Theft of Bolívar's sword

'' shortly before the heist which reads "parasites?... worms? wait (for) M19" Around the year 1970, Luis Otero Cifuentes and Jaime Bateman proposed at a FARC meeting that the group steal the sword to emulate an action they had read about done by Uruguayan Tupamaros who had symbolically stolen an old Artigas flag. The plan was turned down by FARC, but Bateman and associates, in a group called Los Comuneros, would begin to scope out the Quinta de Bolívar in 1973 in preparation for an action later. Immediately preceding the heist, M-19 placed a cryptic ad in Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. It is a curved sabre between 50 and 60 centimeters long. It has a gilded hilt and was displayed unsheathed at the time of the heist. ==The heist==

The heist began on January 17, 1974, at 5:00 p.m. Álvaro Fayad, co-founder of M-19, led a small group into the Quinta de Bolívar. He used a crowbar to break a lock of a room and crossed into another with the sword. He broke the glass case containing the sword and took it, as well as the spurs and stirrups also in the glass case. The group used a Renault 6 as a getaway car, but could not leave immediately, because the members did not know how to drive. ==Afermath and subsequent M-19 actions==

The immediate aftermath of the heist was widespread media coverage, especially in Colombia. On February 15, M-19 published a photograph in the Alternativa magazine showing the captured relics. The M-19 Movement was able to grow to more than 200 members after the incident. Significant M-19 attacks included a 1980 siege of the embassy of the Dominican Republic, as well as the Palace of Justice siege. ==Fate of the sword==

The sword was sent to various people until it eventually reached Cuba. It was at León de Greiff's residence on the permission of his son Boris de Greiff at the time of a visit by Colombian president Alfonso López Michelsen. Eventually, on January 31, 1991, and then to the Casa de Nariño, the Colombian presidential residence. Many former members of M-19 achieved prominence in Colombian politics later, including Antonio Navarro Wolff and Otty Patino who were present at the handing over ceremony of the sword from Cuba, Paloma Valencia of the Democratic Center party denounced a 50th anniversary event hosted by Petro. Then Minister of Colombia Juan David Correa, who was present at the event, said of the sword, "It speaks to us of a republican dream that a man had more than 200 years ago." ==Copycats==

Similar incidents of sword-stealing have occurred in Colombia since the theft. In 2010, FARC claimed to have taken a sword that belonged to Bolívar. FARC did not substantiate the alleged Bolivarian identity of the sword in its video. The sword for the statue of Bolívar at the Plaza de Bolívar (which was formerly at Quinta de Bolívar) was broken off in 2018. ==References==