From Magdalena to Orinoco (Colombia). History of the Colombian Guerrilla Storming the Palace of Justice

The night the bomb went off, my dad called home from his mobile as soon as he finished touring our family's chain of bakeries. Every evening at rush hour, my father, in his small silver Mazda, collected daily receipts from all points. In Colombia in the early 90s, cash at the checkout did not last long.

“Almost finished. I'll go to the store at Imbanaco, and then go straight home. If you need any food, call them now so that they can take them to the car when I arrive, ”he told my mother on the phone. As usual, Mom called the bakery and ordered bread and milk for breakfast. She began to cook a light dinner, because dad was supposed to come home in half an hour.

When almost an hour had passed, and he was still not there, his mother began to call him, not without a certain amount of irritation, to find out what had delayed him so. He didn't answer. Our phone rang a few minutes later, but it was my Uncle Chalo.

"Hello. Do you know where Eduardo might be? " he asked mom cautiously.

“No, I just called him on his mobile, he doesn't answer. He said he would stay with Imbanaco and then go home, but that was about an hour ago. "

“Sylvia, I just passed there,” my uncle replied with suddenly grim seriousness. "A bomb went off in a car near the bakery."

I shivered when the inscription Narcos (in Russia the series is also known as "Barygi" - approx. NewWhat) appeared in bold white letters at the top of my homepage on Netflix. There was the actor Wagner Moura in the clubs of white powder and with an all too familiar hairstyle on his side and a mustache. Again twenty five, I thought then.

In Hollywood, they like to portray Colombia as a provincial girl in trouble, who is waiting for her gringo to appear approx. NewWhat) on a white horse and holding a pistol: "Direct and obvious threat", "Romance with a stone", "Compensation for damage", "Detachment" Delta "2" and so on. Think back to the opening scenes in Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Bogotá, a cosmopolitan metropolis with a New York fall climate, has been reduced to a sweaty Caribbean village close to the jungle. This problem is not limited to America: in recent years, TV series about drug dealers have become a main part of Spanish-language television, and I have shunned them like the plague.

Bogota, the spacious capital, at night
I didn't know anything about this new show and I wanted it to stay that way. Critics have compared Narcos to Breaking Bad and the movie Nicefellas, but what Colombian can take Pablo Escobar's story as entertainment? For a child of the era of drug terrorism, Escobar and his ilk can never be just heroes in a story. I thought watching Narcos meant stocking up on popcorn and watching my country collapse.

But a few days later, I heard my colleagues discussing this show. They spoke well of him, but I remained unwavering in my decision to stay away from him. Until now, when there is talk of Narcos in the cafeteria, it is strange for me to hear colleagues discussing plot twists that were once the events of my daily life. I felt like an outsider to my own story. What version of events did the authors present to my employees? What false image of Colombia was now to spread in popular culture? In the end, curiosity prevailed. I went to Netflix and hit the play button with no idea what was in store for me.

Narcos begins, oddly enough, with the definition of a literary genre. The camera moves across a dark landscape. These are the foggy Colombian Andes towering over a large city. Then we see the words: "Magical realism is defined by what happens when something too strange to believe in intrudes into a well-defined, realistic time and place of action."

If magical realism has become a term closely associated with Colombia - to the point that it has become the country's official marketing slogan - it is largely due to the influence of two men. The first is Gabriel García Márquez, our favorite Nobel laureate, whose novels crown the genre. But despite the fact that Marquez is the main exponent of the genre, he distances himself from the label of the magical realist in several interviews. According to him, if foreign critics have decided to call his realism "magic", it is only because they are not familiar with the Latin American reality.

In the very center of Bogotá, in Piazza Bolivar, there is a huge building that breathes cold and heaviness. Pigeons walk along the massive steps, and several street dogs doze in the shadow of the massive portals. On the protective shields over the inscription: “Senate of the Republic. Security service "Invisible hand inscribed" M-19 continues to resist. We will win".

This is the Palace of Justice. He became known to the world on the morning of November 6, 1985, when a group of 28 guerrillas of the M-19 Movement captured him, taking hostage the members of the Supreme Court who were there. The purpose of the action was to draw the attention of the country and the world to the fact that the government does not fulfill the ceasefire agreements reached a year ago.

In response, the army launched an assault using tanks and flamethrowers, after 28 hours of battle, the resistance was over.


The palace was almost completely burned inside. According to the official version, all the parisans, 11 soldiers, 43 civilians, of whom 11 judges and 11 more civilians from the palace staff, were “missing” were killed in the battle. As a result of subsequent independent investigations, it turned out that most of the civilians died from the fire of the military, destroying everything that was in the palace, the “missing” soldiers were taken out of the palace alive and after brutal torture they were executed, and the bodies of 10 out of 11 are still not found. The secret services spread a rumor through the corrupt press that the seizure of the palace by the partisans was organized and financed by the greatest drug dealer of all times and peoples Pablo Escobar ...

