Jacobo Arenas

Who was Jacobo Arenas?

Jacobo Arenas was a Colombian guerrilla and ideological leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He was also one of the FARC figures involved in the organization and creation of the Patriotic Union political party in 1985. He was fluent in several languages other than his native Spanish, including English and Russian.

Born at Bucaramanga in Santander Department, Arenas spent most of his life involving himself in the activities of Marxist revolution in Colombia since the 1960s. During this time, he mostly lived in the mountains, jungles and remote villages. Arenas sometimes had to hide from those who wanted to capture him, including Colombian security forces, the Central Intelligence Agency and eventually paramilitary fighters as well. Arenas is thought to have followed the example of Che Guevara, who changed his way of life when he saw that the people of Latin America were facing hardships during a regionwide motorcycle trip when he was a senior year medical student. Arenas admired Che Guevara and started his life as a revolutionary due to similar realizations, first through his experiences in the Colombian Communist Party and finally in the FARC.