Colombia Rebels Seize Courthouse, Top Judges : Troops Storm Bogota Building, Free Scores of Hostages, but Supreme Court Chief Is Still Held

Heavily armed guerrillas seized Colombia’s main judicial headquarters Wednesday, taking scores of hostages and battling government troops who stormed the four-story building in downtown Bogota.

At 1 a.m. today, 12 hours after the spectacular guerrilla operation began, rebels continued to hold out inside the besieged Palace of Justice.

Police said two policemen, three judicial employees and five guerrillas of the April 19 Movement had been killed. Other unconfirmed reports put the death toll as high as 24, including up to 19 guerrillas.

An estimated 300 people, including Supreme Court justices and other judges, were in the building at 11:35 a.m. when the guerrillas burst in firing automatic weapons.

Many Are Freed

More than 12 hours later, police and army forces had set numerous people free from the building--as many as 250, according to the newspaper El Tiempo. Among the freed hostages was Jaime Betancur, brother of President Belisario Betancur and a judge on the Council of State, a high judicial body.

In the early-morning hours, Bogota radio stations reported that 10 guerrillas were still holding eight judges, including the president of the Supreme Court, and an unspecified number of other hostages.

After a two-hour lull, heavy gunfire broke out again at 2 a.m. today, much of it from security forces outside the building.

Troops cordoned off about 10 square blocks around the Palace of Justice, which faces Bogota’s central Plaza Bolivar. From beyond the police line, a fire was seen blazing on the building’s fourth floor for more than an hour late at night.

Firemen fought the flames, bringing them under control, while police and troops continued to spread through the building room by room. The guerrillas fought back with automatic rifles, machine guns and other weapons.

Between 25 and 50 guerrillas took part in the attack, according to unofficial reports. The first guerrilla assault was made from a cargo truck, which reportedly was followed by a bus with rebel reinforcements.

Troops from the Presidential Guard Battalion took up positions outside the U-shaped judicial palace within minutes, exchanging fire with the guerrillas inside. Specially trained F-2 police units joined the fight, and within an hour, helicopters and armored cars moved to support the government counterattack.

“At first the panic was tremendous, because we didn’t know what was happening,” said lawyer Esteban Bendeck, one of the people freed later from the building. “All we did was throw ourselves to the floor. . . .

“Glass fell from the second and third floors. The noise on the first floor was overwhelming at times, and the machine guns didn’t stop.”

Three armored cars roared into the building with their machine guns blazing, one through the basement garage entrance and two through the big main door. They opened the way for troops to storm the building.

More troops dropped onto the roof from helicopters.

In telephone calls from inside the building, Supreme Court President Alfonso Reyes and other judges had implored authorities to hold their fire.

A guerrilla, talking by telephone to a lawyer friend of one judge, warned: “We have enough dynamite to blow up the building if President Betancur does not order a cease-fire.”

But Betancur made no public response, and the counterattack continued through the evening.

Explosions within the building were heard late in the evening. Military sources said troops were blasting their way through walls to reach guerrilla-occupied areas. Later, the government forces were said to be in control of all floors except a section of the third, and gunfire subsided.

Earlier, the guerrillas had sent a list of demands to Bogota radio stations. The demands included publication of a guerrilla proclamation in all major daily newspapers, air time for guerrilla broadcasts on radio and television stations, and direct negotiations with President Betancur at the Palace of Justice.

How Group Got Name

The April 19 Movement, called M-19, is named for the date of presidential elections in 1970 that were widely said to be fraudulent. The original M-19 guerrillas were followers of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, a former dictator who lost in the 1970 elections.

Although Rojas Pinilla was a right-wing populist, M-19 has become a leftist organization with apparent ties to the Cuban Communist Party.

M-19 is not the largest of the five guerrilla armies in Colombia, but its actions have been among the most spectacular. In 1980, M-19 guerrillas seized the Dominican Republic Embassy in Bogota, taking 42 hostages, including 15 ambassadors who were attending a diplomatic reception. The hostages were released two months later when the government paid a ransom reported to be about $1 million.

M-19 was among four guerrilla armies that signed cease-fire agreements with the government in 1984, but M-19 renounced the agreement last June.