Small Wars Journal

Former Colombian Rebel Leader Announces Return to Arms

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 12:26pm

Former Colombian Rebel Leader Announces Return to Arms by Hector Velaso – Agence France-Presse

A former senior commander of the dissolved FARC rebel army in Colombia announced Thursday he is taking up arms again along with other guerrillas who have distanced themselves from a historic peace accord signed with the government.

"We are announcing to the world that the second Marquetalia has begun," Ivan Marquez, dressed in green military fatigues, said in a video posted on YouTube, referring to a rural enclave considered a birthplace of the FARC in the 1960s.

Marquez accused the government of betraying the hard fought accord under which most of the FARC's 7,000 fighters had laid down their weapons after half a century of armed conflict…

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