But this story began much earlier. The M-19 guerrilla movement arose as a reaction to the rigging of the 1970 presidential election. It happened on April 19, hence the name - April 19 Movement - el Movimiento 19 de abril - abbreviated as M-19. It was the first and only partisan organization in the history of the country, not of a Marxist-Leninist or Maoist nature, like others, but open to quite different ideas and looking for its ideological support not in the USSR, Cuba or China, but in the characters and events of its own. Colombian history. About 80% of its participants were Catholics, and the purpose of its existence was not to come to power in order to build socialism, but to create a real democratic system in the country, where all segments of the population would be really represented and basic human rights would be observed.

Particular attention was paid to symbolic propaganda actions - the most famous of them was the kidnapping from the museum of the sword of the protagonist for the independence and unity of the countries of Latin America - Simon Bolivar. In the hands of the M-19, this sword "returned to battle" for the ideals of the Liberator and was returned to the people of Colombia in 1990 on the day of the opening of the National Constitutional Assembly.

To explain the goals of its struggle, the movement from time to time seized the printing houses of the largest newspapers and published its documents in huge print runs.

In February 1976, guerrillas kidnapped the country's main trade union boss, Jose Raquel Mercado, president of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Colombia. He was charged with betraying the interests of the country's workers. During interrogations, he admitted that he worked for the Americans and received large sums of money from them. M-19 issued a brochure with a circulation of 500 thousand copies presenting evidence of Mercado's betrayal. Then the movement organized a wide debate in the working and trade union environment about how to deal with it next. People wrote "yes" or "no" on the walls about the execution of Mercado. I met a man who was friends with the one who carried out the sentence on April 19. “It was a doctor. Mercado was shot in the heart. There was almost no blood. "

I am citing this case not because I will never agree with the death penalty. M-19s were not angels and often made mistakes that many would call crimes. Moreover, I think that the partisan leadership knew what they were risking when they took this step. But if anyone really wants to try to figure out why, he must take into account that all these decades there has been a real, without exaggeration, war against the workers' movement in Colombia, with hundreds of dead activists every year. Jose Raquel Mercado was a traitor and who can answer how many lives his betrayal cost, and how many lives could be saved with the money he stole from his comrades? Therefore, in general, the country supported or at least did not condemn this verdict.

During 20 years of its existence, the M-19 guerrillas conducted hundreds of brilliant military operations against superior enemy forces, took control of hundreds of settlements and enjoyed great sympathy and support among the population. All eyewitnesses and participants in these events agree that the partisans have always been very respectful towards civilians and strictly observed military ethics - captured and wounded soldiers and officers of the enemy always received medical care, decent treatment, and then they were usually transferred to the Red Cross.

By force of arms, the M-19 tried to impose peace negotiations on various governments, the main condition of which was the establishment of the minimum foundations of social justice and democracy in Colombia. It was the only organization that dared to kidnap the relatives of the largest drug dealers with a ransom demand, which was usually directed to meet the needs of the poorest groups of the population.

In April 1983, at the very beginning of attempts at dialogue with the government taking place in Panama, the legendary commander of the movement, Jaime Bateman, was killed in a plane crash on the way from Colombia to Panama. A small private jet piloted by a Senator from the Conservative Party disappears forever in the skies over the Panamanian jungle. The meteorological conditions for the flight were perfect. Many months of searching have yielded no results. Only in the early 90s did the Indians bring to one of the remote villages the half-rotted military boots with the bones of the phalanges of the fingers found in the jungle, and DNA analysis confirmed that these were the remains of Bateman. Accident? Is it no coincidence?

In 1984, for the first time in the history of armed rebel movements in Latin America, M-19 began peace talks with the government and a ceasefire was reached. All of Colombia witnessed how this process was thwarted by the efforts of the oligarchy and the army. For several months, despite constant military provocations and the murders of unarmed partisan commanders by hired killers, the M-19 kept its obligations.

The most famous page in this story is the battles near the town of Yarumales, in the Cauca River valley, a few kilometers from the town of Corinto. In the mountains of Yarumales there was a partisan camp, where the military leader of the movement and future presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro stayed and with him about 200 people, most of them poorly armed and barely fired young people. This camp was about 1500 meters long and 400 meters wide. For more than six months, a ceasefire agreement was in force and a delegation of partisans in the capital was conducting difficult negotiations on the conditions for disarming the M-19 and turning it into a legal political organization. Suddenly, the camp at Yarumales was surrounded by 4,000 army special forces, and the assault began with the support of helicopters and heavy artillery. The fighting went on around the clock and lasted 26 days. In the end, due to pressure from various public organizations and the independent press, the army was forced to cease fire and open a corridor for the partisans to exit.

