It’s the independence hero’s sword Simon Bolivar, stolen in 1974 from the Guerrilla M-19
The inauguration ceremony of Gustavo Petro as Colombia’s first left-wing ruler had an unexpected break because of a symbolic sword and this eventually led to discord between the new and outgoing governments.
“As President of Colombia, I ask the Military House to bring the sword of Bolívar. It is an order of the People’s Mandate and this President,” Petro said in his first decision once he was sworn in.
Only until the weapon was brought to the United States from Presidential Headquarters Bolivar Square, where the crime took place, the new president delivered his investiture speech.
It’s the independence hero’s sword Simon Bolivar. stolen in 1974 from the Guerrilla M-19, to which Petro belonged, the sword was returned in 1991 after the disarmament of that organization.
The now former President Iván Duque, a staunch opponent of Petro, refused to give up for the ceremony.
Finally it was taken to the Plaza de Bolívar in a display case of four members of the Presidential Guard who obeyed the first order of the new President.
“Arriving here beside this sword is a life for me, a resistance. This sword represents too much for us.” Peter pointed this out.
Among those invited to the ceremony were Carlos Sánchez, a veteran former M-19 guerrilla fighter involved in the robbery of the sword
Gathered with other former comrades-in-arms in front of the museum they got it from, Sánchez recalls the exact spot where you parked the car on this afternoon of January 17, 1974.
Break the window to take the sword
He awaited the departure of two guerrillas, including Álvaro Fayad, who dressed in a Mexican zarape entered the Quinta de Bolívar, He broke the glass case where the sword was and took it.
“They came out with their swords from under their serapes, they got in the car and when I wanted to start it, it went off”, Sánchez told AFP.
Eventually, he says, with the help of strangers, he was able to turn it on no chase or gunfire involved.
Sánchez then placed the sword on a map of Latin America and He snapped a photo that also includes a machine gun and an M-19 shield.
The picture was published in the local press with the caption: “Bolivar’s sword has appeared. It’s in Latin America!” It was the letter of introduction from a new nationalist urban guerrilla.
In the same year, Sánchez handed over the rusty weapon with the golden grip to the then guerrilla commander, Jaime Bateman, in Bogota.
From there Mystery surrounds the relic, which went through multiple hideouts to evade the fierce search military until they landed in Cuba.
In 1990 the M-19 signed the peace and became a political party and the following year the chairman Antonio Navarro traveled to Venezuela to accept the sword of Cuban diplomat Norberto Hernández, According to what Navarro himself told the cambio portal.
The sword reappeared in public in July 2020 when Duque took her to the government palace commemorating the 237th anniversary of Bolívar’s birth.
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duke He showed it to Petro at a private meeting after the ex-guerrillas won the presidential elections in June.
“The sword has so many stories that today it will add another: why it took him so long to get to this place,” commented the new ruler.