On August 29, the referent of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and one of the main negotiators of the Peace Treaties in Colombia, Iván Márquez, reported his return to the guerrilla fight. Márquez explained that his decision was due to “the betrayal of the Peace Agreement,” signed between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC in Havana, Cuba, at the end of 2016. 

Márquez made the announcement along with Jesus Santrich, a former member of the House of Representatives and a fugitive from Colombian justice since June 2019. In the announcement, Márquez assured that they will seek an alliance with another Colombian guerrilla organization, the National Liberation Army (ELN). For their part, this organization sent a public message to Jesús Santrich supporting his decision to return to war.

Rodrigo Londoño, President of the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force Party (the FARC’s political party), created by former members of this guerrilla as a result of the peace agreement with the Colombian state, distanced himself from Márquez’s statements. In this context, as expressed by FARC senators Pablo Catatumbo and Sandra Ramírez, within the political organization they plan to change their political space name to “Nueva Colombia”.

Regarding the situation of the FARC Party in Congress, it is expected that, in the medium term, the seats that had been granted to Márquez and Santrich as a result of the negotiations will be given back to members of the FARC Party. It should be noted that, as a result of the peace accords, the FARC was granted 5 seats in Representatives and 5 seats in the Senate.

President Ivan Duque will continue promoting the peace policy

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, issued a message expressing that “Colombia does not accept threats of any nature”. That is why he spoke with “Patricia Linares, president of the JEP, in view of the urgent need to expel these criminals from transitional justice”.

The president added that “his administration will continue to advance in its policy of peace with legality”. He also said that they “remain committed to those who are genuinely committed to ensuring peace in the country”. Finally he considered that “those who choose the path of illegality will suffer the full weight of the law.”

FARC Party will continue in Congress

Rodrigo Londoño, President of the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force Party, stated that he does not share any of Marquez’s words. “The Peace Accords are the culmination of the old desire of the Colombian people to put an end to the armed conflict and plant the hope of definitively consolidating peace with social justice in our country. To proclaim the military fight in today’s Colombia is a delirious mistake,” he said.

Londoño added “we call on the people of Colombia, the national government, the international community, businessmen and trade unions, social and popular movements and former guerrillas who took up the challenge of open political action, to embrace as never before the Havana agreements and their implementation process”.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace will continue working in the implementation of the peace agreement

“The declarations of the former members of the FARC and the non-compliance of their obligations with the Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition processed by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), constitute without a doubt a serious act against the peace process that is being developed in the country”, explained the president of the JEP, Patricia Linares Prieto. “It is imposed on us, in difficult moments for the process, to continue fulfilling our function within the strict framework of the constitution and the law,” added the magistrate.

Linares explained that the JEP “today administers justice to 11,986 people (former members of the FARC, the Armed Forces, other State agents and third parties) who had direct or indirect participation in the conflict and who have been fully complying with the commitments and conditions imposed by the system”. He expressed that “the wrong decision of a group of people who betrayed their commitments to peace, to Colombia and to the world, cannot be enough to break a desire in which the will of all Colombians converge”