I don’t know how, and who came up with it first, but in these tragic days and nights, the song of the Cuban bard Silvio Rodriguez became the anthem of the defenders of Yarumales, which can be heard here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcL-dhct7Ks and in which it is sung that "No one can die, especially now ...". I am citing this small private detail, because when I think about this story today and listen to this song, it turns my soul over.

The capture of the Palace of Justice was undoubtedly the M-19's biggest military and political mistake. The partisans hoped that the government, which had signed a number of agreements with them, would definitely negotiate and in the process of such a spectacular action it would be possible to gather enough witnesses and force the army elite to comply with the ceasefire agreement. The reality turned out to be completely different. Army intelligence knew about the impending assault on the palace, and facilitated its capture, effectively removing the guards on the day of the attack. The Palace of Justice has been turned into a trap. Despite the fact that high-ranking hostage judges called the presidential palace located two blocks away, trying to contact the president and pleading for a ceasefire, no one heard them. The army leadership actually removed the president from the ability to make decisions and turned the storming of the Palace of Justice into revenge on the M-19 for all the military defeats and humiliations of recent years. The best military personnel of the partisans perished in the palace. It was decided not to take prisoners. At the same time, having caused more victims among the hostages and leaving no living witnesses, it was very convenient to blame the M-19 for the massacre, undermining its moral authority.

In subsequent years, despite the fact that the movement retained its main political and military structure, an internal crisis was felt more and more, caused by the contradictions between the initially set goals and the achieved result. The unity of the various partisan groups operating in Colombia was never achieved, because despite the similarity of the declarative part, the methods and goals of various organizations were quite different and each considered itself a self-sufficient revolutionary vanguard.

According to one acquaintance who went through the M-19 from the moment of its foundation until the storming of Yarumales and subsequent events: “Everything we did was not for us, but for the people, as we understood it. We felt that we were doing our civic duty. But we saw that most of our actions did not reach the goal, that in this war our bullets kill soldiers and policemen, who are also children of the people we have pledged to protect. And the true culprits of war and famine, those against whom we have raised our weapons, turn out to be almost invulnerable. They either live abroad or have learned too well to cover themselves with others. Our war caused repression against the civilian population, which supported us, and this often also caused us feelings of guilt and contradiction. Every year it became more and more clear that this war must be ended and the main question was on what conditions we can afford to do this. We needed to achieve the opening in Colombia of new democratic spaces for the participation of the people and with the people. We have always strived to become a legal political force in order to fight for our ideals in a peaceful way, and the entire armed stage was needed in order to achieve such an opportunity. "

In October 1989, the National Conference M-19 was held underground, and with 227 votes out of 230, the deputies decided to lay down their arms and become a legal political organization. The government takes on counter guarantees to ensure the security of the disarmed guerrillas and undertakes to approve legislative amendments in favor of expanding democratic freedoms and civil rights in the country.

In a second repeat vote, the National Congress does not ratify the reforms promised by the government, nevertheless, the M-19 declares its readiness to fulfill its obligations to the country and on March 8, 1990, in the central square of the village of Santo Domingo in the Cauca River Valley, in the presence of international guarantors, hundreds partisans lay down their arms and declare the creation of the political movement Democratic Alliance M-19.

In the same year, the presidential elections were to take place and the 39-year-old M-19 commander Carlos Pizarro becomes a presidential candidate.

He is immensely popular in the country and, according to most polls, has the highest chance of winning an election. On April 26, 1990, armed assassins enter the Bogotá airport, which is strictly guarded by the authorities, board a flight to Barranquilla without any problems and shoot Carlos Pizarro point-blank in flight and successfully escape from justice after landing. Of course, to this day.

A real hunt for the disarmed M-19 participants begins in the country. It is headed by ultra-right militants - "paramilitaries" and the drug mafia - close partners of the leadership of the armed forces. Over the course of several years, about a hundred of the most famous and experienced representatives of the movement have been killed and “disappeared”.

Guerrilla warfare in Colombia, is with the oldest and largest on the continent. The 1920s, in Colombia, were years of brutal repression against the trade union movement and Indian tribes. In 1928, the United Fruit transnational banana corporation brutally massacred hundreds of strikers awaiting the return of a delegation from negotiations (for more on this, see Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude - an episode of the banana plantation workers' strike).

In the 40s, Jorge Gaitano (sp. Jorje gaitano) - a super-speaker, a man of democratic and socialist views, he confidently walked towards victory in the presidential elections. For several of the richest oligarchic clans that ruled the country since independence (1819), the reforms proposed by Gaitano posed a serious threat. Therefore, in the 1948 elections, his opponents achieved a "dirty victory" - they shot and killed comrade Gaitano. A popular uprising began in the country, which went down in history as " bogotazo".

