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 | PERU, DAY 16: NO DEALS
January 2, 1997TRANSCRIPT |
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Peru's president has reiterated his intention not to negotiate with Marxist rebels holding 74 hostages at the Japanese ambassador's home, and will not rule out a military solution. Charles Krause has a background report, followed by a discussion between Jim Lehrer and journalist Jonathan Miller, who is in Peru.
A RealAudio version of this NewsHour segment is available.
Online NewsHour links:
January 2, 1997:
Jim Lehrer speaks with journalist Jonathan Miller, reporting live from Peru.
December 23, 1996:
Maxist rebels released 225 hostages from the Japanese ambassador's residence in a "good will" Christmas gesture.
December 19, 1996:
In a stunning attack, a band of Peruvian rebels stormed the Japanese embassy in Lima holding 490 hostage.
Browse the Online NewsHour's Latin America index.
CHARLES KRAUSE: The hostage crisis began on the night of December 17th, when about 20 armed Tupac Amaru guerrillas burst into the Japanese embassy in Lima during a party celebrating the emperor's birthday. At first there was some confusion over the number of hostages, but it turned out that the guerrillas had captured more than 500 top members of Peruvian society, ambassadors, cabinet members, generals, even President Fujimori's mother and other members of the president's immediate family.
During the first 24 hours there appeared to be a real possibility of violence. The guerrillas threatened to execute some of the hostages if their demands were not met, and there were reports that Fujimori was inclined to use force to end the standoff before it escalated even further. But then the guerrillas backed off. Instead of executing hostages they began releasing them, women, including Fujimori's mother and sister, and older men first, then several of the ambassadors.
SPOKESMAN: Viva Peru. Viva Peru.
CHARLES KRAUSE: On December 22nd, the guerrillas released 225 hostages, among then six American diplomats and British diplomat Roger Church.
ROGER CHURCH, British Diplomat: The treatment during my time in captivity was--there was no threat--there was a threat in so much, of course, they were carrying arms, but at no time was anybody mistreated as far as I'm aware. I was on the second floor in the--in the Japanese ambassador's residence. We were not allowed to move around. I was not allowed to go downstairs, but as far as all that, nobody was ill treated, they treated us as well as can be expected.
CHARLES KRAUSE: Throughout the crisis the Red Cross has delivered food and medicine to the compound, while Catholic bishop Juan Luis Cipriani has played an increasingly important role communicating between the guerrillas and the government. The Tupac Amarus are one of two guerrilla groups active in Peru over the past decade. And although the Fujimori guerrillas thought they'd been defeated, the embassy siege indicates they still have some support and armed capability.
DUNCAN GREEN, Latin American Analyst: They believe in the traditional ideas of guerrilla organizations in Latin America, that an armed group can seize power if it makes an alliance with lots of other groups like peasants and the poor in the shanty towns and that kind of thing. They believe basically in some kind of socialism.
CHARLES KRAUSE: So far, almost miraculously, no one has been killed since the siege began. Publicly, at least, there's been no sign of progress toward ending the standoff either. On Tuesday journalists were
allowed inside the embassy for the first time. There, they heard guerrilla leader Nester Serpa Cartalini repeat his principal demand; that the government release some 300 Tupac Amaru prisoners being held in Peruvian jails.
But Fujimori's government has already rejected that demand, leaving Serpa to say that he could see no immediate solution to the crisis. Yesterday, the guerrillas released seven more hostages, leaving a total of 74 still captive inside the embassy. Today, Fujimori responded by condemning the guerrillas for using violence but gave no hint of whether the government was now ready to negotiate an end to the current crisis.
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