Carlos the Jackal

Venezuelan-born international terror operative

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Born 1949 · age 77

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Wikipedia
43 languages
Cross-language footprint
Age
77
Born 1949
Known for
Terror's Advocate
2007

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

A Venezuelan Marxist–Leninist who carried out assassinations and bombings across Europe from 1973 to 1985, backed by Eastern Bloc intelligence services. He led the 1975 OPEC headquarters raid in Vienna and spent years as one of the world's most-wanted fugitives before capture landed him three life sentences in France.

Biography

About

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez was born on 12 October 1949 in Venezuela and became a committed Marxist–Leninist operating under protection of the Stasi and KGB. After several failed bombings in the early 1970s, he commanded the 1975 raid on OPEC headquarters in Vienna that killed three people, then escaped with hostages on a plane to Libya. When his wife Magdalena Kopp was arrested by French authorities, he detonated bombs across France between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, killing 11 and wounding over 100 in an effort to force her release. Sudan delivered him to France through extrajudicial capture, w…

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