This murder was followed by the so-called "Violencia" (Spanish. Violencia- 1948-53) - a civil war that cost the lives of at least 200 thousand people. The population was slaughtered under the pretext that this was a conflict between conservatives and liberals, although in reality it was a war between landowners and the rural population. But anyway " Violencia"Was a turning point in the history of Colombia, at that time, in various regions of the country, peasants began to form independent groups in order to protect themselves from the terror of the rich. This is how the first embryos of the modern Colombian guerrilla appeared. And although the leaders of the liberals and conservatives in the 1950s found a common language and even created the National Front (Spanish. Frente nacional) (both parties simply began to replace each other in the presidential palace and in the government every four years), some armed peasant groups never laid down their arms.

By the beginning of the 60s, the emergence of a wide mass movement against the oligarchy, which received the name "United Front of the People" (Spanish. Frente Unido del Pueblo, FUP), and was headed by the revolutionary priest Camilo Torres. Tens of thousands of workers, slum dwellers, peasants and students have merged in a unified rush against social injustice and the anti-democratic bipartisan regime.

Soon the independent peasant republics, as well as the FUP, became targets for repression by the oligarchy. In 1964, the army destroyed the peasant republic of Marketalia. Camilo Torres, the leader of the FUP, was forced into hiding due to threats from the reactionaries to deal with him. After leaving for the selva to join the partisans, Torres served as an ordinary member of the ELN, and also provided spiritual assistance and inspiration to the partisans from his Marxist-Christian positions. He was killed in his very first battle, when attacking a military patrol. His most famous phrase: “ If Jesus lived today, He would be a partisan". Uruguayan songwriter Daniel Villetti, in 1967, wrote a song about Camilo Torres, popularized by Chilean singer Victor Jara.

And the first two "modern" guerrilla organizations emerged in Colombia in 1964 as a direct response to the massacre in Marketalia. The outbreak of civil war between conservatives and liberals, which, as a background, is present in all the works of García Márquez, conveys the psychology of the belligerents well. So, for example, the colonel (to whom no one writes) was one of the demobilized guerrillas of that time. Manuel Marulando Velez, who went to the mountains after the murder of Gaitano, was the same guerilleros, only not going to demobelize. Over time, he settled in the department of Tolima, founding an "independent republic", consisting of several peasant villages (Spanish. pueblos).

Naturally, these poor peasants, who believed that Jesus Christ was a "gringo" and lived somewhere near Bogotá, were not at all aware of the existence of Karl Marx and of ideological battles on a global scale. However, after the Cuban revolution, Washington was very afraid that the whole of Latin America would turn red, and, accordingly, allocated good money to fight the "infection". Here is one of the Colombian officials and found a way to "dissolve" his older brother for financial assistance. The "independent republics" were presented as hordes of communists waiting for the secret signal from Radio Havana. Troops were pulled into the area, and on May 27, 1964, the army launched an operation, the goal of which was to end the "communist freemen" once and for all.

The peasants did not immediately understand that the military were going to fight with them, and when they understood, they immediately decided to go to surrender. However, the whole thing was that the military had its own game in this whole scam with the liquidation of the communists - everyone wanted to distinguish themselves and advance. And as you know, you won't get rewards for surrendering peasants, and in general there was nowhere to put them. Therefore, the army leadership decided to fight the "rebellious red thugs" to the bitter end, that is, they decided to take as few people prisoner as possible so that no one would guess against whom the blow was directed. As a result of this "war", thanks to the speed of the legs, only a few dozen peasants, led by Manuel Velez, survived. So May 27, became the day of salvation, and along the way, the birthday of FARC - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (Spanish FARC - EP).

FARC was founded in 1966, under the leadership of Manuel Marulanda Velez ("Tirofiho" - "Sniper") and Luis Morantes (Jacobo Arenas). They themselves trace the genealogy to a group of 48 peasants (2 women and 46 men) who “took advantage of the right to self-defense”, headed by “Jacobo Arenas”. She, declared herself a mobile partisan detachment, which on May 27, 1964, took the first battle with government forces in an area called Marketalia, Department of Tolima, where a “liberated area” was created. Later, they were joined by Raul Reyes.

At the same time, another guerrilla group emerged, inspired by the experience of the Cuban Revolution and well-rooted in the ranks of the peasant resistance in Santander. This organization became known as the Army of National Liberation (Spanish. ELN) and rely on the strategy of Che Guevara, gaining tremendous support after Camilo Torres joined its ranks (the revolutionary priest died a heroic death, February 15, 1966). The first camp of the group, according to the theory of "foco" (revolutionary hearth), in San Vicente de Chuchuri, in the Santander department, where in the 1920s and 40s there were uprisings with great participation of the Communists, and in the 60s That is, the positions of the left in the students and trade unions were strong, which could exert real pressure on the main Colombian oil port.

