◆ SpookStack

Estimated Membership 1,000. Headquarters Cali, Colombia. Area of Operations M-19 has two main rural fronts in Colombia: a Southern Front in Putumayo Department (Province) and a Western Front in Caldas, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Quindio, and Tolima Departments. M-19 also operates in Antioquia. An urban infrastructure exists in the capital, Bogota. Leadership Carlos Pizarro Leon-Gomez, Antonio Navarro, Otty Patino. Other Names Movimiento 19 de Abril (original language). . Sponsors Cuba, Nicaragua, and, to a lesser degree, Libya. Political Objectives/Target Audiences e Claiming a populist orientation, emphasize a struggle by the people against the Colombian “bourgeoisie” and American “imperialism.” » Extort funds from narcotics producers and on occasion cooperate with narcotics dealers in areas or ventures of mutual interest. Background The M-19 announced its existence on 17 January 1974 by stealing the sword of Simon Bolivar from a Bogota museum, though the group surfaced as early as 1973, when a group of revolutionaries began raiding banks to finance their attacks on Colombian society. The group took its name from the date of the election defeat in 1970 of former President General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and adopted 19 April 1970 as its founding date. The M-19 rapidly expanded in 1977 and 1978 and increased in size, capability, and scope of activities as a result of training received from Argentine Montoneros and Uruguayan Tupamaros as well as in Cuba and possibly Libya. Although the group primarily recruited middle-class intellectuals and students in its early years, by 1985 the M-19 also war recruiting some peasants. Also that year the M-19 announced that it was transforming itself from a guerrilla group into an “army,” together with the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) and the Workers’ Self-Defense Movement (ADO). After suffering serious losses in clashes with Government forces, the terrorists seized Bogota’s Palace of Justice on 6 November 1985. M-19 activities include occupations of and attacks on towns as well as attacks on army garrisons and high-level military and police officials. The group also engages in fund-raising kidnapings of wealthy businessmen or employees of foreign companies. It has hijacked two commereial jetliners, a cargo plane, and a civilian helicopter. The M-19 has conducted anti-US terrorist actions, including killing US citizen Chester Bitterman, kidnaping a US mining engineer, and making threats against the US Ambassador. In addition to kidnaping for ransom, the M-19 obtains some funds through drug-related activities. In 1980, Cuba apparently arranged an arms shipment to the M-19 through Jaime Guillot Lara, a Colombian drug smuggler, although no further operations of this type are known to have occurred. Since 1984, there have been several reports of the group extorting money from narcotics growers. Revenues from drug-related activities complement the M-19’s fund-raising through kidnapings,