Colombia orders arrest of four rebel leaders threatening to take up arms

Colombia's peace tribunal has ordered the arrest of four rebel leaders who appeared in a video Thursday pledging to resume their insurgency.

A tribunal statement says that Luciano Marin, the former chief negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and top allies who appeared alongside him while heavily armed immediately lost their benefits under the 2016 peace deal on ending a half-century of fighting.

The rebel leaders said in the video posted overnight that they will launch a new offensive, three years after a peace deal was signed with the government.

Marin — known by the alias Ivan Marquez — and another commander who goes by the alias Jesus Santrich, appear in the 32-minute YouTube video announcing the new offensive, which Marquez said was filmed in Colombia's Amazon.

"This is the continuation of the rebel fight in answer to the betrayal of the state of the Havana peace accords," said Marquez, dressed in olive fatigues and surrounded by armed fighters. "We were never beaten or defeated ideologically, so the struggle continues."

Marquez was a key negotiator of the peace agreement signed in 2016. He went missing last year after his nephew was arrested and taken to the United States to co-operate with drug-trafficking investigators.

The announcement comes amid severe challenges for the complex accord, including the killing of hundreds of former rebels and human rights activists, delays in funding for economic efforts by ex-combatants, and deep political polarization.

The group's objective is the installation of a government that will support peace, Marquez said. It will fight corruption and fracking, and demand payments from those participating in illegal economies and from multinational companies, he said.

Security sources said the force commanded by Marquez could number 2,200 fighters.

President Ivan Duque was elected on a platform to change parts of the deal, but has failed to get congressional or judicial support to do so. He has repeatedly said former guerrillas with a true desire to disarm will be supported.

Marquez and Santrich accuse him of betraying the spirit of the accord signed by his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.

'We are with peace'

Rodrigo Londono, a leader within the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force, the FARC political party born out of the peace accord, said their opinions don't reflect the views of most of the former rebels.

"The great majority remain committed to the deal, despite all the difficulties and dangers," Londono, known as Timochenko, said on Twitter. "We are with peace."

"All of this, this trick, this betrayal, this perfidy, the unilateral modification of the text of the accord, the unfulfilled commitments on the part of the state, the judicial setups and insecurity, have obliged us to return to the mountains," said Marquez.

The group will seek to co-ordinate with fellow leftist rebels the National Liberation Army (ELN), Marquez said, and will not use kidnapping and ransom as a source of financing.

Security sources said the force commanded by Marquez could reach 2,200 fighters.

Some 13,000 FARC members, including 7,000 combatants, demobilized under the 2016 accord signed in Cuba, many joining reintegration efforts or returning home to their families.

Others remained armed or formed new units, continuing lucrative drug trafficking, illegal mining activities or attacks on the military.

"The start of a new guerrilla group by Ivan Marquez is a politically significant event, but at this point does not alter the country's security profile or security risks. Most likely members of the group aren't even in Colombia to begin with," said Sergio Guzman, founder of Colombia Risk Analysis.

Many active rebels are believed to base themselves in neighbouring Venezuela.

Santrich, whose birth name is Seuxis Pausias Hernandez, is wanted in extradition by the United States for alleged conspiracy to export 10 tonnes of cocaine.

The commander, Hernan Dario Velasquez, who goes by the alias El Paisa, also appears in the video.