At first, the number of ELN was 30 people. The group was founded and drew replenishment at first from the student body, and absorbed many children of the participants in previous uprisings. In the movement, in addition to Cuban inspiration, expressed especially strongly in the classic Cuban slogan “freedom or death!”, Chosen by the slogan of the movement, the influence of Catholicism and “liberation theology” is also noted, and the clerics have done much to strengthen the work with the masses. Since the mid 60s, the group has been engaged in seizing towns, robbing banks, freeing prisoners and the like, mainly in the Santander department.

After suffering heavy losses and being declared defeated by the military in 1973, the group took the stage again in 1975-76. Both its leadership and political views have changed significantly. Castano left for Cuba, and the ELN was now headed by the Spanish Father Manuel Perez Martinez “El Cura Perez” and Nicholas “Gabino” Rodriguez Batista, who set a course for a Christian-socialist solution to the situation in Colombia, starting with the abductions and shooting of odious security forces. incl. inspector general of the army. The group's area of ​​operations expanded in parallel with the expansion of oil production, and the income from taxation of oil workers increased. ELN refused to sign the 1984 agreement - the only one of all rebel groups. By the mid-90s, there were about 500 people in its ranks.

In 1967, after the split of the communist parties into "pro-Soviet" and "pro-Chinese", the third guerrilla organization was born - the Maoist People's Liberation Army (sp. EPL). The new organization soon gained noticeable influence, especially in the northern provinces of the country.

To understand the full picture of the conflict in Colombia, it is very important that all three guerrilla groups were present mainly in rural areas. You can often hear statements that the roots that the guerrillas acquired in the villages prevented them from gaining a foothold in the cities and gaining at least some influence there. Of course, this criticism is to a certain extent justified, but at the same time one should not forget how difficult and dangerous it was at that time underground work in cities, because the repressions here were much more brutal than in the countryside.

In the 70s, a couple of new partisan organizations arose, in many ways very different from those already mentioned, both in terms of program principles and tactics. The most important and notable of the new-style partisan formations was the April 19 Movement (Spanish. M-19), which quickly achieved international prominence for its demonstration actions (for example, the seizure of the Dominican Republic embassy in Bogotá in 1980) and its influence in the big cities.

M-19, created in 1974, and its name is the date of the defeat of the ex-dictator Rojas in the 1970 elections (April 19), which was the result of rigging. Drops out of the general row of insurgent groups, since it is non-Marxist. The main leaders of the M-19 were Carlos Toledo Plata (former doctor and congressman), and Jaime Bateman Kayin. The first was responsible for political ideology, the second for military operations. They both died in the 1980s, one at the hands of the IAU, the other in a suspicious plane crash. They were replaced by Carlos Pizarro Leongomez. The group stands for a generalized leftist ideology, aid to the poor and reform, and preached a mixture of populism and nationalist revolutionary socialism. Despite the absence of a foreign patron, the M-19 enlisted the support of Cuba and Nicaragua for a while.

She started with bank robberies, since 1977, carried out a major sabotage campaign, and attracted public attention by stealing Bolivar's spurs and sword from an exhibition in his former villa, than she wanted to show the unworthiness of the current government of the Bolivarian legacy. In June 1984, the group entered into a truce with the government (in Corinto), which it broke off, claiming the government had violated the terms the following year. By 1985, they had 1,500-2,000 men, and M-19 was the leader in urban operations, owning branches in every major city, leading high-profile actions to take over the Dominican embassy and the palace of justice.

Well, there were also pro-government "paramilitaries" (Spanish. Paramilitares) are far-right militants from the United Self-Defense Forces who, from time to time, in front of television cameras, “hand over their weapons” in order to get newer ones from army depots.
Few facts about this group of athletes - over the past 20 years, ultra-right militants and "death squads" have killed more than four thousand trade union and peasant leaders and human rights activists. By the way, Raul Reyes left the trade union environment and became a partisan after his closest comrades engaged in a peaceful struggle were killed by the bullets of hired killers. Over the same years, five thousand members of the legal political party "Patriotic Union" were also physically destroyed. Over the past three years, more than 300 mass graves have been discovered in the country, containing the remains of two thousand victims of ultra-right militants from the allegedly self-disbanded United Self-Defense Forces.
Today, paramilitary groups control daily life in dozens of communities. Puerto Boyaca (in the very center of the country) and the livestock areas of the province of Cordoba (on the Atlantic coast) have become something like "independent republics" of ultra-right radicals.

The main calculation of the insurgents at that time was that "Che would come and do everything." Moreover, Colombia had a great advantage - very beautiful women. However, Che had his own plans. After Cuba and Congo, he wanted to go to a more civilized country. At first he looked in Venezuela, but there the guerrilla was already exhausted by the time of his arrival, and the former guerrillas were discussing the revolution in coffee houses in the center of Caracas. The only thing left was to return to their homeland - to Argentina. But since no one there especially set fire to the revolution, then, unexpectedly for many, he began in the poorest and historically unfortunate - Bolivia. Perhaps homesickness and closeness to home played a key role in the choice of the world-famous T-shirt character.

