1980 Dominican Embassy siege in Bogotá The Dominican Embassy siege was the 1980 siege of the embassy of the Dominican Republic by M - 19 guerrillas in Bogotá , Colombia . The guerrillas held nearly 60 people , including 14 ambassadors , hostage for 61 days . The Siege . The siege began on the mid - day of February 27 , 1980 , when seventeen guerrillas dressed in the warm - up clothes of jogger s stormed the embassy compound , located in a suburb of Bogotá . Many diplomats were attending a diplomatic reception celebrating the Dominican Independence Day and consequently were taken hostage . The guerrillas , wielding grenades , AK - 47 ' s , and Rosemberg Pabón held a Browning 9MM as support to control the situation , wounded five people in the storming of the embassy . A 17 - year - old guerrilla was killed initially by the police . The hostages included the " Papal nuncio " to Colombia , Angelo Acerbi , as well as the ambassadors from fourteen countries : Austria , Brazil , Costa Rica , the Dominican Republic , Egypt , El Salvador , Guatemala , Haiti , Israel , Mexico , Switzerland , the United States , Uruguay , and Venezuela . Also among the hostages were diplomats from Bolivia , Jamaica , Paraguay and Peru , and Colombian civilians and workers at the embassy . The gunmen demanded US $ 50 million , to be raised from the countries whose diplomats were held hostage . They also sought the release of 311 jailed comrades . Their leader , who called himself " Commandante Uno , " was later identified as Rosemberg Pabón . Colombian authorities began negotiating with the guerrillas after they threatened to kill the hostages . On February 28 , eighteen people , including the Costa Rican ambassador and fourteen other women , were freed by the hostage takers . Five more women were released on February 29 . Negotiations gained the release of four cooks and a waiter on March 2 . The Austrian ambassador was freed on March 7 out of consideration for his wife , who was in hospital at the time . On March 8 , the guerrillas reduced their demands to free 311 prisoners to seventy and lowered the amount of money requested to US $ 10 million . Early on March 17 , the Uruguayan ambassador , Fernando Gomez Fyns , escaped from the embassy by jumping from a window and running to troops surrounding the compound . The same day , Fidel Castro offered the guerrillas asylum in Cuba . From March 30 to April 19 , the guerrillas released the Costa Rican consul and all of the remaining non - diplomatic hostages . They requested a meeting in Panama with Colombian leaders to resolve the crisis , but were denied by the Colombian government . Their demand for the release of a dozen prisoners was denied , though they were paid US $ 2 . 5 million in ransom money . On April 27 , the ambassadors from Venezuela , the Dominican Republic , Israel , and Egypt were released by the hostage takers , along with two Colombians . The sixteen guerrillas left the embassy with the remaining twelve diplomatic hostages and boarded a Cubana Airlines flight to Cuba . They were cheered by many Colombians waiting for them at the airport . They flew to Havana , where the diplomats were released and returned to their home countries . Aftermath . The leader of the M - 19 group , Rosemberg Pabón , promised to return to Colombia . After living in exile in Cuba , he eventually returned to Colombia after M - 19 signed a peace treaty with the government in March 1990 . The M - 19 group had been considerably weakened after seizing the Colombian Palace of Justice in November 1985 , which left dozens dead .