Luis Alberto Albán Burbano a.k.a. "Marcos Calarcá" or "Marco León Calarcá" is a Colombian former guerrilla member and spokesperson of the

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

(FARC). Calarca gained notoriety internationally when the Colombian government asked the Mexican government to shut down a legally authorized office of the FARC in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

for their violent activities in Colombia and their support network in Mexico. Calarca was a spokesperson for the FARC in Mexico from 1993 until 2002. His wife (Amparo Victoria Torres) and two sons live in Canada. Amparo Victoria Torres is the sister of a.k.a. "Pablo Catatumbo," one of the members of the FARC Secretariat. Amparo is currently an artist.

Arrest in Bolivia and extradition to Mexico

On Tuesday 24 March 1998 Calarca was arrested by in Bolivia by the Bolivian police at the airport of

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bo ...

. Calarca was deported from Bolivia to Mexico since Colombia never requested his extradition.

Kidnapping of foreigners in Colombia

In 1998 FARC kidnapped a number of foreigners including four American bird watchers. The FARC claimed that these four hostages were spies involved in counter-insurgency operations aiding the Colombian military. The United States denied this as well as then president of Colombia

Ernesto Samper Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served ...

. Calarca mediated in the issue and was an active spokesperson for the FARC. All four Americans were eventually freed.

Expelled from Mexico

Calarca and other members of the FARC left Mexico on 17 April 2002 with Cuba or Venezuela as presumed destinations.

FARC-government peace process attempt

Calarca became part of the "thematic committee" during the FARC-Government peace process (1999-2002) along with other members of the FARC;

Iván Ríos José Juvenal Velandia, a.k.a. Iván Ríos, a.k.a. Manuel Jesús Muñoz Ortiz, (19 December 1961 – 3 March 2008), born in San Francisco, Putumayo, Colombia, was the Head of the Central Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-E ...

(coordinator), Mariana Páez, Domingo Biohó, Felipe Rincón, Julián Conrado, Gabriel Angel, Fidel Rondón, Bayron Yepes and Pedro Aldana.

Wanted by Colombian authorities

The government of Colombia is offering a reward of COP$1500 million pesos for his capture or killing through the

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

services. La Nacion (Colombia): Lotería’ millonaria por las Farc
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calarca, Marcos Living people Members of FARC 1957 births