The FARC leaders reappeared armed and launched a threat: “Duque must go.”

In camouflage, heavily armed and smiling, this is how the leaders of the “Segunda Marquetalia”, ‘Iván Márquez’, ‘Jesús Santrich’, ‘Romaña’ and ‘El Paisa’, all signatories of the Peace Agreement that a little over a year ago returned to guerrilla life and they launched their attempt to revive the old FARC.

The image is part of a statement that was published by various social networks associated with this armed group, as well as in a Facebook account recently created in the name of Iván Márquez. In the they strongly criticize the government of Iván Duque, whom they accuse of being illegitimate and criminal, of wanting to “set the country on fire.”

President Duque is accused of being a puppet of former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, today in house arrest for a case of alleged manipulation of witnesses, on whom they claim responsibility for decades of paramilitary violence from the State and of “simultaneously overshadowing his alliances with drug trafficking ”.

“The Duque-Uribe government made the destruction of the most beautiful dream of Colombians the main objective of its strategy. A couple of crazy people on the loose acting against common sense, who are not only setting the country on fire, but are also seeking, under pressure from Washington, to set the neighborhood on fire ”, reads the statement signed by Luciano Marín Arango (‘Iván Márquez ‘), Seuxis Paucias Hernández (‘ Jesús Santrich ‘) Henry Castellanos Garzón (‘ Edinson Romaña ‘), Aldinever Morantes, José Vicente Lesmes (‘ Walter Mendoza ‘) and Hernán Darío Velásquez (‘ el Paisa ‘), who signs with his alias of ‘Óscar Montero’.

With your message it is clear that they have not changed the narrative, although in it they refer to several scandals of current national politics, such as the ‘ñeñepolítica’ -or the alleged entry of money from the drug trafficker José “El Ñeñe” Hernández to the presidential campaign of Iván Duque, of whom he was a personal friend. accusations of vote buying and corruption of former senator Aída Merlano – who pointed out among others powerful political clans of the Colombian Caribbean coast such as the Char and the Gerlein for whom the guerrillas demand political death – or the deaths of civilians at the hands of the Police in the days of protests on September 9 and 10 in Bogotá.

“The current government’s soul is infected with drug trafficking, electoral fraud and vote buying, and its hands are stained with blood,” they argue.

What they did renew was their weapons, since in the broadcast image they are seen with modern automatic rifles such as an Austrian AUG or a French Famas rifle. Gone are the old AK-47s with which 13 months ago they appeared for the first time in the famous video announcing the return of the FARC to arms, a company that, although it has served to intimidate them in discursive terms, are far from achieving since the vast majority of dissident groups of the former guerrilla no longer recognize the command of Márquez and company.

However, in the letter They insist on criticizing not only the government but also calling on the public to remain in the streets protesting and demanding the resignation of the president.

“Duque must leave the presidency of the republic early, because he is an illegitimate president, because the highest office in the nation was outgrown, because he wants to generalize chaos by destroying the balance of powers by incurring disrespect and public questioning of decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice, because he wants to erase the social mobilizations that today shake the country, and because Colombia does not want the dictatorship ”, they affirm.

They then demand a “democratic, inclusive government of the people and for the people; a new government of democratic coalition, which guarantees complete peace without betrayals “, because according to them the current Duque only wants” Samson to die and all the Philistines to die in order to save his political boss Álvaro from jail and judicial punishment Uribe ”.

The reappearance of the leaders of the “Second Marquetalia” with a political message occurs at a time when This armed group has been carrying out an offensive in certain territories of the country, which they have come to dispute with the ELN, the Clan del Golfo and other FARC dissidents control of the territory and illegal income.

His message, which tries to vindicate old struggles and take sides with current social demands, It becomes ironic when coming from underground by a group of men who failed to fulfill the desire for peace throughout the country.

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