19th of April Movement

19th of April Movement M-19 (Spanish) Movimiento 19 de Abril
Participant in Colombian armed conflict
flag and logo of the M-19.
Active	1970–1990
Ideology	Left-wing nationalism Bolivarianism Foco theory
Leaders	Jaime Bateman Cayón† Carlos Toledo Plata † Carlos Pizarro Leongómez Álvaro Fayad † Iván Marino Ospina † Antonio Navarro Wolf Vera Grabe Rosemberg Pabón
Headquarters	"Mountains of Colombia"
Area of operations	Concentrated in southern and central Colombia. Incursions only in Colombia.
Allies	Front Ricardo Franco
Opponents	Government of Colombia Colombian paramilitary groups

The 19th of April Movement (in Spanish: Movimiento 19 de Abril) or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement. After its demobilization it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance (Alianza Democrática M-19), or AD/M-19.

The M-19 traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of 19 April 1970. In those elections, the National Popular Alliance (ANAPO) of former military dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was denied an electoral victory.

The ideology of the M-19 was a mixture of nationalistic revolutionary socialism and populism. It was inspired by other South American urban guerrilla groups, such as the Tupamaros in Uruguay and the Montoneros in Argentina.

By mid-1985, when the number of active members was estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 (including a more noticeable urban presence), the M-19 was the second largest guerrilla group in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It had become known for carrying out a number of actions that provoked conflicting feelings of amazement and anger among the different sectors of Colombian public opinion.

The M-19's history may be divided into two parts: the first was a failed armed revolutionary struggle during the early to mid-1980s, while the second was a relatively constructive reincorporation into civil society and political life during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Among the actions performed by the M-19, some significant events stand out. In a highly symbolic action, the M-19 stole one of Simón Bolívar's swords from a museum in 1974, an event which was used by the group to symbolize what they called a civilian uprising against a regime perceived as unjust. On New Year's Eve 1979, the group dug a tunnel into a Colombian Army weapons depot, taking over 5000 weapons. It was considered one of the first signs of the group's true potential for armed action. In February 1976, the M-19 kidnapped the union leader Jose Raquel Mercado, who was the president of Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CTC), and on 19 April 1976, executed him. The event shocked the country. The group accused Mercado of taking bribes and collaborating with the CIA.