On this day in 1985, there was a siege on Colombia’s Palace of Justice. By the end, over 100 lives were lost, including 12 justices and 48 Colombian soldiers.

It’s believed that behind the siege was the infamous Pablo Escobar, whose “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) policy meant that those who did not accept his bribes would be eliminated.

Read on at the link to learn more about the tensions in Colombia in the mid-1980s from the perspective of former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Anthony Charles Gillespie Jr.