Editing 19th of April Movement (section)

===Palace of Justice siege===
{{main|Palace of Justice siege}}

The M-19 initiated the events leading to the [[Palace of Justice siege]]. In this attack, on 6 November 1985, some 300 lawyers, judges, and Supreme Court magistrates were taken hostage by 35 armed rebel commandos at the Palace of Justice, the building that houses the [[Supreme Court of Colombia]]. They demanded that president [[Belisario Betancur]] be tried by the magistrates for allegedly betraying the country's desire for peace. When this situation became publicly known, the Colombian Army surrounded the Palace of Justice's perimeter with soldiers and [[EE-9 Cascavel]] armored reconnaissance vehicles. Initially, the military attempted to negotiate with the hostage takers, but these efforts was ultimately unsuccessful, despite the desperate pleas of some of the more prominent hostages. {{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

The Betancur administration and its council found themselves in a difficult position. They were not willing to submit to the rebels' demands, as they allegedly believed that this would set a worrying precedent and considerably jeopardize the government's position. Eventually, after tense discussions, it was decided during an emergency meeting that the military would be allowed to handle the situation and attempt to recover the Palace by force.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

During the military assault, Supreme Court President Alfonso Reyes Echandia, was able to contact a Bogota radio station via telephone, during which he begged the authorities to agree to "a ceasefire and dialogue with the rebels." President Belisario Betancur refused to call off the siege. <ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=6 November 2015 |title=Colombia president apologises for military actions in 1985 law courts assault |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-colombia-palaceofjustice-idUKKCN0SV2OC20151106 |work=Reuters |location=London |access-date=21 April 2023}}</ref> The building caught fire and ultimately more than 100 people died (including 11 of the country's 21 Supreme Court Justices),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/31/colombia-bogota-mayor-bans-guns|title=Colombia guerrilla-turned-mayor bans guns from the streets of Bogotá|last=Brodzinsky|first=Sibylla|date=31 January 2012|work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=1 February 2012}}</ref> and valuable legal records were destroyed.

The M-19 lost several of its top commanders during the event. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights said in a 2014 ruling the Colombian state was responsible for forced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions during the crisis. In 2015, President Juan Manuel Santos apologized for the Colombian military's role in the deaths of civilian victims killed during its assault. <ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=6 November 2015 |title=Colombia president apologises for military actions in 1985 law courts assault |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-colombia-palaceofjustice-idUKKCN0SV2OC20151106 |work=Reuters |location=London |access-date=21 April 2023}}</ref>

Citing the court decision, Santos added that he also apologised for violating the right to personal safety of those who were inside the Palace of Justice.

A Special Commission of Inquiry, established by the Betancur government, released a June 1986 report which concluded that [[Pablo Escobar]] had no relation with this event, so these allegations could not be proven (though it did not rule out the possibility either). Author Ana Carrigan alleged that the act was a conspiracy of the Colombian government.<ref>{{cite book| last =Carrigan| first =Ana | year =1993| title =The Palace of Justice: A Colombian Tragedy| publisher =Four Walls Eight Windows| isbn =978-0-941423-82-3}} p. 279</ref> Others state that the alleged Guerrilla-Cartel relation was unlikely to occur because the two organizations had several standoffs and confrontations, like the kidnapping of Nieves Ochoa, the sister of Medellin cartel founder [[Juan David Ochoa Vásquez]], by M-19.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elmundo.com/portal/especiales/especiales/detalle.noticia.php?idespecial=18&idarticulo=408|title=Noticias de Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia y el mundo – Peridico El Mundo|work=elmundo.com|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/muere-juan-david-ochoa-vasquez_12947122-4|title=Murió Juan David Ochoa, uno de los fundadores del cartel de Medellín|work=eltiempo.com|date=25 July 2013|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wradio.com.co/escucha/archivo_de_audio/marta-nieves-ochoa-hermana-de-fabio-ochoa/20071018/oir/495145.aspx|title=Marta Nieves Ochoa, hermana de Fabio Ochoa|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elespectador.com/impreso/politica/articuloimpreso-1981-plagio-de-martha-ochoa-se-creo-el-mas|title=1981-Plagio de Martha Ochoa se creó el MAS|work=ElEspectador|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref> The kidnapping led to the creation of the MAS/[[Muerte a Secuestradores]] ("Death to Kidnappers") paramilitary group by the [[Medellín Cartel|Medellin cartel]]. However, her theories and skepticism of Escobar and the Medellin Cartel's involvement was greatly discredited by others such as Rex Hudson, who presented allegedly "overwhelming evidence" linking the cartel to the plot.<ref>"Colombia’s Palace of Justice tragedy revisited: a critique of the conspiracy theory", ''Terrorism and Political Violence'' [Peer-Reviewed Journal], Volume 7, Issue 2, 1995.  Rex A. Hudson. pp. 93–142 at 103.</ref>

Former Assistant of the Colombia Attorney General, National Deputy Comptroller, author and Professor Jose Mauricio Gaona along with Former Minister of Justice and Ambassador to the United Kingdom [[Carlos Medellín Becerra]], the sons of two of the murdered Supreme Court magistrates, have pushed for further investigations into the presumed links between the M-19 and the [[Medellín Cartel]] drug lords. Mayor of Bogota [[Gustavo Petro]], a former M-19 guerrilla, has denied these accusations and dismissed them as based upon the inconsistent testimonies of drug lords. Petro says that the surviving members of the M-19 do admit to their share of responsibility for the tragic events of the siege, on behalf of the entire organization, but deny any links to the drug trade.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Octubre062004/A206N2.html| title=M-19 cambió drogas por armas | publisher=El País  |date=6 October 2005 | access-date=7 October 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015332/http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Octubre062004/A206N2.html |archive-date = 27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>