BOGOTA - Former leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which renounced fighting after reaching a peace deal with the government in 2016, announced on Thursday they will take up arms again against the state.

Ivan Marquez, former FARC chief negotiator to the peace talks, said in a video posted online that the government has failed to fulfill the terms of the agreement.

"We announce to the world that the start of the second Marquetalia (birthplace of the FARC in central Colombia) has begun under the protection of the universal right that assists all the peoples of the world to rise in arms against oppression," Marquez said.

He read the statement in company of other former FARC leaders Jesus Santrich and Hernan Dario Velasquez, among others, who were armed in the video. The video was taped in a jungle setting and images of deceased rebels could be seen in the backdrop.

"It is the continuation of the guerrilla struggle in response to the state's betrayal of the Havana peace agreements," said Marquez.

The peace agreement was signed in Cuba's capital following two years of negotiations with the government of then-President Juan Manuel Santos.

Not all Colombians were in favor of the peace deal, which offered rebels amnesty in exchange for laying down arms, and subsequent presidential elections were won by the more hardline candidate, Ivan Duque.

The FARC said it will seek to "coordinate efforts" with the still active, though smaller National Liberation Army (ELN).

The rebels will not resort to kidnapping as a way to raise money to fund their struggle, but will turn to businesses and cattle ranchers sympathetic to their cause to make voluntary donations, he said.

After disarming, the rebels converted the leftist movement into a political party that preserved the FARC acronym as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, and Marquez was elected senator, but he never took office.