Antonio Navarro Wolff, the Colombian politician who went from being one of the main commanders of the M-19 guerrilla to becoming a peace negotiator, co-president of the 1991 Constituent Assembly and one of the most recognized figures of the country's democratic left, died on Sunday, in Bogotá, at the age of 78. His career went through some of the most decisive and violent episodes in Colombia's recent history and ended up linked to one of its main institutional transformation projects: the Constitution that remains in force more than three decades later.

First modification: 11/02/2026 - 15:49 Last modification: 11/02/2026 - 15:53

"The man of peace." This is how his family described Antonio Navarro Wolff when communicating the news of his death. His biography, with all its lights, wounds and contradictions, explains why this definition will inevitably be associated with his name.

Wolff's death was confirmed on Sunday, November 1, at the age of 78 through a statement released on social networks.

“With deep sadness and pain, we inform his friends and all Colombians that our beloved Antonio Navarro Wolff died at 2:42 in the afternoon today,” the family said.

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The news provoked reactions from different sectors of the Colombian political spectrum. Former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe highlighted the respectful relationship he maintained with Navarro despite their ideological differences, while former president Ernesto Samper remembered him as a “companion in political struggles for peace.” The leftist senator and former presidential candidate, Iván Cepeda, for his part, described him as one of the most prominent leaders of the left and progressivism in the Latin American country.

This transversal recognition illustrates the dimension of a figure whose biography was marked by profound contradictions, but also by a rare ability to move from armed struggle to institutional politics.

From Pasto to engineering and political militancy

Antonio Navarro Wolff was born on July 9, 1948 in Pasto, capital of the department of Nariño, in southwestern Colombia.

Before becoming one of the best-known faces in national politics, his training was linked to engineering and academia. He studied Sanitary Engineering at the Universidad del Valle, where he graduated in 1972 and later studied Industrial and Systems Engineering.

In 1976, he traveled to England to specialize in Environmental Engineering at Loughborough University.

He also developed an academic career as a professor and university director. But it was precisely during the years of student activity and growing political mobilization that he began to get closer to the social movements and discussions that were going through Colombia in the 1970s.

His life would change definitively when he joined the April 19 Movement, known as M-19.

The rise within the M-19 and the grenade that changed his life

Navarro joined that extinct guerrilla in the 1970s and over time became one of its main leaders. The illegal organization had emerged in a context of controversy over the 1970 presidential elections and allegations of electoral fraud.

During his years in hiding, Navarro came to occupy the second position in command of the organization, behind Carlos Pizarro, who became the general commander of the movement.

His name was thus associated with one of the guerrillas that starred in some of the most dramatic episodes in the contemporary history of Colombia, to which former president Gustavo Petro also belonged. And the M-19 carried out numerous armed operations and actions that left a deep mark on the country.

But Navarro's career within the organization also led him to become one of its main interlocutors in attempts at negotiation with the State.

In 1985, in the midst of the first attempts at dialogue between the Government and the M-19, Navarro was the victim of an attack in Cali.

A grenade exploded near him and caused injuries that would change his life forever: he lost his left leg and suffered injuries to his face and larynx that affected his way of speaking.

The image of Navarro with a prosthesis would since become one of the most recognizable characteristics of his public figure.

However, the attack did not put an end to his political activity or his participation in efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict.

After the failure of the first dialogues during the Government of Belisario Betancur, the M-19 and the State resumed talks years later.

Read alsoColombia: 40 years since the taking of the Palace of Justice, a wound that remains open

From guerrilla commander to peace negotiator: one of the fathers of the Colombian Constitution

Navarro Wolff was one of the negotiators of the peace agreement signed in 1990 between the M-19 and the Government of President Virgilio Barco.

The pact led to the demobilization of the guerrilla and its transformation into a legal political force. For Navarro, that transition would mark the beginning of a new stage, although it was preceded by one of the hardest blows for the movement.

Carlos Pizarro, the main commander of the M-19 and presidential candidate after the demobilization, was assassinated in April 1990.

Navarro then assumed the presidential candidacy. His response to the assassination of Pizarro was decisive for the future of the process: he opted to maintain the path of peace and avoid a return to arms.

His transformation from insurgent commander to political leader thus began to acquire a national dimension.

The role for which Navarro Wolff will probably be most remembered was the one he played in the National Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1991 Constitution, in force in Colombia.

Navarro was elected as one of the three co-presidents of the Assembly, along with Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and Horacio Serpa Uribe, an image that condensed the spirit of plurality and negotiation that that process sought to represent.

The new Constitution replaced the political charter of 1886 and redefined fundamental aspects of the Colombian State, expanding the recognition of rights and consolidating the idea of ​​a social State of law.

Navarro is considered one of the fathers of that Constitution and defended its validity for decades, while maintaining that it should be developed and reformed in specific aspects to expand and consolidate the rights of citizens.

His time in the Constituent Assembly also represented one of the most significant political transformations of his generation: a former guerrilla leader now participated in the drafting of the fundamental rules of Colombian democracy.

A life marked by war, peace and dialogue

After the 1991 Constitution, Navarro developed an extensive career in institutional politics.

He was a minister, mayor of Pasto, governor of Nariño, representative to the Chamber and senator of the Republic. He also aspired on several occasions to elected office and maintained an active presence in public life for decades.

His time as mayor of Pasto and the Government of Nariño consolidated his profile as a territorial leader, while his experience in Congress made him a recognized figure of progressive currents and the democratic left.

In his later years he continued to be linked to political activity and public debate, including his participation in the Green Party.

The death of Antonio Navarro Wolff closes a trajectory that is difficult to separate from the recent history of Colombia.

He was a guerrilla and commander of an armed organization, he survived an attack that left him with permanent physical scars, he participated in the negotiation that led the M-19 to abandon its weapons and assumed the defense of the process even after the assassination of its top leader.

He later helped draft the Constitution that transformed the country's institutional framework and held some of the main positions in Colombian politics.

His critics and allies may differ about different chapters of his life, but his historical importance is difficult to dispute. Few figures embodied in such a direct way the transition from armed insurgency to democratic politics.

Perhaps that is why the condolences after his death came from ideologically opposed sectors. Navarro Wolff was, for some and others, a politician formed in a time of extreme confrontation who ended up becoming one of the symbols of dialogue and the commitment to resolve disputes within the institutions.

Read also: Why has the left never governed in Colombia until now?

With EFE and local media

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