A guerrilla commander who lost a leg to a grenade later helped write Colombia’s constitution. Antonio Navarro Wolff, a leading figure of the country’s peace deals, died on Sunday aged 78.
What We Know
The peace deals Navarro Wolff helped win still shape Colombian politics today. He died on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2:42 p.m. Colombia time (19:42 GMT).
His family confirmed the death in a public statement. In our translation from Spanish, it says he “passed away at 2:42 in the afternoon today”.
The family calls him “the Man of Peace” and wants a farewell “in the intimacy of our family”. It asks the media to respect its mourning.
Details of the farewell are to be announced on Monday 2 November. Official reactions were still coming in, and we have not yet confirmed any.
Navarro Wolff leaves a record that few Colombian politicians can match. Over four decades he went from rebel commander to minister, mayor, governor and senator.
Who Was Antonio Navarro Wolff
Navarro Wolff was born on 9 July 1948 in Pasto, a city in Nariño, a department (state) in southwestern Colombia. He earned a sanitary engineering degree at the Universidad del Valle in 1972 and later did postgraduate studies at Loughborough University in England.
File photo: Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, the seat of Colombia’s national politics.In the 1970s he joined the M-19, a Colombian guerrilla group that disarmed in 1990 and became a political party. He rose to become its second-in-command.
He coordinated the group’s negotiating commission in the 1984–85 talks under President Belisario Betancur. In 1985 a grenade blast in Cali, a major city in southwestern Colombia, cost him a leg.
The M-19 signed a peace accord with the government of President Virgilio Barco and demobilised in March 1990. After the assassination of its leader Carlos Pizarro in April 1990, Navarro Wolff became the movement’s presidential candidate and finished third that year.
He served as Health Minister in 1990. In 1991 he was one of three co-presidents of the National Constituent Assembly.
A constituent assembly is an elected body that rewrites a country’s constitution. The 1991 assembly produced the charter that still governs Colombia today.
He later served as Mayor of Pasto from 1995 to 1997 and as a member of the Chamber of Representatives for Bogotá from 1998 to 2002. He was a Senator from 2002 to 2006 and again from 2014 to 2018.
Colombia’s Congress has two chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, and he sat in both. He moved from guerrilla command to national lawmaking.
He was Governor of Nariño from 2008 to 2011 and Bogotá’s Secretary of Government in early 2012. Later he was with the Alianza Verde, the Green Alliance, a Colombian political party.
What Is Not Known
His family has not disclosed the cause of death or where he died. We will not speculate on either.
The time and place of the farewell have not been announced. Official reactions were still coming in, and we will report them once we have confirmed them.
The family has asked for a private farewell. Whether any public ceremony will follow is unknown.
What It Means for US Readers
Navarro Wolff represented a choice Colombia made in 1990, when armed rebels laid down their weapons and entered politics. His career is a reminder that the country once ended a guerrilla war through talks and ballots.
The 1991 constitution he helped write is still Colombia’s founding law. It sets the rules for the politics and institutions that US governments and investors deal with in Bogotá.
Two presidents from different governments, Belisario Betancur and Virgilio Barco, negotiated with his movement. The talks of 1984–85 and the accord of 1990 show how long a peace can take.
Former President Gustavo Petro, who governed from 2022 to 2026, is also a former M-19 member. The two men came from the same movement, but we have not confirmed any reaction from him.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Antonio Navarro Wolff die?
He died on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2:42 p.m. Colombia time (19:42 GMT), aged 78, according to his family.
Who was Antonio Navarro Wolff?
He was a Colombian politician and former M-19 guerrilla leader. He negotiated peace, served as Health Minister, co-presided over the 1991 constitutional assembly, and later was a mayor, senator and governor.
What was the M-19?
It was a Colombian guerrilla group that signed a peace accord with the government and demobilised in March 1990. It then became a political party, and Navarro Wolff was its presidential candidate that year.
What caused his death?
His family has not disclosed the cause of death or the place. They asked the media to respect their mourning, and details of the farewell are due on 2 November.