After the next adventure of the Argentinean failed and the Americans butchered his corpse, the Soviet Union (and hence Cuba) for some time lost faith in the "Latin American revolution." For the FARC and other rebel groups, this meant a cut in funding and the end of a free life.

As in other countries in the region, the Colombian guerrilla began to run out of steam. However, in the late 60s, a sex-drug revolution began in Europe and the United States. The Beatles sang Yellow submarine and the elite switched from alcohol to cocaine. This was used by the Comandante Velez. The FARC was the first insurgent to make money from cocaine using Lenin's "case study" principle. In their area of ​​control, they established tax rates: 10% from the peasant harvest of coca and 15% from the producers of coca paste, which is then made into a white powder.
Strengthened by the correct taxation system, the FARC began to expand its influence, "taking under the protection" of local drug lords. The goal was one - to make them pay revolutionary taxes. However, most of them, like Jose Rodriguez Gacha and Camilo Gonzalez, had their own mini-armies and believed they could work on their own.

As a result, in the late 70s, early 80s, a war broke out between drug lords and the FARC. It was fought on two fronts. On the one hand, on the ground, rebels and drug lords destroyed "alien" caravans with cocaine, burned "enemy" plantations and factories. Moreover, the Colombian army took part in the hostilities on the side of the drug lords. In particular, when the rebels were advancing towards the border with Brazil, where the largest drug laboratory in Colombia, Camilo Gonzalez, was located, a battle took place in the jungle. Elite airborne units of the Colombian army (Spanish. las Fuerzas Especiales del Ejercito). On the other hand, the assassinations of politicians associated with the "enemy" followed. Thus, by order of Gacha, many MPs from the Patriotic Union, the political wing of the FARC, were killed.

The turning point in the war was the alliance between the FARC and Don Pablo Escobar. The Marxists and the drug lord from Medellin had a lot in common. Pablo Escobar, like Manuel Velez, hated the oligarchy and the unjust Colombian state. Both were people of leftist views. And most importantly, both strove to dominate their environment. In particular, the FARC leadership believed that only their organization was revolutionary, so they fought with the rest of the rebels from M-19, ELN and EPL for territory. In turn, Pablo Escobar, who had already achieved control over the "businessmen" from Medellin, with the help of the gallant Israeli colonel Yair Klein, tried to subjugate the Cali cartel.

The export of the "cocaine revolution" began. Escobar and Velez began to help the "comrades" in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama. In particular, in 1984, Sandinistas and Escobar jointly developed and implemented transport routes for the delivery of cocaine to Florida. It was here that they ran into the interests of the United States Republican establishment. The fact is that the Republicans, unlike the Democrats, fought hard against the left and actively helped the Nicaraguan contras. And under the auspices of the CIA, the Orihuelo brothers from the Cali cartel delivered weapons to the Nicaraguan right. The scheme used was cocaine - money - weapons - money. Moreover, of course, all participants in the "special operation" received substantial commissions.

Accordingly, the CIA, together with the Orihuelo brothers, decided to remove the inconvenient competitor. Thus, Pablo Escobar became the main enemy of the United States of America in the region. And it was on him that the CIA hung up all the cocaine traffic in the United States. This war lasted until 1993, when Pablo Escobar was still shot. It is also noteworthy that after his death, drug exports to the United States only increased.
At the same time, a tough war began against the FARC, which began to threaten the interests of the "five families". For several years, killed about three thousand members of the Patriotic Union, including deputies at all levels. The families did everything to prevent a peaceful settlement of the conflict and the division of power with the rebels.

By that time, the rebels had already independently mastered the cocaine business, had their own transport routes and dealer networks in the United States. In 1987, under the auspices of the FARC, the Simon Bolivar Rebel Union was created. In fact, this meant the subordination of the remnants of other rebel groups (besides the ELN) to Commander Manuel Velez. In general, the 90s brought with them a lot of useful things for the good of the revolution. In particular, in parallel with the growth of the "new economy", demand grew in the United States: a new class of yuppie professionals emerged, active and wealthy cocaine users. (Around this time, the movie "Traffic" takes place.)

As a result, the FARC has significantly strengthened both economically and militarily. In 1996, in response to an offensive by government forces, the FARC launched a counterattack, capturing a large military base with the symbolic name "Amenity." After that, governments no longer ventured into major military campaigns. In turn, Manuel Velez announced the final stage of the war, within which the goal was set - to take the capital. By this time, the rebel army had reached the number of 30 thousand people, and the number of active supporters of the FARC in Bogota reached 80 thousand. In this situation, President Pastrana, in 2000, began peace talks with the FARC. The rebels received five municipalities as their own area of ​​responsibility, and most importantly, access to the sea.

