SUMMARY
The FARC - Segunda Marquetalia was a dissident faction of the former FARC, composed of ex-combatants who had demobilized under the 2016 peace agreement but returned to arms in 2019. Unlike other dissident groups that rejected the peace deal from the outset, the founders of FARC - Segunda Marquetalia initially participated in the reintegration process as civilians. Their rearmament marked a rupture with the official peace process and positioned the group as a symbolic continuation of the historic FARC, although it lacks the organizational cohesion and military capacity of its predecessor.
The group was officially founded on 29 August 2019 by former senior FARC commanders, including Luciano Marín Arango alias "Iván Márquez", Seuxis Pausias Hernández Solarte alias "Jesús Santrich", Hernán Darío Velásquez Saldarriaga alias "El Paisa", and Henry Castellanos Garzón alias "Romaña". They justified their return to arms by citing the Colombian state’s alleged noncompliance with the peace accord and the systematic killings of former guerrillas. From its inception, FARC - Segunda Marquetalia attempted to unify other dissident factions, particularly the FARC-EMC, but these overtures were rejected due to leadership disputes and strategic disagreements. The group was structured around mobile columns led by veteran commanders, with operations in Colombia and a presence in Venezuela.
FARC - Segunda Marquetalia was active in regions such as Arauca, Cauca, Nariño, and Putumayo, as well as along the Colombia–Venezuela border. Its armed operations focused on controlling strategic corridors, especially those tied to drug production and trafficking. In early 2024, under President Gustavo Petro’s Total Peace policy, FARC - Segunda Marquetalia entered exploratory talks with the government and formed an alliance with two other armed groups: Comandos de la Frontera and Coordinadora Guerrillera del Pacífico. This coalition aimed to expand political leverage and coordinate military actions. However, internal divisions led to the collapse of the alliance later that year. As of late 2024, FARC - Segunda Marquetalia was no longer engaged in formal peace negotiations and continued to fund its operations through drug trafficking and extortion, while publicly maintaining a discourse centered on the defense of the original peace accords.
FARC - Segunda Marquetalia has been involved in intra-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
