On 12th Oct 1949 the prominent Venezuelan lawyer José Ramírez and his wife Elba Maria managed to get a baby boy in the famous neighborhood of Tachira. Mr. José Ramirez was a man who held strongly to the radical ideology of Marxism, so he named all his three children in remembrance of the famous leader of Russia, President Ilyich Lenin Vladimir who strongly held the Marxist ideology. His first child who is Carlos he named Ilyich Sanchez Ramirez, his second child Lenin and the third Vladimir.
Due to his father's financial ability, Sanchez (Carlos) was lucky to go to various schools with a good educational status. Carlos did not like normal studies at all, when he reached just 15 years old Sanchez decided to join the youth movement of the Communist party of Venezuela. Where several times they caused riots, protests and chaos to oppose the leadership of the ruling party.
At the age of 17 his father decided to go with him to participate in the general conference of the Union of Three Continents (tricontinental conference), a conference that involved the continents of Africa, Asia and South America.
For the first time Sanchez got the reality of how the world is run where he discovered that the countries of the continent of Europe and America used the resources they had to exploit the third world countries (3rd world countries).
This is where the poison of revolution began. Immediately after the tricontinental conference ended, Sanchez asked his father to take him to a military training school.
Jan 1966 when he had a few months left to reach 18 years old his father decided to take him to the guerrilla warfare training college run by the Cuban intelligence agency (Cuban DGI) just outside the capital of Cuba, Havana.
At the end of that year his parents separated. His mother headed to London with all the children, where she continued her studies at Stafford College. In 1968, Sanchez being 19 years old was taken by his father to study in Paris, France, but Sanchez completely refused and suggested he be taken to Patrice Lumumba University located in Moscow, the capital of Russia. According to the BBC, this college was founded with the aim of preparing leaders with strong communist ideologies especially from third world countries. This college has produced top leaders of various African countries including Sudan, Namibia, Benin, Central Africa etc.
Due to behaviors of rowdiness, chaos, delinquency, hooliganism and living a Playboy lifestyle he was greatly hated by the instructors. In 1969 Sanchez organized a protest of Arab students there, an offense that got him expelled from that college.
In 1970 Sanchez fled to Palestine, where he joined a very famous group in the 70s called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). PFLP was a terrorist group hiding under the umbrella of multipartism, which was being sponsored by the KGB (Russian Institute of Defense and Intelligence), this group was established specifically to bring chaos in Israel to weaken the security of that nation.
While in PFLP Sanchez received high-level training in terrorism, guerrilla warfare, weapons and military tactics. Sanchez showed great prowess especially in marksmanship, toughness and cooking up invasion and hijacking plans.
In Sept of that year the Palestine Liberation Organisation group under Yasser Arafat entered into a conflict with the army of the country of Jordan, thus emerging the famous war given the name Black September. When the PLO was overpowered after the battles it requested military assistance from the group of Sanchez and others, the PFLP.
Being a very young man of only 21 years old he was appointed to lead the PFLP group to fight the Black September war. The young man completely changed the wind of that war, the Jordanian army was badly humiliated, Sanchez drew invasion tactics that confused the enemies. He designed uniforms that were very similar to those of the Jordanian army, he drew a map to dig underground tunnels from where they had camped to where the Jordanian army was, they arrived at the scene at night and then mixed with the Jordanian soldiers. After that the attacks begin.
This tactic was very successful until the King of Jordan Hussein asked for reconciliation. Still Sanchez was not satisfied, he hatched maps to hijack planes that had landed in Jordan. In that same month of September he succeeded in hijacking four planes that landed in Jordan including SwissAir, TWA, Azraq and BOAC.
The prowess in this Black September war is what made Sanchez baptized with the name Carlos, which is famous in South American countries meaning 'Heroic Man'
The supreme leader of PFLP General Wadie Haddad was pleased with the diligence of Carlos thus deciding to take him to London to get higher military training. The following year 1971 Carlos went for training in London and that is where he started official terrorist incidents.
While in England in 1971, he rented an ordinary house just outside the city of London, he spent four months designing and installing security systems for the protection of his house. That act made the police suspicious of him. Several police officers came to his home to do an investigation to understand what exactly Carlos was intending. (Remember that the name Carlos was very famous but no one recognized him by face). After the investigation, the police failed to find him with any offense.
26 Oct 1972, Carlos forged a Costa Rica passport and left England for Damascus, the capital of Syria. He did so to confuse the police, i.e. the documents show he is still in England while he is in Syria. On the 27th and 28th he hatched a hijacking plan, he prepared his two colleagues. On the 29th they entered Damascus airport, at 12 noon a Lufthansa plane (Boeing 727-100) that was heading to Frankfurt, Germany was hijacked.
Carlos sent greetings to the president of Germany through the Minister of Defense Dr. Theodore Blank. The government begged Carlos to leave the hostages safe at any cost. Carlos ordered that every three hostages is equal to one PFLP prisoner imprisoned in Germany so he wants the prisoners to be released. An agreement was reached on both sides.
