By Margaret Gleeson
When communications were renewed on January 10, the Peruvian government refused to provide a concrete response to the demands of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) which occupied the Lima residence of the Japanese Ambassador on December 17. Hopes for a negotiated settlement to the "hostage crisis" are now pinned on a mediation commission.
According to the Peruvian National Directorate Against Terrorism (DINCOTE), the operation had been carefully planned. The "rebels", disguised as waiters and decorators, entered the residence in a vehicle painted as an ambulance. DINCOTE was aware as early as August that the MRTA was planning to free its top leaders. The day before the takeover, a group of 1077 MRTA prisoners in the Miguel Castro Prison began a hunger strike to protest prison conditions.
The MRTA have gradually released hostages. By January 5 only 74 of the 700 guests remained, including Peruvian president Fujimoris brother, the ambassadors of Japan and Bolivia, top Peruvian government and security force officials and several Japanese personnel.
The MRTA have used the releases to publicise their demands. These include the release of 458 imprisoned MRTA militants; the repeal of the amnesty law because it favours the paramilitary Colina Group and other human rights violators; re-establishment of union rights and labour stability; abolition of the new land law and guaranteed recognition of the campesino community; and an end to the governments neo-liberal economic policy.
The MRTA raid was led by Nestor Cerpa Cartolini. He fought previously in the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP), Perus larger and older guerilla group known as the Shining Path, but was expelled after proposing a merger with the MRTA. The MRTA was formed out of several left currents in 1983. In contrast to the PCP, it has always maintained relations with other left groups inside and outside Peru.
In a December 28 communique, the MRTA expressed regret that certain political and media sections "insist on calling us a terrorist and genocidal band" and asked that these sections stop "comparing us with Sendero Luminoso [Shining Path], an organisation which we have condemned repeatedly for its use of irrational violence".
The MRTA have sought dialogue, but the government has responded by extending emergency powers to the security forces in Lima and Callao, allowing soldiers and police to enter homes without warrants, search cars at random and detain people without charge. A state of emergency was already in effect in much of Peru.
The international committee of the Red Cross has not been allowed to visit inmates serving sentences for alleged involvement in armed rebel groups. This appears to be aimed at preventing communication between MRTA members in prison and those involved in the siege. No one has been allowed to communicate with the 28 detainees since the siege.
Alarmed at the generally favourable media coverage of the MRTA, the government has clamped down on the press. On January 7, DINCOTE agents arrested Japanese reporter Tsuyoshi Hitomi and his Peruvian interpreter who had managed to sneak into the residence and videotape an interview with Cerpa. The two were released without charge after Asahi TV (Hitomi's employer) accepted government demands to replace Hitomi and warn other personnel in Peru. TV Asahi did not agree, however, to let the government keep the videotape.
Perus National Intelligence Service (SIN) has also begun harassing several freed hostages. Former economy minister Gustavo Saberein reported receiving threats at his home. "I got an anonymous call that warned me to keep quiet about suggestions to negotiate the release of the hostages", he said.
The MRTA attack came at an inopportune time for Perus government. Economic recession and disastrous privatisation policies have led to widespread discontent. Fujimoris political position is more precarious after Perus Constitutional Court ruled against his potential bid for a third term of office in the year 2000.
The government is under pressure to resolve the "crisis" peacefully by February 17, when the foreign ministers of Peru and Ecuador will meet to end the border conflict which erupted in early 1995.
[Based on information from Weekly News Update on the Americas.]