In Colombia, guerrillas reject an “express peace process”

Barely launched, the peace negotiations with the Colombian government are already “blocked”, deplores in an interview with AFP one of the dissidents of the former FARC guerrilla, who demands the lifting of the arrest warrant issued against its historic leader and opposes an “express peace process”.

“The process is blocked, it's not moving forward,” laments the number two and chief negotiator of the Segunda Marquetalia, Walter Mendoza, in an exclusive interview in a rural area of ​​the Narino department, in the very troubled southwest of Colombia.

This is the first time since its creation in 2019 that the armed group has granted an interview to AFP.

“We are totally willing for this process to move forward,” says Mr. Mendoza, surrounded by his armed men, endless coca fields and cocaine paste laboratories, in the surroundings of the towns of Llorente and Zabaleta, a guerrilla stronghold.

Walter Mendoza , chief negotiator of Segunda Marquetalia, one of the two major dissidences of the ex-FARC Marxist guerrillas, speaks during an interview near the town of Llorente, in southwestern Colombia, August 31, 2024 . © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

“But there is a difficulty, created by the government that has not implemented anything that was decided in Caracas,” accuses Mr. Mendoza, 67, a historic figure of the FARC with “soon 46 years of resistance.”

“The main problem is that the government has not lifted the orders to capture three of our comrades. In particular, comrade Ivan Marquez, the leader of the Segunda Marquetalia. Our repeated requests have remained unanswered,” he explains.

– Young troops –

A member of the Segunda Marquetalia guerrilla group, one of the ex-FARC dissidents, is pictured in Llorente, a rural area of ​​the port city of Tumaco, in the southwestern department of Narino, Colombia, on August 31, 2024. Less than three months after starting peace talks with the government, one of Colombia's main leftist rebel groups says negotiations are “stalled,” accusing the administration of leftist President Gustavo Petro of failing to meet its key demands. © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

Talks between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the Segunda Marquetalia began in late June in neighboring Venezuela, where the group has its rear bases.

The guerrillas then accepted a unilateral ceasefire and the two parties agreed to a meeting before July 20 in Narino, a meeting that ultimately did not take place.

It was canceled by the regional government “without us even being informed,” denounces the guerrillas' main negotiator.

Concerning the need to demarcate rebel zones, he believes that “this cannot be done overnight,” assuring that they will not accept “finding ourselves limited to 300 m2”.

“The Segunda Marquetalia has a presence in twelve” regions of the country. They say there are 1,700 or 2,000 of us, that's barely the number of our commanders”, jokes Mr. Mendoza, with salt and pepper hair and a khaki keffiyeh around his neck.

“A large majority of our fighters belong to a new generation,” he emphasizes, as evidenced by the youth of the troops presented that day to AFP.

Men work in a coca leaf field in Llorente, Narino department, Colombia, on August 31, 2024 © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

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The Segunda Marquetalia is the second largest ex-FARC splinter group after the Central General Staff (EMC). The group was founded by signatories of the 2016 peace agreement with the Marxist FARC (long the most powerful guerrilla group in the Americas) who took up arms again, believing they had been “betrayed.”

The executive accuses this group of having abandoned all political motivation, of having converted into common drug traffickers and of being responsible for a multitude of assassinations, forced disappearances and violence of all kinds against the population.

– Coca tax –

A machine gun of the Segunda Marquetalia guerrillas, a splinter group of the ex-FARC, is pictured in a farm near Llorente, a rural area of ​​the port city of Tumaco, Narino department, Colombia, August 31, 2024. Less than three months after starting peace talks with the government, one of Colombia's main leftist rebel groups says negotiations are “stalled,” accusing the administration of leftist President Gustavo Petro of failing to meet its key demands. © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

With the 2016 agreement, “they deceived us, they just took away our weapons. But they won't take away our will to fight,” reaffirms Commander Mendoza.

“They accuse us of everything… We are not drug traffickers. We are a political and military organization. Some of our units operate in the coca zone. We collect a tax there (…). But we don't impose any tax on the peasants.”

On the decline for a while, the Segunda Marquetalia managed in less than two years, and at the cost of a bloody war with the EMC in 2023, to unify a myriad of groups in the Narino rebels, under the umbrella of the “Pacific Guerrilla Coordination”.

Since then, it has held a strong position in this historically violent Pacific coastal region, where high Andean mountains slope down through Amazonian foothills to sweltering savannahs and seaside mangroves.

A view of coca fields on August 31 in the Llorente region of southwestern Colombia, a stronghold of the Segunda Marquetalia guerrillas, one of the two main factions of the ex-FARC dissidents. © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

A dissident front of the Guevarist ELN is also present there, and in discussions with the government.

The Segunda Marquetalia “has had non-aggression and even friendship agreements” with them. As for the other EMC dissidence, “they are just a new version of the far-right paramilitaries,” “an accomplice of the army,” he castigates.

– Petro's “Goodwill” –

Elected in mid-2022 as the first left-wing president in Colombia's history, Gustavo Petro has pledged to emerge from six decades of armed conflict through dialogue. His envoys are negotiating with at least eight armed groups and criminal organizations.

Members of the ex-FARC splinter group Segunda Marquetalia march near Llorente, Colombia, in August 2024 © AFP – JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

We “recognize the goodwill” of Mr. Petro, but resolving the Colombian conflict by “The two years he has left in power are impossible,” he believes. “We don't want an express peace process.”

“We would need four more years of a left-wing government. But without concrete actions in the territories, on the war or illicit crops, peace will not be possible.”

“Lay down your arms? This subject is not on the table. Our weapons are not the problem,” asserts the old guerrilla.

“The problem is the causes of the violence (…),” he adds. “In 2016, there were two guerrilla groups of national scope in Colombia. Today (…), there are more than 30 armed organizations. And coca crops have doubled.”

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