Antonio José was born on 9 July 1948 in Pasto to Rafael Navarro Uribe and María Emma Wolff Pizarro.

He studied Environmental Engineering at Loughborough University, UK in 1976 on a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation, the British Council and the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada.

He was named head of the Commission to organize the National Dialogue, along with Vera Grabe, Alfonso Jacquin, Andrés Almarales and Israel Santamaría.

In May 1985, the talks collapsed after an attack in a cafeteria in the city of Cali, when a soldier threw a grenade that exploded 10 cm away from Navarro, who was severely wounded.

After signing the peace agreement, M-19 nominated its leader, Carlos Pizarro Leongómez to run as candidate for the presidency, but he was assassinated on a commercial flight from Bogotá to Barranquilla on 26 April 1990.

In the 2000s, M-19 entered a leftist coalition of parties called the Alternative Democratic Pole and Navarro became its Secretary General.

[2] Navarro is portrayed by the actor Fabio Rubiano as the character of Marco Navia in TV series Escobar, el patrón del mal.