On August 5th, Segunda Marquetalia’s second-in-command, José Manuel Sierra Sabogal, alias “Zarco Aldinever,” was reportedly killed in an ELN ambush near the Colombia-Venezuela border.
The Segunda Marquetalia is one of the two major factions of FARC dissidents alongside the EMC. The group has a significant territorial presence along the border, which is currently being contested by the ELN.
In a statement on their social media platform, the FARC dissident faction blamed “Pedro Pablo,” leader of the José Daniel Pérez Carrero Front of the ELN’s Eastern War Front of ordering the killing.
The statement reads: “The ELN acted with malice and treachery. They carried out premeditated simultaneous attacks on other Second Marquetalia units located in the region,” and also accuses the group of using explosives to carry out the attack.
Before the 2016 peace deal, Zarco Aldinever was the commander of the 53rd Front, which controlled central Meta, and was one of the most powerful men in the group’s Eastern Bloc.
He joined FARC in 1990 at the age of 14 and was trained at a camp established by Jorge Briceño, alias “Mono Jojoy.” Zarco would become a trusted lieutenant of Mono Jojoy, who would go on to become FARC’s primary military leader.
When Mono Jojoy died in 2010, Zarco was tapped to become the new head of the Eastern Bloc, which would have made him one of the most powerful men in the entire organisation. The position, however, went to Gentil Duarte (who would later become a key figure in the EMC group of FARC dissidents.
Zarco initially participated in the peace process, but later disappeared from his reintegration camp in 2018. He later reappeared in a 2019 video that announced the creation of the Segunda Marquetalia.
The Petro government appointed Zarco as a peace negotiator in February of 2024 as part of ongoing negotiations between the state and the Segunda Marquetalia.
But the Attorney General now accuses Zarco for being responsible for the attack on Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay on June 7, 2025. Several other participants, including aliases “El Costeño” and “Gabriela” have already been arrested but the government claims that Zarco may also have been involved.
The Vanguardia’s judicial sources claim that the objective of the attack was to cause chaos during an election year and that Zarco allegedly ordered the attack from his base in Venezuela. I would take this with a tablespoon of salt as this is a politically convenient person to blame for the attack.
According to the Segunda Marquetalia, the ELN is responsible for Zarco’s murder. This is part of a series of recent clashes between the two groups along the Venezuelan-Colombian border near the Colombian department of Guainia.
In January 2025, the ELN attacked the 33rd Front of the FARC dissidents (part of the Segunda Marquetalia) in Catatumbo, breaching an uneasy peace that had existed between the two groups.
Over this month (August), a string of confrontations has occurred around the municipality of Maroa, Amazonas as the ELN and the Acacio Medina Front of the Segunda Marquetalia battle for control of trafficking routes in the Amazon. Zarco appears to have been killed as part of this dispute.
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