Colombian Warlord Wanted on U.S. Drug Charges Dies in Venezuela

BOGOTÁ, Colombia— Luciano Marín, a veteran rebel commander who abandoned Colombia’s peace pact with guerrilla fighters and was wanted by the U.S. for cocaine trafficking, died in Venezuela, people familiar with the matter said Friday. 

The bearded and bespectacled Marín, 68, succumbed to injuries he suffered a year ago in an attack on his rural encampment in neighboring Venezuela, where he had sought refuge, said the people, who work closely with Colombia’s intelligence service and military on tracking criminal armed groups. 

Best known by his nom de guerre Iván Márquez, Marín had been the face of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and served as the Marxist rebels’ chief negotiator in peace talks with the government that led to a disarmament treaty in 2016. 

While most of FARC’s members demobilized and formed a political party, Marín fled Colombia to seek haven under the leftist government of Venezuela in 2018 amid mounting U.S. and Colombian investigations into his alleged involvement in smuggling drugs following the signing of the peace deal, which would have been a violation of the accord. Marín at the time denied the drug allegations, calling them part of an effort to derail the peace process. 

In 2020, the U.S. State Department announced a $10 million reward for information leading to Marín’s capture and highlighted its concern over Venezuela’s alleged assistance to Colombian criminal groups that are steeped in extortion, kidnapping and drug-running. 

Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment. 

Colombia’s Defense Ministry as well as Daniel Rueda, the government’s top peace commissioner, said they were still working to confirm Marín’s death, which was widely reported by Colombian media. 

In the past, Colombian military officials have said Marín had been receiving medical care in Venezuela for injuries he faced during territorial disputes between rival armed groups and FARC offshoots that operate along the lawless and porous 1,300-mile border between the countries. 

Marín turned down a seat as a Colombian senator that was allotted to FARC leaders under the peace agreement. Flanked by fighters dressed in fatigues and carrying assault rifles, Marín announced in a 2019 video released by his organization that he was restarting his war against the Colombian state. 

The State Department in 2021 removed the extinct FARC from its list of foreign terrorist organizations but added the new group that Marín had been leading. It calls itself the Second Marquetalia, using the name of the FARC’s rural birthplace in the 1960s. 

Marín’s death comes amid efforts by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to strike peace deals with a number of armed groups, a broad initiative dubbed “Total Peace.” As part of the effort, Petro, himself a former member of a guerrilla group, has re-established ties with the authoritarian government of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, who in the past had publicly said Marín was welcome in his country.

—Jenny Carolina González contributed to this article.

Write to Kejal Vyas at [email protected] and Juan Forero at [email protected]