November 1985

November, 1985 was a cataclysmic month for Colombia: First came the M-19 guerrillas' attack on the Palace of Justice, which ended with the building in flames and more than 100 people dead. Then, a few weeks later, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruis volcano, which triggered disastrous flooding of Armero and other towns, killing some 23,000 people.  


Santa Marta-born artist Josefina Jacquin has portrayed that month in Andy Warhol-style works now on display in the Jorge Eliecer Gaitan house/museum in Teusaquillo, which commemorates the populist presidential candidate, who was assasinated in 1948. The events are also personal for Jacquin, who now lives in northern California: her brother Alfonso Jacquin was one of the M-19's leaders, and died during the palace attack and military counter-attack. His body has never been recovered. 

The artist's brother, Alfonso Jacquin, an M-19 guerrilla leader disappeared during the group's 1985 attack on the Palace of Justice. 

Colombia's then-Pres. Betancur. The guerrillas demanded that he come over to the Justice Palace to undergo a guerrilla trial, he refused and the military attacked.

A visitor takes a picture of a portrait of Pablo Escobar. The drug lord apparently helped finance the M-19's attack in order to destroy the documents in the Justice Palace.

Omayra Sanchez, a 13-year-old girl trapped by mudflows caused by the volcanic eruption. She agonized for 60 hours before dying, and her death came bo symbolize the government's failure to warn residents and its slow response.  

Part of the Gaitan house/museum. The complex has never been completed, in part due to a fight between Gaitan's daughter and the National University for control of the site. It may be used as a law school.

Jorge Eliecer Gaitan's home, now a museum. 

Gaitan's grave. He was buried standing up, in order to 'plant' his ideas. 

Admission to the museum is free.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

How Far (and Fast) They Fall!

The Nule cousins - not standing so tall anymore. (Photo: Semana.com)

A year ago, the Nules headed an important corporation which was carrying out part of Bogotá's most important infrastructure project: building a Transmilenio express bus line to the airport.

Ivan Moreno on his way to jail.  (Photo: El Pais)

Today, the three Nule cousins who ran the business are in prison, the result of an expanding scandal over alleged kickbacks paid to politicians. One of those who allegedly received kickbacks was Senator Ivan Moreno, one-time Vice-Minister of health and later Minister of Labor, and who also happens to be the little brother of Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno. Yesterday, Ivan Moreno was arrested, too, and is now residing in his own jail cell.

El Dorado Ave: the canyon which swallowed the Nules and Morenos.

Counterattack on the Palace.

In 1985  General Jesús Armando Arias Cabrales became a national hero for commanding the retaking of the Justice Palace from the M-19 guerrillas. Today, Armando Arias was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the forced disappearance of a cafeteria employee and a guerrilla who disappeared during the military's counterattack. He is the second military official convicted for human rights violations committed during the retaking of the palace. Others are slated for trial.

Escaping from the Justice Palace. Some of those who came out alive were later found dead.

Sidewalk plaque in memorium to those 'disappeared' in the Justice Palace episode.

Of course, there is a huge irony in the palace episode: a few years after the attack, the M-19 guerrillas demobilized and turned into a political party and today some of the M-19's ex-leaders are in Congress, directly across Plaza Bolívar from the Justice Plaza.

And, in Colombia's highly inbred politics, these two very different episodes have surprising connections. For one, the ex-M-19 guerrillas belong to Morenos' political party, the Polo Democratico Alternativo. And the M-19 was born out of alleged fraud against Colombian-dictator-turned-presidential-candidate Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who happens to be the Moreno brothers' grandfather.  

These stories are far from finished. One matter is the issue of prison conditions: there've been scandals recently about the pampered conditions in at least one military prison. And the Nules' prison accomodations also caused a stir: the three of them have their own private in-prison house, each with his own bedroom and bath, as well as common areas. That's not only far better than the way ordinary prisoners live, but luxurious compared to the housing of many Colombians outside prison.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

History According to the M-19

The M-19's propaganda tent in front of the new Justice Palace, where the group staged its bloodiest attack.

Probably, it could only happen in Colombia - or Locombia, as some call it.

Soldiers lead survivors out of the Justice Palace. Some were later executed by the army.

In 1985 an idealistic, armed guerrilla group called the M-19 attacked the Palace of Justice on Plaza Bolívar, taking the justices and employees hostage and making a series of political demands. The government counterattacked violently. When it was over, the palace was destroyed and about one hundred people had been killed, including 11 of the 12 justices and some guerrillas and building employees.

An M-19 guerrilla, looking like Che Guevara. 

Previously, the M-19 had committed kidnappings and murdered at least one hostage, attacked the Dominican Republic's embassy, taking ambassadors hostage, and maintained urban and rural guerrilla bands which battled with government troops.

A similar group operating today would undoubtedly be on the U.S.'s list of terror organizations, its members hunted thru city and jungle.

