Segunda Marquetalia has tried to recover territories that had been abandoned by the FARC when the group demobilized and disarmed in 2017.
The growth of Segunda Marquetalia was fiercely opposed by the EMC, a much larger FARC dissident group, as well as the military and paramilitary organization AGC.
This opposition cost the lives of at least three of the FARC dissidents founding members.
Petro urged Marquez and his comrades to rejoin the peace process after taking office in August 2022.
Since then, government and guerrilla emissaries have been holding informal talks to come to an agreement that would allow formal peace negotiations and possibly a ceasefire.