Carlos ordered the pilot to fly the plane to Zagreb, Croatia. All hostages were dropped off safe and then the plane was flown to Tripoli, Libya. Carlos and his colleagues were given shelter by Gaddafi. Finally on the 30th Carlos returned to London.
3 days later the Olympic games began in Germany. The Black September group asked Carlos to help them carry out an attack that will send a message to the world about the exploitation of the nation of Palestine. Carlos created a dangerous attack which today is famous by the name of the Munich Massacre. But Carlos did not want to participate in that attack, he stayed aside.
On 5 Sept 11 Israeli Olympians were kidnapped and killed by Black September. All those involved in that murder were eliminated one after another at different times by the Israeli intelligence agency, MOSSAD. But Carlos remained just strutting around in London.
Secret reports leaked by WikiLeaks claim that MOSSAD could not kill Carlos because he was not and had never been a threat to them.
Still being in training in London, Nov of that same year Carlos carried out a shocking incident where in 1 day there was a bomb attack in the Israeli bank branch in London and a station of 1 famous Israeli newspaper. Cars and buildings were damaged but no deaths or injuries were reported. After that attack is when Carlos officially entered the league of the big boys in Europe, he officially captured the attention of the defense and security organs.
Dec 30 1973, Carlos woke up very early, opened a briefcase, took oil and a cloth and cleaned his Tokarev pistol, then he counted 4 bullets and put them in the magazine. He took a cigarette and smoked two puffs then the journey to the home of Josef Sieff began.
Josef Sieff was a big businessman in England with Jewish blood and he was also the chairman of the British Zionist Federation, this guy several times made statements condemning leaders, liberation parties and citizens of Palestine.
When he arrived he had a forged permit that enabled him to be allowed by the guards to enter. After entering inside he met Josef's maid, he asked her to be shown where Josef was. He found Josef in the bathroom bathing, what he did was squat and pull out his pistol that he had hidden in his sock, he took target and released one bullet which went directly to Josef's face, unfortunately/luckily it grazed between the nose and mouth (upper lip). Carlos tried to pull a second bullet, luckily/unluckily he was shocked the bullets had jammed in the weapon. Without wasting time he ran away very quickly and left Josef in critical condition.
The next day information spread showing the interim leader of PFLP insisting that that attack was to take revenge for Israel after MOSSAD killed one top leader of PFLP Mohammed Boudia.
The next attack was not easy. The plan was to blow up with a rocket-propelled grenade 2 Israeli El Al planes that were landing at Orly airport near Paris.
The next attack was not easy. The plan was to blow up with a rocket-propelled grenade 2 Israeli El Al planes that were landing at Orly airport near Paris. These attacks were carried out between the 13th and 15th.
These attacks did not succeed as planned, they caused damage to the plane without death or injury. Worse, Carlos's fellow terrorist Michel Moukharbal was arrested by French police in that incident.
While under intense surveillance he was interrogated through torture (enhanced interrogation), until he opened up and gave identification of the Face, appearance and behavior of Carlos in order to facilitate his arrest. Mourkharbal agreed to cooperate with the intelligence unit - DST for counterterrorism in order to facilitate the arrest of Carlos.
Moukharbal and two French officers arrived at Carlos's home. Carlos being in his room saw them very well through security cameras, he gave permission to the guards to let them in. Carlos met them, they greeted each other well and he welcomed them to sit. Carlos got up and gave them juice and stories continued.
When they finished drinking Carlos got up and told Moukharbal, it is safer for you to die in my hands than to be killed by the pigs of Europe, he pulled out a pistol and started to kill Moukharbal then he finished off those French spies then he quickly escaped to Beirut via Brussels.
This incident spread throughout the whole world, that's when the media nicknamed him the Jackal (The Jackal) and made him different from all other Carlos in the world.
While in Beirut is where Carlos stayed day and night hatching a mission that he believed generations and generations will not forget him, the whole plan was to make the big nations that dig and transport oil cry, where inside it there is great exploitation for small nations.
It was like this...
On Sunday like yesterday Dec 21 1975 in Vienna there was an annual meeting of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This meeting was attended by big leaders of various nations.
Carlos representing the PFLP group led a team of 6 dangerous people in an invasion that shocked the world including the great woman Gabrielle.
In the morning at 9 o'clock they arrived at the OPEC headquarters where the meeting was continuing. 4 Australian police officers were attacked very early after Carlos and others entered the gate, one of those police officers died on the spot. After entering inside, before one OPEC employee pressed the phone to call the police, the woman Gabrielle calmed him with 1 bullet in the shoulder, there also appeared a security guard of the Minister of oil of Libya, he too was hurried before causing harm, thus making the death toll reach 3 people.
Carlos and others got access to enter the meeting room which had 63 delegates including 11 oil ministers of various countries.
