The Movimiento 19 de Abril (English: 19th of April Movement), or M-19 was a guerrilla movement in Colombia which took part in the Colombian conflict.
M-19 was led by history professor Iván Torres, and their ideology was anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. To finance their struggles, M-19 resorted to the kidnapping of prominent Colombian citizens. Torres who understood the power of symbols, broke into a national museum and stole the sword of Simon Bolivar.
In 1981, they kidnapped Marta Ochoa Vásquez, the sister of wealthy drug trafficker Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez. Ochoa went to Pablo Escobar for help, and Escobar created the Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS) paramilitary to hunt down M-19 members. After facing heavy causalities, M-19 led Marta go. Fearing for his life, Torres surrendered to Escobar and presented him with Bolivar's sword.
In 1985, Escobar met with Torres and asked him to attack the Palace of Justice and destroy 6000 pages of evidence against Escobar. Torres agreed, and launched the Palace of Justice siege, which resulted in several M-19 causalities but was still a success. Escobar later killed Torres and the remnants of M-19.