Manuel Marulanda

Manuel Marulanda Vélez, alias Tirofijo (Spanish: "Safe Shot"), fighting name of Pedro Antonio Marín (b. probably 12 May 1928 in Génova, Quindío, Colombia; † 26 March 2008) was a leader of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC and the oldest guerrilla leader in the world. The exact date of his birth is not certain. Tirofijo stated in interviews that he was probably born in 1930.

Marulanda was the eldest of five sons of a liberal peasant family. After attending elementary school, he took on various simple jobs.

During the Violencia, the violent confrontation between liberals and conservatives following the assassination of presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948, Marulanda initially fought on the side of the liberals. As time went on, he made contact with guerrilla groups influenced by the Communist Party that fought more aggressively against the conservatives. During this time, he took the name of a murdered labor leader, Manuel Marulanda, and befriended Luis Morantes (also known as Jacobo Arenas), a Communist Party cadre.

Towards the end of the Violencia, Marulanda was one of the founders of the "Independent Republic of Marquetalia", a community of mainly liberal peasants who doubted the legitimacy of the Colombian state and its army.

After the end of the dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinillas in 1957 and the National Front agreement between the Liberal and Conservative parties, the new Colombian government considered the "independent republics" a threat. After pressure from conservative members of Congress and the United States, the Colombian army attacked Marquetalia in May 1964.

At a meeting held by the survivors on May 27, 1964, it was decided, under the leadership of Marulanda and Jacobo Arenas, to create a guerrilla organization. In the same year, the two founded the Bloque Sur ('Southern Bloc'), from which the FARC emerged in 1964.

Marulanda was at the head of the FARC until his death; he received his nickname Tirofijo because of his safe handling of firearms. One of his daughters, Olga Marín, was married to Raúl Reyes, who was number two in the FARC until his death on 1 March 2008.

Marulanda died of a heart attack on March 26, 2008, according to the FARC. The Colombian Defense Minister Santos speculated at a press conference that he also considered combat operations as a possible cause of death. His successor was Guillermo León Sáenz alias Alfonso Cano. In the "23 de Enero" district of the Venezuelan capital Caracas, a memorial bust was erected in honour of the deceased FARC chief on 27 September 2008. In a memorial speech, the fight and the decency of the FARC were honored.