Antonio Navarro Wolff (Pasto, July 9, 1948) had promised Carlos Pizarro that, if either of the two were murdered in the middle of the peace process between the Government and the M-19 guerrilla, the other would return to the mountains to take up arms. However, when on April 26, 1990, a hitman murdered the then presidential candidate of the Democratic Alliance M-19 on a plane covering the Bogotá-Barranquilla route, he broke his promise. Despite the pain over the death of his partner, one of the few episodes in his life that brought tears to his eyes, Navarro opted for peace.
More than a year later, on July 4, 1991, he signed, together with the conservative Alvaro Gomez Hurtado and the liberal Horacio Serpa Uribethe promulgation of the Political Constitution of 1991. The photograph of the three presidents of the National Constituent Assembly remained in history.
This Sunday, at 2:42 in the afternoon, Navarro became, at the age of 78, the last to die, after several years facing health problems. His family confirmed the news with a heartfelt farewell message: “We will always carry our dear Antonio, the Man of Peace, deep in our hearts.”.
Presidents of the National Constituent Assembly: Antonio Navarro, Álvaro Uribe and Horacio Serpa. Photo:THE TIME
Before joining the ranks of M-19, Navarro was already a sanitary engineer from the Universidad del Vallean institution where he also completed a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. After the first contacts in the movement, which arose as a result of the electoral fraud that General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla denounced after the elections of April 19, 1970, he traveled to England to study a specialization in Environmental Engineering at Loughborough University. It was after finishing those studies in Europe that he became fully involved in the guerrilla movement.
In the M-19 there were a kind of generational cuts. Jaime Bateman and Iván Marino Ospina belonged to a first; Then came that of Pizarro and Navarro, and, later, that of young people like Gustavo Petro. Navarro’s first combat occurred on the banks of the Pescado River, in the south of Caquetá, during an attempted ambush of the Army.
On November 6, 1985, Navarro Wolff had lunch at the Riviera hotel, in Havana (Cuba)when a waiter warned him that something serious was happening in Bogotá. Immediately, he ran to his room. Scenes from the taking and retaking of the Palace of Justiceimages that wrinkled his soul and that Years later he would classify it as the biggest mistake in the history of the M-19.
Navarro Wolff was an engineer, mayor, representative to the Chamber and senator of the Republic. Photo:Milton Diaz. EL TIEMPO Archive
At that time, as he recounted in a column published in EL TIEMPO, Navarro Wolff was not in the line of command of the guerrilla group, because He was recovering on the Caribbean island from a grenade attack while having breakfast in a cafe in Cali that left him on the verge of death: The attack cost him the amputation of his left leg and severed his hypoglossal nerve, an injury that left him speaking half-tongued.
Life in politics
For the former constituent, the first principle to achieve peace is “the acceptance that the method does not work.” Convinced that armed struggle was not the way, he accompanied Carlos Pizarro in the signing of the 1990 peace agreement with the government of Virgilio Barco. After the assassination of the presidential candidate, he assumed his place as a candidate for the Democratic Alliance M-19 and obtained 12.48 percent of the votes, placing him in third place, behind César Gaviria and Álvaro Gómez Hurtado. Then came his participation in the drafting of the 1991 Constitution and a career in different public positions: He was mayor of Pasto between 1995 and 1997, representative to the Chamber for Bogotá between 1998 and 2002, senator between 2002 and 2006, and governor of Nariño between 2008 and 2011..
From then on, His conviction was that differences could be resolved through democratic means. As one of the most representative leaders of the Colombian left, and despite his past in the armed struggle, Navarro built a measured voice, open to dialogue and capable of building bridges even with his political opponents.. A position that earned him the respect and recognition of adversaries from different shores.
“His contrary thinking did not affect a respectful relationship, especially when he coincided in the Governorate of Nariño and I in the National Government,” said former President Álvaro Uribe.
Antonio Navarro Wolff died this November 1st at the age of 78. Photo:Claudia Rubio. EL TIEMPO Archive
Even from its own political shore, Navarro was critical of several decisions of Gustavo Petro and sectors of the leftleaving his opposition to the calling of a new national constituent assembly as one of his last and most significant differences. “Why is a new constituent assembly needed? With the current charter, changes can be made,” stated the one who was one of the fathers of the 1991 Constitution and who had also been critical of the ‘decree’ with which the Executive intended to call a popular consultation, ignoring the negative concept that the Senate gave it.
Navarro decided to accompany Gustavo Petro when he arrived at the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá and took over as Secretary of Governmenta position in which he remained for just three months. After his departure, he became one of the main leaders of the Progressive movement and participated in the conversations that led to its union with the Green Party.
“He leaves an indelible mark on Colombia and on the Green Alliance Party. His life reminds us that it will always be possible to work for a more just, inclusive and peaceful country, and that the best tribute we can pay him is to continue defending the causes to which he dedicated himself,” the community said in a statement.
One of the most painful episodes of his life was the death of his son Gabriel, who committed suicide at the age of 18. Every time Navarro spoke of that loss, his voice broke. It was a blow that also led him to gradually distance himself from public life and reduce his appearances on the political scene.
The last time Navarro was seen at a political event was in April, during the official event of the Green Alliance joining the campaign of the then presidential candidate Iván Cepeda. This Sunday, after his death was confirmed, his family, which insists on remembering his contribution to peace, announced that they will announce the details of his farewell: “We will announce the moment to accompany him on his last journey.”
Photo:THE TIME
JUAN PABLO PENAGOS RAMÍREZ
Political Writing
