The Colombian Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, confirmed on Wednesday that the leader of the Second Marquetalia Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), ‘Ivan Marquez’, is still alive in a hospital in Caracas, in the Venezuelan capital.

Molano has detailed that this information has been known after it has been confirmed by the Colombian Intelligence, which has assured that Marquez would be protected by the Venezuelan government, as reported by the newspaper ‘El Colombiano’.

“The information that Intelligence has indicates that in these disputes there was a leak that indicated that he is being protected by the Maduro regime, and that he is in a hospital in Caracas,” Molano said, accusing the Venezuelan government of protecting terrorist groups in his country.

The Colombian government had not confirmed until this moment that the leader of the Seguna Marquetalia is still alive, since it had previously assured that it had received versions from its intelligence that assured the contrary.

High military sources had already assured Caracol Radio that ‘Iván Márquez’ was in a hospital in Caracas protected by agents of the Venezuelan government.

The Second Marquetalia, on the other hand, assured last Sunday that ‘Iván Márquez’ had escaped unharmed from the attack he suffered last June 30, adding that “only” he would have suffered “small affectations”, according to what they said in a video spread in networks.

In the video, the desidency maintained that the operation that was carried out against ‘Iván Márquez’ was directed from “the Colombian barracks and with the support of US intelligence agencies” and had the same “modus operandi” that they used to “assassinate” Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias ‘El Paisa’, or Henry Castellanos, known as ‘Romaña’, as well as Miguel Botache, also ‘Gentil Duarte’, and Seuxis Pausias Hernández, alias ‘Jesús Santrich’.

Bogota has always accused Caracas of protecting the dissidents, despite the fact that one of their leaders, ‘Jesús Santrich’, was killed in May 2021 during an operation by Venezuelan forces.