- published: 10 Nov 2010
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Simón Trinidad (born July 30, 1950) is the alias of Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda, a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and reputedly the first high-ranking member of that guerrilla group to be captured. "Simon Trinidad" is currently imprisoned in the United States where he is serving a 60 year sentence at ADX Florence "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.
Palmera was born into a traditional landowner family in the city of Valledupar in the Colombian northern Cesar Department, on July 30, 1950. Son of Liberal leader Juvenal Palmera and Alicia Pineda de Palmera. He was named Juvenal Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda, with an unusual third name to his name. He is known to have three siblings: two sisters, Leonor and Elsa and a brother, Jaime.
He spent most of his childhood in Valledupar, were he attended middle school classes in the public school Colegio Nacional Loperena, one of the better schools in the city at that time. He also frequented the Valledupar Social Club. Part of his high school education was completed in the Colegio Helvetia in Bogotá. He spent his last two years of schooling in Cartagena, in the Naval School of Cartagena. He then enrolled in the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, in Bogota, where he studied Economics. He also attended Harvard University, where he completed graduate work in business economics.