His nickname "Carlos the Jackal" is derived from two sources. First, when Sánchez joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1970, recruiting officer Bassam Abu Sharif gave him the code name "Carlos" because of his South American roots. Later, he was dubbed "The Jackal" by The Guardian newspaper after one of its correspondents reportedly spotted Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal on the bookshelf of a friend's apartment in which Sánchez had stashed some weapons. Thereafter, he was referred to as "Carlos the Jackal".