Both the government and the rebels used this time to prepare for a new phase of the war. Like Israel in the Middle East, Colombia has always been viewed by the US government as a strategic ally and an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the region, a country whose militarization can put pressure on neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador, and which, if necessary, will serve as a springboard for invasion. For those who consider this threat to be exaggerated, please look into any textbook on the recent history of Latin America. As part of the Columbia Plan, the United States has deployed a limited contingent in the country and has begun training national cadres to counter the insurgency. For several years, Washington spent seven and a half billion dollars for the needs of the Colombian army. As a result, Bogota became the third largest recipient of military aid from Washington.

In turn, the rebels did not waste time, realizing the full cynicism of the logic of capitalism. They actively invested in legal businesses. The Central Committee of the rebel movement included the banker Simon Trinidad, a man from a wealthy family who received a Harvard education. In addition to investing in foreign banks and offshore companies, FARC continued to conquer the country from within. In particular, the rebels own the largest chicken restaurant chain in Colombia. And, of course, the guerrilla was actively rearming. One of the last ships to enter the rebel port was loaded with Chinese-made weapons, including 10,000 Kalashnikovs.

The war resumed in 2002, during a "supply crisis" in the United States cocaine and heroin market. The fact is that in the late 90s, the Taliban government in Afghanistan began to fight against the crops of opium poppy. As a result, Afghan exports to the world market fell by almost ten times. At the same time, the rebels from the FARC, in the territory under their control, began a gradual reorientation of the peasants - the place of coca was taken by legal crops. Thus, there was a shortage of raw materials on the world market for hard drugs: supplies from key centers began to decline.
As a result (despite the fact that the volume of drugs in New York alone is more than $ 50 billion annually), the prices of drugs, including cocaine, began to skyrocket. For many ordinary yuppies, it hit their pockets. At the same time, the quality of the goods began to deteriorate, and extremely harmful substitute drugs appeared. The result was a serious threat to social stability in the United States.

In order not to bring the situation to an explosion, the US government began to take active steps to solve a new problem for itself. In the winter of 2001-2002, the Taliban regime, which fought against opium plantations, was eliminated; in Colombia, at about the same time, an offensive by government forces against the rebels began. Military action was needed not so much to win as to better export. Now, there are American troops in both Afghanistan and Colombia. Specialized transports can now run smoothly between the production area and the main sales markets in the "civilized world". Prices for the "product" in the retail market went down again. Social stability was restored, which was a major achievement and one of the main reasons for the success of President Bush in the elections.

Today, the Colombian guerrilla is quite strong, which is a direct result of the government's brutal policies towards the opposition. In fact, in today's Colombia, there is no scope for legal political activity. Union activists, Christians, students, slum dwellers - all of them can become victims if they become actively involved in political activities in the ranks of the opposition. Sadly, but true: the safest place in today's Colombia for an opposition activist is the jungle, that is, a guerrilla unit. It must be said that the organizations that make up the GCSB have long taken measures to prepare for such an intense situation. Now, according to even government sources, partisans control from 500 to 1000 villages and towns. In rural areas, guerrilla groups have become a real "counter-power", for example, managing the budget and overseeing the work of local mayors. Anyone who has ever visited such places will willingly confirm that the guerrillas, despite all the hardships associated with the conditions of the actual civil war, perform administrative functions much more efficiently, and more importantly, much more honestly than the political class of Colombia. There is much less corruption in guerrilla-controlled areas, and much more money is spent on social needs.

It can be safely assumed that the end of the conflict is not in sight - without being particularly popular among citizens, the FARC and other rebel movements cannot count on special successes in conventional political life, and the Colombian government is not able to defeat the rebels by force or improve the situation in the country. enough to deprive them of their base.

May mean the following: April Revolution in Korea A series of unrest and unrest in the Republic of Korea in 1960 April 19 Movement (Colombia) Colombian guerrilla movement with a left-wing populist ideology ... Wikipedia

April 19 traffic- (Colombia) D19. An organization created by university students and alumni dissatisfied with the results of the presidential election on 19 April 1970. D19 members stole Bolivar's sword from the museum in 1974, claiming that the government was unworthy to keep the relic; v …

Columbia, 1985. April 19 traffic- The capture of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá was carried out by the Movement on April 19, 6 November 7, 1985. Terrorists on November 6, 1985 at 11:40 am, bursting into the underground garage of the Palace of Justice in a truck, seized the building and held numerous ... Terrorism and terrorists. Historical reference

Columbia, 1985- Traffic on April 19. The capture of the Palace of Justice in Bogota was carried out by the Movement on April 19 6 November 7, 1985. Terrorists on November 6, 1985 at 11:40 am, bursting into the underground garage of the Palace of Justice in a truck, seized the building and held it for two days ... ... Terrorism and terrorists. Historical reference

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In the fifth part of his amazing travel notes in Latin America, Oleg Yasinsky talks about the theft of the sword of the legendary hero Simon Bolivar, about the battles in the town of Yarumales and the commander of the M-19 - Carlos Pissaro.

