Rosemberg Pabón

Rosemberg Pabón (born c. 1950) is a Colombian politician and former senator.

Pabón came into the public spotlight in 1980, when he led members of the guerilla group 19th of April Movement (M-19) and seized the Dominican Republic's embassy in Bogotá.

Pabón gained instant fame across Latin America and in the United States as he and his group held sixteen ambassadors and one cardinal from those two regions hostage. In addition to the American ambassador, others held included the Costa Rican, Mexican, Peruvian and Venezuelan Ambassadors and the Papal Nuncio.

As an M-19 humanitarian gesture, a male child the women ambassadors were the first hostages released. The M-19 initially demanded the release of 300 "political prisoners" (including members of its guerrilla organization) and payment of US$50 million by the Colombian government, arguing that it would be a small amount compared with what Colombian politicians had gained corruptly through the years.

During the initial crossfire with Colombian Army troops, a woman with the guerrillas was injured and required a medical doctor to attend to her. The doctor advised her to be hospitalized, but she refused and later died. The Venezuelan ambassador was also injured.

A tense environment continued as Colombian troops and snipers surrounded the embassy, with the M-19 at times believing that a counterattack was imminent. Colombian President Julio César Turbay Ayala, however, specifically rejected petitions from the military and from politicians asking for a direct and fullscale military assault.

On March 2, 1980, four days after the takeover, the Colombian government authorized direct contacts with the M-19 guerrillas. The guerrillas' spokesperson, Natalia Mendoza Arias ("La Chiqui" ), met with the government representatives, Ramiro Zambrano Cárdenas and Camilo Jiménez Villalba, inside a yellow van stationed in front of the embassy. Mexico's ambassador, Ricardo Galán, was present as a witness. Negotiations were tense throughout a series of 24 meetings between the government and the M-19 representatives.

The events filled the headlines of news media outlets worldwide, something which led the M-19's leader Jaime Bateman Cayón to say that the embassy takeover, as political propaganda, was more than a thousand times as useful to the M-19 as normal military operations. According to Bateman, it gave their cause and its stated objectives a higher international profile. That being the case, Bateman determined that the most important thing then was to avoid the death of the M-19 guerrillas in the embassy.

After some fifty-two days of negotiations and sixty-one days since the takeover, Pabón and the Colombian government agreed to have Pabón, his comrades, and the remaining hostage ambassadors flown to Cuba, where the ambassadors still held hostage were allowed to return to their home countries. Allegedly, the M-19 also received a ransom payment of between one million and two-and-a half million U.S. dollars, instead of the 50 million originally demanded.

Pabón lived in exile in Cuba for several years, remaining a member of the M-19. He returned to Colombia after M-19 signed a peace treaty with the Colombian government in March 1990. The treaty turned the revolutionary guerrilla movement into a political party and Pabón went on to become mayor of Yumbo before obtaining a seat as a senator.

Pabón stated publicly that president Turbay's handling of the embassy takeover and hostage situation contributed to preventing a tragedy that might have occurred had there been a military escalation. He indicated his appreciation that efforts to find a peaceful solution had prevailed.

Pabón's participation in the embassy takeover has been immortalized in movies such as Ciro Duran's 2000 "La toma de la embajada," a Colombian, Mexican and Venezuelan co-production, as well as in literature. Pabón also wrote a book ("Asi nos tomamos la embajada") that resembles a diary of what happened in the embassy.

Pabón is regarded by many as a dangerous subversive or terrorist, while others see him as a revolutionary hero.