How a historic sword tells the story of Colombia’s new president
What does Gustavo Petro’s history as an M-19 rebel mean for his governance?
When Colombian president Gustavo Petro was sworn in this Sunday, he requested that the sword of Simón Bolívar, the hero of South America’s independence wars, be present as he took his vows. Outgoing president Iván Duque refused.
The exchange sparked a political controversy in Colombia. The sword isn’t just a patriotic symbol of Colombian independence: it represents the popular revolution Petro fought for as a member of the armed rebel group, M-19.
His first act as president was to demand the sword of Bolivar be brought to his ceremony before giving his acceptance speech.
“This sword represents everything to us,” he said, “and I want it to never be buried again. I want it to never be wielded again, let it always be sheathed. Let it only be drawn when there is injustice in this country. Let it be of the people: it is the sword of the people”.
Petro grew up in an upper middle class family, largely sheltered from the suffering of Colombia’s lower classes. In 1979, as a 17-year-old economics student, he encountered grinding conditions of poverty in the town where he lived and studied, a few hours north of Bogotá, an experience which he told the New York Times prompted him to join M-19.
M-19 were an urban rebel group who believed that Colombia’s elites controlled the electoral process and true democracy could only be won through armed struggle. Their name is short for “19th of April Movement” after the date of the 1970 presidential elections, in which establishment candidate Misael Pastrana triumphed over the leftist Gustavo Rojas in a poll marred by fraud.
At first, they would steal food and milk and distribute it among the poor in an attempt to curry favor with the masses. But they soon turned to kidnapping, snatching over 400 victims between 1976 and 1978. Most were drug traffickers and their families, who M-19 saw as complicit with the corrupt ruling class.
M-19 captured public imagination on January 17, 1974, when five of their members broke into Bogotá’s Quinta de Bolivar museum to steal one of the swords used by Símon Bolivar in the war for Colombian independence. They left a note reading: “Bolivar has not died. His sword continues his fight. It now falls into our hands, where it is pointed at the hearts of those who exploit Colombia.”
The group operated soup kitchens and social programmes in poor neighborhoods of Cali, Bogota, Medellin and Barranquilla — but by 1980 they were also training armed forces in the jungle and carrying out occasional heists, such as the takeover of the embassy of the Dominican Republic.
In 1982, the Medellin Cartel, and Pablo Escobar himself, declared open war against M-19 with the formation of the paramilitary alliance “Death to Kidnappers” (MAS by their Spanish initials).
M-19 and the FARC both signed an amnesty agreement with the government in 1984, forming the political party Democratic Alliance M-19 (AD M-19), but the deal soon broke down. Petro, who organized political actions for AD M-19 in Zapaquirá, was arrested for possession of illegal weapons by the Colombian army as part of a crackdown after then-president Belisario Betancur abandoned the deal in 1985. Although never formally charged, he was jailed for 18 months, and says he was tortured during his confinement.
While Petro was in prison, M-19 became the protagonists in the bloodiest story in their history. On November 6 1985, heavily armed M-19 members invaded the Palace of Justice, demanding that the president be put on trial for abandoning the 1984 peace process. They took hundreds of hostages, including 25 Supreme Court Justices.
Two days later, the army stormed the palace, killing every M-19 member inside, over a dozen Supreme Court Justices, and nearly 100 hostages. The Palace of Justice burned.
What exactly happened during the bloodbath will never be known for sure: human rights groups said that evidence tampering by the military makes an accurate reconstruction of events impossible. However, witnesses say the government took some of the group’s members alive and tortured them.
The group signed a second peace deal in 1990. During the ceremony, the sword of Bolivar was returned to government custody as a symbol of disarmament. The group disarmed, but a pincer-movement of judicial and paramilitary persecution ultimately wiped them out.
Petro began his political career in 1991, when he was elected to congress as a member of AD M-19. He has sworn off violence as a political tool. He made a name for himself as an opponent of the militant policies of then-president Álvaro Uribe, and as a defender of human rights. In 2012 he became mayor of Bogotá under a new political alliance called Humane Colombia. In 2018, he narrowly lost presidential elections, becoming a senator instead.
Meanwhile, M-19 was gradually decimated. Many members were killed during the siege of the Palace of Justice, and others were assassinated by paramilitaries. Just seven weeks after the 1990 peace deal was inked, the group’s leader, Carlos Pizarro, was killed on a flight by an assailant armed with a machine gun hidden in the bathroom. In the early 2000s, they were effectively removed from the scene after 13 senior party leaders were jailed, in violation of the amnesty negotiated in the peace accord.
Nonetheless, the legacy of M-19 was strong during the ceremony: Petro was presented with the presidential sash by senator María José Pizarro, daughter of murdered M-19 leader Carlos Pizarro, who wore a portrait of her father on her jacket.
As Petro began his first address as president, downtown Bogotá became a party, the streets filled with dancing and music. He has promised to open new peace negotiations with all armed groups in Colombia.
“You know this is a historic day for Colombia, right?” a middle-aged man sporting an M-19 flag and a military style cap asked Pirate Wire Services. “I have seen false promises of peace for decades. Today I have hope that real peace might finally be achieved.”
Whether Petro can deliver on his peace promises remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the sword of Bolivar has been placed on display at the entrance to the presidential palace, reminding all visitors of its exceptional history.
Originally published at https://piratewireservices.substack.com on August 12, 2022.
Joshua Collins is a freelance journalist based in Bogotá, Colombia. This article was written without the support of any media company in the spirit of true indy journalism. If you liked it and want to support independent media, you can donate a few bucks here.
