Dissident Ivan Márquez accused of the death of 4 Colombian soldiers in 1997

Bogotá, 22 Mar The Colombian Prosecutor's Office accused the leader of the FARC dissent known as “Segunda Marquetalia”, Luciano Marín, alias “Iván Márquez”, of the murder of four soldiers and the kidnapping of one more in events that occurred in the department of Antioquia (northwest) in 1997 while he was part of the guerrilla. This was reported on Tuesday by the Prosecutor's Office, which detailed in a statement that with this decision an arrest warrant was maintained against the head of the “Segunda Marquetalia”, who was chief negotiator of the FARC guerrilla in the peace agreement. According to the investigation by the Prosecutor's Office, on July 2, 1997, special troops of the National Army went out to search for two comrades who were missing in the rural area of the town of Currulao, in the municipality of Turbo. When they were carrying out this operation, they confronted the Northwest Bloc of the extinct FARC and there three uniformed men were injured, Captain Carlos Enrique Vidal Aponte and soldiers William Amado Suárez and Iván Ramírez Muñoz. That is why combat nurse Fabio Pinedo Serna and Sergeant Pedro José Guarnizo Ovalle intervened, but when that happened, the guerrillas kidnapped them and took them to a camp. “The three injured soldiers and the nursing soldier were killed with sharps and rifle shots, fired at close range. On the other hand, the sergeant was kidnapped for almost six years,” the information added. The officer was rescued in an operation in which the Army sought to free the then governor of Antioquia, Guillermo Gaviria Correa; the department's peace adviser, Gilberto Echeverri Mejia, and other members of the security forces who were also in captivity. INVOLVEMENT OF MARQUEZ “The evidence indicates that these events would have been ordered by the then FARC secretariat, of which alias 'Iván Márquez' was part, who would also be the coordinator of the fronts that had interference in Antioquia and Caldas,” explained the Prosecutor's Office. That is why the head of the dissent must answer in court, by line of authority, for the crimes of aggravated homicide, attempted homicide of a protected person and aggravated extortive kidnapping. “Ivan Márquez”, as well as Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias “El Paisa” and other former FARC chiefs, abandoned the peace agreement and on August 29, 2019, announced their return to arms, claiming a “betrayal by the state of the Havana peace agreement.” CHIEF jga/ime/rrt