Terrorist ‘Carlos the Jackal’ learned many of his tricks hiding from the FBI in Miami
Venezuelan terrorist “Carlos the Jackal” spent much of his youth hiding from and evading the FBI in Miami. (Getty Images)
By CASTO OCANDO
Channel: Latin American Affairs
Famed Venezuelan terrorist Illich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as ”Carlos the Jackal,” who is now in the midst of a trial in French courts for his involvement in terrorist attacks in France in the 80s, learned his first lessons in clandestine operations while in Miami in the early 60s.
The Jackal, who has been serving a life sentence in France since 1994 for the murder of two French counterintelligence agents and an informer in 1975, lived in Miami in 1961 with his father Jose Altagracia Ramirez, and was detained once by the FBI.
In early 1961, Carlos lived in a Miami house with his family two blocks from the now-demolished Orange Bowl. He had previously resided in Bogota, Colombia, where his father, one of the founders of the Communist Party of Venezuela, remained in exile.
The Jackal’s family was being watched closely by FBI agents on the lookout for wealthy Venezuelans that were supporting or financing groups of civilians and military individuals from Miami in an effort to overthrow Romulo Betancourt, the president of Venezuela at the time.
The Jackal’s stay in South Florida coincided with that of another famous Venezuelan: Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the deposed Venezuelan dictator who was living in exile on Miami Beach at the time.
Pérez Jiménez had come to Miami from the Dominican Republic in March 1958, and was being sought for extradition by the Betancourt government. According to documents reviewed by Univision News, the dictator was continuously monitored because he was financing military conspiracies against Betancourt from his mansion in Miami Beach’s Indian Creek.
The FBI’s constant surveillance of the Jackal’s father taught him his first lessons on how to organize clandestine activities.
“I would stand guard to see if FBI patrols were in the vicinity so that our guests could move about untroubled,” said Carlos in a letter published in 2003.
The “guests” were Venezuelan conspirators who were based in Miami because they were wanted by the Venezuelan security agencies.
The Jackal said that on one occasion, he was “detained … by FBI agents” who were following the trail of some friends of his father that were being sought by the Venezuelan authorities.
His experiences with his father in Miami were decisive in shaping Carlos’ character.
“My father taught me the rules of the conspiracy, and guided me through practical work underground, under observation to move the intelligence services, and serve the actions of its agents, especially female,” wrote the Jackal, in a letter published in the newspaper VEA in 2003.
From Miami, Carlos would go to Havana, and from there to London, where he officially started his notorious career as a terrorist.
Carlos, 62, has admitted that the terrorist attacks he plotted produced “between 1,500 and 2,000 dead,” in an interview with the El Nacional newspaper last Sunday. He compared himself to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but admitted that Castro “killed more people” than him.
The terrorist, who has declared his affinity with President Hugo Chávez, has received letters and messages of solidarity and admiration from the Venezuelan president himself.
The Jackal has even offered to help Chávez and his government, if he is released one day.
Chávez has responded with praise.
“[The Jackal] was truly a revolutionary fighter. I claim that, and I do not care what they say tomorrow in Europe!” Chávez declared in a speech in 2009.