In the fifth part of his amazing travel notes in Latin America, Oleg Yasinsky talks about the theft of the sword of the legendary hero Simon Bolivar, about the battles in the town of Yarumales and the commander of the M-19 - Carlos Pissaro.

In the very center of Bogotá, in Piazza Bolivar, there is a huge building that breathes cold and heaviness. Pigeons walk along the steps, and several street dogs doze in the shadow of massive portals. On the protective shields over the inscription “Senate of the Republic. Security service "Invisible hand inscribed" M-19 continues to resist. We will win". This is the Palace of Justice. He became known to the world on the morning of November 6, 1985, when a group of 28 guerrillas of the M-19 movement captured him, taking hostage the members of the Supreme Court who were there. The purpose of the action was to draw the attention of the country and the world to the fact that the government does not fulfill the ceasefire agreements reached a year ago.

In response, the army launched an assault using tanks and flamethrowers, after 28 hours of battle, the resistance was over. The palace was almost completely burned inside. According to the official version, all the parisans, 11 soldiers, 43 civilians, of whom 11 judges and 11 more civilians from the palace staff, were “missing” were killed in the battle. The military took the "missing" out of the palace alive and executed them after brutal torture, and the bodies of 10 out of 11 have not yet been found.

This story began much earlier. The M-19 guerrilla movement arose as a reaction to the falsification of the 1970 presidential election result. It happened on April 19, hence the name - April 19 Movement - el Movimiento 19 de abril - abbreviated as M-19. It was the first and only partisan organization in the history of the country, not of a Marxist-Leninist or Maoist nature, like others, but open to quite different ideas and looking for its ideological support not in the USSR, Cuba or China, but in the characters and events of its own. Colombian history. About 80% of its participants were Catholics, and the purpose of its existence was not to come to power with the aim of building socialism, but to create a real democratic system in the country.

Special attention was paid to symbolic propaganda actions - the most famous of them was the kidnapping of the sword of the protagonist for the independence and unity of Latin America, Simon Bolivar, from the museum. In the hands of the M-19, this sword "returned to battle" for the ideals of the Liberator and was returned to the people of Colombia in 1990 on the day of the opening of the National Constitutional Assembly.

... In 1984, for the first time in the history of armed rebel movements in Latin America, the M-19 began peace negotiations with the government and an agreement was reached on a ceasefire ... undertaken obligations.

The most famous page in this story is the battles near the town of Yarumales, in the Cauca River valley, a few kilometers from the town of Corinto. In the mountains of Yarumales, there was a partisan camp, where the military leader of the movement and future presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro stayed and about 200 people with him. Suddenly, the camp in Yarumales was surrounded by 4 thousand soldiers of the army special forces ... The fighting went on around the clock and lasted 26 days. In the end, due to pressure from various public organizations and the independent press, the army was forced to cease fire and open a corridor for the partisans to exit.

... According to one acquaintance who went through the M-19 from the moment of its foundation until the storming of Yarumales and subsequent events: “Everything we did was not for us, but for the people, as we understood it. But we saw that most of our actions did not reach the goal, that in this war our bullets kill soldiers and policemen, who are also children of the people we have pledged to protect. And the true culprits of war and famine, those against whom we raised our weapons, are almost invulnerable ... "

In October 1989, the National Conference M-19 was held underground, and with 227 votes out of 230, the deputies decided to lay down their arms and become a legal political organization.

On March 8, 1990, in the central square of the village of Santo Domingo in the Cauca Valley, in the presence of international guarantors, hundreds of guerrillas lay down their arms and declare the creation of the political movement Democratic Alliance M-19.

In the same year, presidential elections were to be held, and 39-year-old M-19 commander Carlos Pizarro becomes a presidential candidate. He is immensely popular in the country and, according to most polls, has the highest chance of winning an election. On April 26, 1990, armed assassins board a flight to Barranquilla and shoot Carlos Pizarro in flight.

A real hunt for the disarmed M-19 participants begins in the country. It is headed by ultra-right militants - "paramilitaries" and the drug mafia - close partners of the leadership of the armed forces. Over the course of several years, about a hundred of the most famous and experienced representatives of the movement have been killed and “disappeared”.

Why was this long excursion into history? To the fact that now Luciana and I are leaving Bogotá for the provincial capital of Tolima, the city of Ibague, where her best friend, a former M-19 partisan, lives.

To be continued.