M-19 | The City Paper Bogotá

Palace of Justice: Forty Years, Four Peace Processes, and No Peace

By Luis Guillermo Plata - November 9, 2025

I remember perfectly the morning of November 6, 1985. I was 18 years old, a high school conscript serving in the Presidential Guard Battalion. Chaos reigned. Commanders shouted orders as we deployed in trucks and on foot – not only toward Plaza de Bolívar, but to different corners of Bogotá. No one knew where the […]

Colombia Marks 40 Years Since Palace of Justice Siege by M-19

By Richard Emblin - November 6, 2025

Forty years after one of the darkest chapters in Colombia’s modern history, the country is commemorating the 1985 Palace of Justice siege amid fierce controversy over President Gustavo Petro’s attempts to reinterpret and elevate the legacy of the M-19 — the guerrilla to which he once belonged and which unleashed one of the bloodiest attacks […]

Ex-Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva claims Petro has a drug problem

By The City Paper Staff - April 23, 2025

In a respectful, yet unapologetic letter to President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s former Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva Durán expressed his deep disappointment in the current adminstration and blames the leftist leader’s “erratic behaviour” on substance abuse.

Colombia’s Petro honors Carlos Pizarro’s Hat as cultural heritage

By The City Paper Staff - June 18, 2024

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro designates Carlos Pizarro’s iconic beige straw hat as Cultural Heritage in a solemn ceremony at Bogotá’s Casa de Nariño.

Members of the Presidential Guard return Simón Bolívar's sword to the Liberator's estate in central Bogotá. Photo: Presidencia

Bolívar’s sword returns to Liberator’s estate Casa Quinta in Bogotá

By The City Paper Staff - January 18, 2024

Fifty years after the sword of Simón Bolívar was stolen by the M-19 guerrilla during a seige of the Liberator’s estate in Bogotá, Colombia’s Ministry of Culture returned the iconic weapon the Casa Quinta for audiences to admire.

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