Carlos and others got access to enter the meeting room which had 63 delegates including 11 oil ministers of various countries.
Carlos pulled out the phone of one minister of Austria, he called the president to give him information. Carlos gave very simple conditions to the government;-
1. He wanted a bus to be brought that will carry all the hostages to the Airport.
2. He wanted a plane to be there when they arrive at the airport and it be full tanked.
3. He wanted all the complaints of Palestine against other nations to be broadcast on the national television and radio of Austria every 2 hours.
Otherwise Carlos promised to kill one hostage after another every 15 minutes.
Austria understood well how controversial Carlos is and with the ability to complete events with great expertise without leaving any evidence. So they decided directly to accept all the demands of Carlos without objection.
The bus was brought immediately, all the hostages and Carlos and others headed to the airport.
Finally on a day like today date 22, they were given a government plane type Boeing, also Carlos ordered to be given pilot Neville Atkinson. This was a retired pilot of the British air force (royal navy pilot), at that time that pilot was the pilot of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Carlos ordered the pilot to fly the plane to Algiers, Algeria where he released 20 hostages for the agreement of being given weapons, bullets, as well as being refueled in the plane. After that he ordered the pilot to fly to Tripoli.
After arriving in Tripoli Carlos released 10 hostages for the agreement of being exchanged a more luxurious plane and with greater capability and also being assured protection for the whole day before he leaves.
On 23 Dec Carlos and others and the hostages arrived again in Algiers where he promised to release all hostages alive if he is given an amount of money not less than $50 million and be assured of being given asylum. It came to be discovered that this money was given by the government of Saudi Arabia and Iran and that Carlos used all the money giving his colleagues a very small amount. The hostages were released after Carlos satisfied himself that he would be given enough protection there in Algeria.
There is nothing that angered the supreme leader of PFLP like the OPEC attack. To him that hijacking had no benefit at all because the goal they had planned did not come true. The work Carlos and others were instructed to do was to kill the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia, Ahmadi and Jamshid of Iran. Also Waddi Haddad was annoyed by the act of Carlos taking all the money for personal use. Thus, Haddad who was also Carlos's instructor of intelligence matters decided to expel Carlos from PFLP.
The security situation was not good for Carlos after being expelled from PFLP, he fled to South Yemen, then headed to Libya where he was received and given shelter by Gaddafi, who is believed to be the one who financed the OPEC attack (The Libyan Revolution: Its Origins and Legacy : a Memoir and Assessment). While in Libya he volunteered to provide training in guerrilla warfare tactics for Libyan soldiers.
July 4 1976 a French plane was hijacked coming from Tel Aviv and taken to Entebbe Uganda, information spread everywhere that the hijacker is Carlos although Carlos himself denied involvement in that attack.
In 1976 the rogue president of Iran Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who later was overthrown by Ayatollah received intelligence information that the main target of the OPEC Attack was to kill his Minister, so he was angered and determined to kill Carlos. He used a very large amount of money to hire four dangerous killers to remove Carlos from the face of the earth. Those terrorists were:-
1. Manuel Contreras: This was an officer of the Chilean army and director of the Intelligence institute of Chile (DINA), This guy died while serving 59 different sentences without bail which have a sentence of 529 years in total.
2. Garhard Mertins: this is a German expert in jumping from the sky from war planes (paratrooper). This guy is the one who was the leader of Operation Gran Sasso, the attack that escaped Benito Mussolini from prison in 1943.
3. Sergio Arredondo: this guy in his life killed 75 people with his own hand. He was assistant commander of the 'caravan of death' squad.
4. The fourth killer was never known but it is said he was a Palestinian.
All these killers together planned four attacks to kill Carlos to execute the order of Shah Reza.
In August 1994, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, underwent a surgery in Khartoum, Sudan. Following the surgery, he was moved from the hospital to a villa by Sudanese forces as a security precaution.
One of the most well-known and notorious terrorists of the 1970s and 80s, he was responsible for multiple bombings, assassinations, and hostage-takings. He had moved from Eastern Europe to Syria to Jordan and finally to Sudan where he believed he was beyond the reach of Western intelligence agencies.
In the early morning hours of August 14, Sudanese special operations forces entered the villa and roused Carlos from his bed. In an operation orchestrated by the CIA and French intelligence services, he was sedated, bound, and flown to France to stand trial.
In 1997 he was convicted for the 1975 Paris murder of two police officers and an informant. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2011 he stood trial for multiple bombings in France that killed 11 people and wounded over a hundred. During his trial, Carlos described himself as a “professional revolutionary.” He was given another life sentence.
In 2017 he again went on trial, this time for throwing a grenade into a Paris cafe in 1974 that killed two and wounded 34. This attack was linked to an ongoing hostage situation in the French Embassy in The Hague in the Netherlands conducted by the Japanese Red Army in which the French ambassador and ten others were taken hostage. He was given a third life sentence.
He continues to reside at the Clairvaux Prison in north-central France.