But the M-19 demobilized and turned into a political party. That party disappeared and several of its one-time leaders are now on the other side of Plaza Bolivar, in Congress. One, Gustavo Petro, even ran for president.

The M-19 launched their movement
by stealing the sword from a statue
of Simon Bolivar.

Is this an argument for engaging terrorist groups instead of bombing them? Can anybody conceive of FARC leaders Manuel Marulanda or Alfonso Cano Colombia's Congress? Or bin Laden in Afghanistan's Parliament? For all of those guys' sins, perhaps we'd all be better off with them spouting propaganda than hiding in caves, plotting attacks.

But whatever the advantages of incorporating violent groups into the political system, it certainly doesn't seem right for them to be able to rewrite history, without a response, on the nation's most important public space.

The tomb of union leader Mercado. The M-19 kidnapped and
murdered him and tossed his body out on a street, calling him
a 'traitor to his people.' 

Certainly, the M-19 guys have every right to assert, even without offering evidence, that leftist icon Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated by 'the oligarchy' - in contradiction to the historical evidence that he was shot by a mentally ill man with unknown motives. (Read the account in the autobiography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez - no spokesman for the oligarchy!)

The M-19 can conveniently forget that it kidnapped and murdered union leader Jose Mercado, an Afro-Colombian to boot.

The M-19 can forget all the undoubted violence and human rights violations they committed as guerrillas roaming the countryside and portray themselves as innocent, idealistic, smiling young people.

They can forget that the M-19 was born out of an alleged fraud against a one-time military dictator, who shut down newspapers and massacred protesting college students just a few blocks from Plaza Bolivar.

Plaza Bolivar, Simon Bolivar's statue, and the Justice Palace which was left destroyed after the M-19's attack.

They can ignore the evidence that cocaine king Pablo Escobar helped finance the M-19's attack on the Justice Palace, for less-than-idealistic reasons of his own.

They can portray Colombian history as a conspiracy by an evil oligarchy against idealists like themselves. But history is lots more complex than that.

Yes, the M-19 had idealism and contributed in its way to the development of Colombia's present democracy. But that doesn't justify whitewashing history.

In a free country, the M-19 has a right to rewrite history as they choose. And they should feel more than privileged to be allowed to exhibit their distortions on the nation's plaza mayor. But history deserves the right to a reply - someplace more prominent than on an obscure blog in English.

The M-19 exhibition with the Cathedral in background. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Carlos Pizarro, Colombian Guerrilla and Martyr

If one man's whose life story could represent Colombia's historical tension between politics and violence, he might be Carlos Pizarro, an armed guerrilla leader, presidential candidate and, finally, leftist martyr. The National Museum (official site) has an exhibition about Pizarro through March 27.

Pizarro, born in 1951, studied at the Javeriana and National universities in Bogotá, where he became a committed communist and joined the Communist Youth Party. In 1958 he entered the FARC guerrillas, but left in 1963, convinced that their violent tactics were not the route for changing Colombia. In abandoning the FARC, Pizarro left a note saying 'Ya vuelvo' or 'I'll be back soon,' which has become probably his best known quote.

Pizarro and others then founded the M-19, or April 19 Movement, guerrilla group, named after the April 1970 presidential election, which populist military general and one-time dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla narrowly lost amid allegations of fraud.

The M-19 began as an unarmed organization with knack for dramatic gestures, such as stealing revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar's sword. But it turned into a violent, armed guerrilla movement.

Justice Palace in flames

Jose Raquel Mercado, killed
by the M-19

In 1976, the M-19 kidnapped and then killed union leader José Raquel Mercado. In 1980, the group took over the Dominican Republic's embassy during a party, eventually negotiating the release of the dignitaries and being allowed to travel to Cuba. Thousands of people cheered the M-19 members as they paraded through Bogotá to the airport. But in 1985 the M-19's attack on the Palace of Justice in Bogotá went disastrously wrong. The government refused to negotiate, counterattacked the palace and about 100 people were killed, including 11 of the 12 justices and many civilians.

M-19 leaders during 1985 peace negotiations

Three years later the M-19 turned in their weapons and became a purely political movement. Pizarro ran for president as the group's candidate in the 1990 election. However, he was assassinated by an assassin hired by right-wing parliamentaries. Pizarro was one of three candidates assassinated during the 1990 campaign.

Pizarro's martyrdom, however, created a legacy. The M-19's replacement candidate did well in the elections and the group played an important role in the 1991 rewriting of Colombia's Constitution. That progressive Constitution has permitted court decisions in favor of gay rights, abortion rights and the right to possess a personal dose of drugs, which was reversed by the legislature in 1999.


The exhibit looks like the work of a Pizarro admirer, with lots of emphasis on the man's ideals and his lofty statements about democracy, but less about the M-19's violence and killings. One military official has been convicted for killings committed during the Justice Palace episode, and others are scheduled to be tried.

