Pedro Antonio Marín Marín (13 May 1930 – 26 March 2008), known by his "
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
" Manuel Marulanda Vélez, was the main leader of the
Marxist–Leninist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
FARC-EP
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 ...
("''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo''"). Marulanda was born in a
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
-growing region of west-central
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
in the
Quindío Department
Quindío () is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous for the quality of the coffee plantations, colorful architecture, benign weather, ...
, to a
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
family politically aligned with the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
during conflicts in the 1940s and 1950s.
Marulanda was nicknamed "Tirofijo" ( es, Surefire or Sureshot) by his comrades, apparently because of a reputed ability to accurately aim
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
s.
Marulanda himself changed his political and ideological inclinations to the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
(PCC) during "
La Violencia
''La Violencia'' (, The Violence) was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, fought mainly in the countryside.
''La Violencia'' is considered to have begu ...
" (roughly 1948 to 1958) that followed the assassination of the Liberal Party's leader
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala (23 January 1903 – 9 April 1948) was a left-wing Colombian politician and charismatic leader of the Liberal Party. He served as the mayor of Bogotá from 1936–37, the national Education Minister from 1940 ...
.
In March 2006,
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States Attorney General, appointed in February 2005 by President George W. Bush, becoming the highest-ranking Hispanic American in executive governme ...
, the
Attorney General of the United States
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
, announced in conjunction with
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...
and
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
officials that the
US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
had placed a $5 million reward on Tirofijo's head, or for information leading to his capture. But "Marulanda" was never apprehended, and died of a heart attack on 26 March 2008. He was replaced as commander-in-chief by
Alfonso Cano
Guillermo León Sáenz Vargas (22 July 1948 – 4 November 2011), more commonly known by his nom de guerre Alfonso Cano, was the commander of the militant group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias ...
.
Early armed activities
Marulanda and members of his family, like many Liberal peasants, rose up in arms not long after they heard the news about the death of
Jorge Eliecer Gaitan
Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος ('' Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
.
Eventually, Marulanda split with some of his relatives and became part of a column of guerrilla fighters that came under the influence of the
Communist Party of Colombia
The Colombian Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Colombiano, PCC) is a legal communist party in Colombia. It was founded in 1930 as the Communist Party of Colombia, at which point it was the Colombian section of the Comintern, and changed i ...
, which developed a more proactive role in the fighting, executing more raids and offensive operations. He took on the name "Manuel Marulanda" in honor of a murdered union leader. Marulanda eventually met and befriended Luis Morantes, also known as
Jacobo Arenas
Jacobo Arenas (" nom de guerre" of Luis Alberto Morantes Jaimes, 23 January 1924 – 10 August 1990) was a Colombian guerrilla leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia'', FARC).
I ...
, a PCC political cadre sent to the rural areas by the central party structure.
Members of this group later settled in an area known as
Marquetalia towards the end of "La Violencia", keeping their weapons. They distrusted the Colombian Army and government even after a 1953 coup led by General
Gustavo Rojas against Conservative president
Laureano Gómez
Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro (20 February 1889 – 13 July 1965) was a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served as the 18th President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953. In November 1951 poor health led him to cede presidential powe ...
. Rojas had offered an amnesty that was accepted by most Liberal irregular fighters nationwide, but reputedly the murder of a few demobilized individuals made Marulanda, his rural comrades and his PCC superiors in the cities uneasy.
After the fall of Rojas in 1957 and the signing of the National Front agreement in 1958 between Colombia's two main parties, self-sufficient armed enclaves, such as the so-called "independent republics" and in particular a supposed "Marquetalia Republic", were considered dangerous by the new government. Pressure from Conservative members of Congress and from the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
led to a Colombian Army attack on Marquetalia, which was eventually overrun during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia" in May 1964.
Formation of the FARC
The Colombian Army's attack was mostly ineffective, though it did scatter the guerrillas, and most of the survivors reunited elsewhere and later became part of the "Bloque Sur" (Southern Bloc) guerrilla group on 27 May 1964, a precursor to the official foundation of the FARC in 1966. Marulanda and
Jacobo Arenas
Jacobo Arenas (" nom de guerre" of Luis Alberto Morantes Jaimes, 23 January 1924 – 10 August 1990) was a Colombian guerrilla leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia'', FARC).
I ...
soon established themselves as the main leaders of the new guerrilla group.
Death
Marulanda died of a heart attack on 26 March 2008. The news was first brought by Colombian magazine ''
Revista Semana
''Semana'' (Spanish: ''Week'') is a weekly magazine in Colombia.
History
''Semana'' was founded in 1946 by Alberto Lleras Camargo (who would become president of Colombia in 1958) and that folded in 1961. It was relaunched by journalist Felipe L ...
'' on 24 May 2008, that cited Defense Minister
Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, ...
saying Marulanda died. The minister claimed he had learned this from a reliable informant within FARC. He also told the magazine that three bombing raids had targeted the rebel chief around the date in question. A press statement released by the Colombian Ministry of Defense on 24 May stated that Marulanda died on 26 March 2008, at 18:30 hours (UTC 13:30). On 25 May in a video released to channel
teleSUR, Timoleón Jiménez, aka ''Timochenko'', another member of the Central High Command of the FARC, confirmed the death as heart failure.
Popular culture
* Marulanda is portrayed by the Colombian actor
Iván Rodríguez
Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the Texas Rangers (in two separate stints, comprising the majority of his career), Florida ...
as the character of Miguel Miranda 'Punto-Fijo' in TV Series ''
Tres Caínes
''Los Tres Caínes'' (The 3 Cains) is a 2013 Spanish-language telenovela produced by RTI Producciones for Colombia-based television network RCN TV and United States-based television network MundoFox. Based on the story of the Colombian paramilit ...
''.
See also
*
The World's 10 Most Wanted
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
References
*Diario de la resistencia de Marquetalia, Jacobo Arenas, Ediciones Abejón Mono, 1972 (Espanol)
External links
Colombia's Rebel Patriarch Is Deadby Tim Padgett, ''Time Magazine'', 25 May 2008
* Manuel Marulanda
Cuadernos de Campaňa(1953)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marulanda, Manuel
1930 births
2008 deaths
Stalinism
Anti-revisionists
Colombian communists
People from Quindío Department
Members of FARC