Iván Torres (died November 7, 1985), also known as Ivan the Terrible, was a Colombian history professor who founded the revolutionary socialist M-19 movement. Despite knowing nothing about guerrilla warfare, he led the M-19 paramilitary from its foundation in the 1970s till his death in 1985.
He, his comrade Alejandro Ayala and Ayala's girlfriend Elisa Álvarez broke into a national museum and stole the sword of Simon Bolivar, and left a note saying ("Bolívar, tu espada vuelve al campo de batalla- Bolivar, your sword returns to the battlefield.")
In 1981 the M-19 decided to finance their armed struggle through kidnapping. They kidnapped Marta Ochoa Vásquez, the sister of drug traffickers Jorge Luis and Fabio Ochoa Vásquez. The brothers joined hands with fellow Medellín cartel drug traffickers Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder and José Rodríguez Gacha and created the Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS) paramilitary to hunt down M-19. After MAS killed numerous M-19 members, including Ayala, Torres was forced to free Marta and surrender to Escobar. He was spared by Escobar after he surrendered the sword of Simon Bolivar to the cartel.
Four years later, Escobar approached Torres to form an alliance. Escobar wanted Torres and his men to storm inside the Palace of Justice and burn all evidences incriminating Escobar. Torres agreed, and led 40 men to attack the Palace of Justice. The attack resulted in dozens of casualties, including half of Colombia's Supreme Court judges. Despite losing several men, the M-19 succeeded in burning all the evidence against Escobar. The surviving M-19 members returned to Torres' apartment, where Escobar showed up with money to pay Torres and his men, and he also gave the Sword of Bolivar back to Torres, telling him to continue the fight as he returned to Panama until things cooled over. However, Escobar and his men drew guns and shot the M-19 guerrillas dead and took the briefcase and sword back, tying up loose ends.