But the M-19, who started it all, have gotten off scott-free. The M-19 very likely sincerely desired to use the attack to bring social justice to Colombia and open the country's political system to more participants. However, there's lots of evidence that in the attack the M-19 collaborated with and accepted money from cocaine king Pablo Escobar, who certainly was no idealist and whose motives were not altruistic.

Nor do I remember even a mention in the exhibit of the kidnapping and murder of union leader Mercado, whom the M-19 killed on April 19, as a grisly celebration of the anniversary of their founding.


Several ex-M-19 leaders are still active in politics, now in the leftist Democratic Pole Party. The best known is Gustavo Petro, who has run for president.

Pizarro's tomb in Bogotá's Central Cemetery

A plaque by Pizarro's tombe: 'They will not kill our happiness.
We are still smiling'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Colombian Historical Landmark

The little blue and yellow book

Twenty years ago tomorrow, Colombia began a convention which would rewrite the nation's Constitution.

Those were traumatic times for the country - in the preceding presidential election violent groups had murdered three presidential candidates, and drug cartels, paramilitaries and guerrillas had Colombian leaders and many others running terrified.

So, it seemed like an unlikely time for a broad range of political factions to sit down and rewrite the nation's Constitution. But, they did it, and the resulting document has lasted and brought surprisingly progressive changes to the country. Even though Colombia continues to have a conservative government and very Catholic population, its progressive Constitution has permitted surprisingly progressive changes, including advances for gay rights, depenalization of abortion in some cases and even, for a long period, depenalization of personal possession of drugs. It also changed Colombian from an officially Catholic to a secular nation and prohibited the practice of extradition - although that was reversed in 1997, and Colombia has since then become a world leader in extraditing its citizens to the U.S. to face narcotrafficking charges. The 1991 Constitution also gave Colombian citizens powerful new rights, in particular the tutela.

The constitutional convention was notable for the participation of the leftist M-19 guerrillas, who just six years before had attacked the Justice Palace, leading to a conflagaration in which nearly 100 people died. While Colombia's armed conflict continues, the ex-M-19 have since remained firmly integrated in democratic politics.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Tribute to a Dictator

Rojas Pinilla's Colorful Tomb

The other day, these women dressed up Colombian dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla's tomb in Bogotá's Central Cemetery to commemorate the anniversary of his Jan. 17, 1975 death.

Rojas' five-year reign from 1953 to '57 was Colombia's last all-out dictatorship, although several authoritarian but democratically-elected governments have followed.

Rojas played a contradictory and paradoxical role in Colombian history. A hero from the war against Peru, his dictatorship is remembered quite positively, including naturally by these women, who talked about Rojas' public works projects but dismissed my suggestion that Rojas' government had violated human rights. Of course, context also counts. Rojas took command with a coup amidst a near civil war called La Violencia between the Liberal and Conservative political parties.

Rojas managed to stabilize the country, built great public works projects and gave women the vote, for which he is remembered positively. However, during his government the seeds were planted for Colombia's ongoing guerrilla insurrection.

Plaque on Seventh Ave. in Bogotá
commemorating students massacred by
the government in 1954. 

I had to search hard to find mention of the Rojas dictatorship's dark side: discrimination against non-Catholics, shuttering of newspapers, repression of the country's traditional labor unions, massacres of university students and even of bullfighting fans who had booed his daughter.

After being forced from power in 1957, Rojas fled Colombia - to either Spain or the Dominican Republic, historians aren't certain. But he returned, converted into a leftist populist, and ran for president in 1970. The official results gave Rojas' conservative opponent, Misael Pastrana Borrero, a narrow victory, but Rojas' supporters claimed fraud.

Those fraud claims gave rise to the M-19 guerrillas, who would play a prominent role in Colombia from the 1970s through the '90s.

In yet another strange twist of history, current leftist Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno Rojas is Dictator Rojas Pinilla's grandson.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

1985 Comes Back to Haunt

In 1985, the M-19 guerrilla group stormed the Justice Palace, on Bogotá's Plaza Bolivar, and took the whole Supreme Court hostage.

The military counterattacked, actually parking tanks on the plaza and firing into the building. In the end, the building was destroyed and about 100 people died, including guerrillas, building employees and all but one of the Supreme Court justices. Some of the dead had apparently been brought out alive by soldiers from the palace and executed in the neighboring Casa del Florero (House of the Flower Pot), because the military suspected them of having collaborated with the guerrillas. Apparently, too, cocaine king Pablo Escobar helped to finance the attack.

The episode has become known as the Holocaust of the Justice Palace, and its legacy continues haunting Colombia in various ways. A few years after the attack, the M-19 demobilized and became a political party. Today, some ex-leaders of the M-19 are in Congress, and one, Gustavo Petro, ran for president on the Polo Democratico party's ticket.

That was an ironic turn-around. Then, a few days ago, a court sentenced Alfonzo Plazas Vega, the general who had commanded the palace's retaking to 30 years in prison for the extra-judicial executions.

That's a huge turn-around for the country: The guerrillas who took the palace now in Congress, and the general who drove them out in prison.

This blog written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours