Tanja Nijmeijer (; born 13 February 1978), also known as Alexandra Nariño, is a Dutch former guerrilla fighter and English teacher who has been a member of the

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 ...

n guerrilla group

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) since 2002. She has also been one of the group's leading public figures since the discovery of her diary in 2007.Tanja Nijmeijer
Colombia Reports, 19 November 2012 She was part of the negotiating team involved in successful peace talks with the Colombian government.

Early life and education

Tanja Nijmeijer was born on 13 February 1978 in

Denekamp Denekamp () is a town in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is a part of the region of Twente and the municipality of Dinkelland, and lies about 9 km northeast of Oldenzaal. The town was first noted as early as the 10th century when it was ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Nijmeijer studied

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

and Romance cultures at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

. In 1998 she went to

and became an English teacher. She later returned to the

and continued her university studies.

FARC

In 2002, Nijmeijer returned to Colombia and in November joined the

(FARC). She became one of FARC's leading public figures from 2007 onwards, when a private journal she had been keeping was found by the Colombian military and became the focus of international news reports. In her journal Nijmeijer wrote about the hardships of, and her occasional disillusionment with life as a guerrilla. Up until 2010, Nijmeijer was in a romantic relationship with a nephew of FARC leader

Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas (2 January 1953 – 22 September 2010) — a.k.a. Jorge Briceño Suárez a.k.a. Mono Jojoy — was a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Colombian guerrilla organization. He was ...

. In Autumn 2012, she was named as a member of the FARC delegation in the negotiations with the Colombian government in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. She is charged with

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

in 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 ...

for allegedly participating in the kidnapping of three American citizens. The three Americans (

Private Military Contractors A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

Marc Gonsalves Marc David Gonsalves (born 1972) is an American Northrop Grumman employee who was abducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and was held hostage from February 13, 2003, to July 2, 2008. He was rescued in Operation Jaque, along ...

Keith Stansell Keith Donald Stansell is an American Northrop Grumman employee who was captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC) and was held hostage from February 13, 2003 to July 2, 2008. He w ...

and Thomas Howes, described their experiences after being freed in their book,

Out of Captivity ''Out of Captivity'', subtitled ''Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle'', is a 2009 book written by Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes with the assistance of author Gary Brozek. It narrates the nearly five and a half years th ...

. They were conducting a reconnaissance flight in a single-engine aircraft under orders from

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

. Their reconnaissance plane was equipped with

Forward-looking infrared Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

equipment. The goal was to locate FARC camps and cocaine laboratories in the Colombian jungle. The plane made an emergency landing in 2003 due to engine failure in an area where the FARC was stationed. American pilot Tommy Janis was shot dead on the run and a Colombian sergeant was executed on the spot by the FARC. The three American hostages (according to the FARC,

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

to be exchanged for captured FARC fighters) were freed along with

Íngrid Betancourt Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio (; born 25 December 1961) is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist, especially opposing political corruption. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ...

five years later during

Operation Jaque } Operation Jaque ( es, Operación Jaque), named after the first letter of the month of the operation, July, and referencing check in chess, was a Colombian military operation that resulted in the successful rescue of 15 hostages, including former ...

. If found guilty she would face up to 60 years in prison.Dutch Tanja Nijmeijer on US terrorist charges

Radio Netherlands Worldwide Radio Netherlands (RNW; nl, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services i ...

by Reinout van Wagtendonk, 15 December 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nijmeijer, Tanja 1978 births Living people People from Denekamp Members of FARC Dutch political activists Dutch Trotskyists Squatters University of Groningen alumni Dutch activists Dutch women activists Women in war in South America Dutch expatriates in Colombia Women in 21st-century warfare