Colombian intelligence agencies point to the ex-FARC guerrilla group known as Second Marquetalia as the intellectual author of the June 7 attack on Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe.
This illegal armed group emerged in 2019 as a small dissident faction of the former FARC, led by Ivan Marquez, a key figure in Colombia’s guerrilla history. According to police reports, José Aldinever Sierra, alias “Zarco Aldinever,” a trusted associate of Marquez, is believed to be behind the assassination attempt.
Based on investigators’ preliminary findings, the objective of the attack would be to politically destabilize the country one year before the presidential elections.
Colombia holds Segunda Marquetalia guerrilla responsible as instigator of attack against Miguel Uribe
Just over a month ago, the assassination attempt on conservative Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe shook the nation. While the politician remains in intensive care at a Bogota clinic, police have already arrested five individuals who allegedly participated directly in the attack.
Beyond the hit squad that physically carried out the crime, investigators have focused their efforts from the beginning on identifying the intellectual author behind the assassination attempt.
According to the latest intelligence reports, alias “Zarco Aldinever” is believed to have coordinated the attack from Venezuela, where most leaders of the Second Marquetalia guerrilla group are hiding.
To execute the plan, he allegedly hired a man known as ‘El Costeño’—now in police custody—who is believed to have led the hit squad that carried out the operation in Bogota on Saturday, June 7.
Citing judicial sources, local newspaper El Tiempo indicates that the attack was not directly ordered by Second Marquetalia, but was instead subcontracted to local criminal groups in an effort to complicate police investigations.
Who is Jose Aldinever and what is his role in Segunda Marquetalia?
José Aldinever Sierra, former head of the defunct FARC’s 53rd Front and current dissident leader of Second Marquetalia, faces formal charges for forced disappearance, aggravated homicide, and rebellion, as reported by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office.
The investigation links him to the disappearance and alleged murder of James Silva Duque, an official with the Attorney General’s Office in Villavicencio in the early 2000s.
According to his judicial record, Aldinever joined the defunct FARC in 1990 at the age of 14, motivated partly by the murder of his grandfather and two uncles at the hands of paramilitary groups.
He rose through the guerrilla ranks from company commander to head of the feared Eastern Bloc leadership. After the death of Víctor Julio Suárez, alias “Mono Jojoy,” in September 2010, he inherited much of his power within the organization. Even then, he was accused of working to reactivate the guerrilla’s urban structures in Bogota.
Following the signing of the Peace Agreement in November 2016, alias “Zarco Aldinever” joined the peace process, committing to end violence. A few months later, he coordinated a massive weapons surrender event where over 7,000 former combatants handed over their rifles.
However, in August 2019, he reappeared armed alongside other dissident former leaders, declaring the start of a new phase armed insurrection. Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) expelled them on October 4 of that year for failing to comply with truth and reparations commitments.
José Aldinever’s name surfaced in 2023 as a possible successor to Ivan Marquez following false reports about the death of the historic guerrilla leader, demonstrating his leadership role within the illegal armed group.
Alias ‘El Costeño’: the link between the Bogota hitmen and ‘Zarco Aldinever’
The police are working on the hypothesis that “El Costeño,” detained last week as the leader of the hit squad that carried out the crime against Miguel Uribe, would be the link between the group of hitmen and the Second Marquetalia guerrilla group.
According to this investigation, the criminal structure led by “El Costeño” has been operating since 2022 in various sectors of the Colombian capital, engaging in activities such as micro-trafficking, extortion and contract killing.
Zarco Aldinever reportedly contacted “El Costeño” from his hideout in Venezuela to hire his organization as the perpetrators of the attack aon Senator Uribe–highlighting the connection between local criminal gangs and illegal armed groups.
Despite this information, the police continue investigating, trying to gather the evidence needed to map the complex criminal network which, just over a month ago, attempted to take the life of Miguel Uribe and destabilize the country.