Topic: Carlos the Jackal

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal (born on October 12, 1949(1949-10-12)), is a Venezuelan convicted of murder in France who has worked with and for causes associated with communists, Arab nationalists and Islamists. He is serving a life sentence in prison.

Named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin by his Marxist father, Ramírez Sánchez soon joined the youth movement of the national communist party. He enrolled in a university in Moscow which was noted for recruiting foreign communists. In 1970, he volunteered for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In Lebanon, he finished his training at a school staffed by Iraqi military.

After several bungled bombings, Ramírez Sánchez achieved notoriety for a 1975 raid on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, which killed three people. This was followed by a string of attacks against Western targets. For many years he was among the most wanted international fugitives. Carlos was dubbed "The Jackal" by The Guardian after one of its correspondents reportedly spied Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal in close proximity to some of the fugitive's belongings.