1996–1997 hostage crisis in Lima, Peru
The Japanese embassy hostage crisis (, ) began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when 14 terrorist members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took hostage hundreds of high-level diplomats, government and military officials and business executives. They were attending a party at the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru, Morihisa Aoki, in celebration of Emperor Akihito's 63rd birthday. Although the crisis took place at the ambassadorial residence in San Isidro rather than at the embassy proper, it is often referred to as the "Japanese embassy" hostage crisis.
Foreign female hostages were released during the first night and most foreigners left after five days of constant death threats. After being held hostage for 126 days, the remaining dignitaries were freed on 22 April 1997, in a raid by Peruvian Armed Forces commandos, during which one hostage, two commandos, and all the MRTA militants were killed. The operation was perceived by most Peruvians to be a great success, and it gained worldwide media attention. President Alberto Fujimori initially received much credit for saving the lives of the hostages.
Reports later emerged alleging that a number of the insurgents were summarily executed after surrendering. Japanese diplomat Hidetaka Ogura testified that three of the rebels were tortured. Two of the commandos maintained that they saw Eduardo "Tito" Cruz alive and in custody before he was found with a bullet wound in his neck. These findings prompted civil suits against military officers by the relatives of dead militants. In 2005, the Attorney General's office in Peru allowed the charges and hearings were ordered. After public outcry, all charges were dropped; however, further investigations were referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It ruled in 2015 that Cruz had been the victim of an extrajudicial killing and that the Peruvian government violated international law. The court also named 25-year-old Victor Peceros and 17-year-old Herma Meléndez as victims deprived of their human rights.
Hostage crisis.
Beginning of the siege.
The surprise ambush and seizure of the Japanese ambassador's residence was the highest profile operation of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in its 15-year history. The attack propelled Peru in general, and the MRTA in particular, into the world spotlight for the duration of the crisis. Guests reported that the guerrillas blasted a hole in the garden wall of the ambassador's residence at around 8:20pm the night of 17 December.
The Japanese ambassador's residence had been fortified by the Japanese government. It was surrounded by a 12-foot wall, and had grates on all windows, bullet-proof glass in many windows, and doors built to withstand the impact of a grenade; therefore it was easily defendable from within.
News of the MRTA assault caused the Lima Stock Exchange to close three hours early, as domestic stocks plummeted. One newspaper political columnist commented, "It is a setback of at least four years. We've returned to being a country subject to terror." The news came during a period of low popularity for President Fujimori (down to 40% from a 1996 high of 75%), who had until then been credited with restoring peace to the country after terrorist activity largely ceased through the country during his first presidential term.
The "Clínica Italiana", a clinic located on the same block of the residence, was closed due to the hostage crisis and never re-opened, being ultimately demolished in 2013.
Government's reaction.
On 22 December, Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori made his first public announcement on the hostage-taking in a televised four-minute speech. In his speech, he condemned the assailants, calling the MRTA assault "repugnant" and rejecting all MRTA demands. He did not rule out an armed rescue attempt, but said that he was willing to explore a peaceful solution to the situation. He also publicly indicated that he did not need help from foreign security advisors, following speculation that Peru was turning to foreign governments for assistance.
Fujimori made his speech shortly after MRTA leader Néstor Cerpa Cartolini announced that he would gradually release any hostages who were not connected to the Peruvian government. During the months that followed, the rebels released all female hostages and all but 72 of the men.
Demands.
In the days immediately following the takeover, the International Committee of the Red Cross acted as an intermediary between the government and members of the guerrilla group. Among the hostages were high officials of Peru's security forces, including Máximo Rivera, the chief of Peru's anti-terrorist police, DIRCOTE, and former chief Carlos Domínguez. Other hostages included Alejandro Toledo, who later became President of Peru, and Javier Diez Canseco, a socialist Peruvian congressman. The 24 Japanese hostages included President Fujimori's own mother and younger brother.
The insurgents made a series of demands:
Leftist politician Javier Diez Canseco was among the 38 men who were released very shortly after the hostages were taken. He defended the MRTA and called for the government to negotiate a settlement. Diez Canseco said that the hostage-takers are "18 to 20 years old, maybe 21 ... They're a group of special forces, commandos. I think they're young men who want to live. They don't want to die."
Upon being freed, Alejandro Toledo said that what the MRTA really wanted was an amnesty that would allow its members to participate in public life. He said that any attempt to rescue the hostages by force would be "insane," as they were "armed to the teeth." Rooms in the building, he said, were wired with explosives, as was the roof. He added that the terrorists had anti-tank weapons and wore backpacks that were filled with explosives that could be detonated by pulling a cord on their chest.
Negotiations.
In search for a peaceful solution, Fujimori appointed a team to hold talks with the MRTA, including the Canadian ambassador Anthony Vincent, who had briefly been a hostage, Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani, and a Red Cross official. Fujimori even talked with the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, raising media speculation that a deal was being worked out to let the MRTA guerrillas go to Cuba as political exiles. However, it was reported on 17 January that negotiations with the MRTA had stalled.
In early February, a new squad of Peruvian troops with heavy equipment took over the embassy vigil. They played loud military music and made provocative gestures to the rebels, who unleashed a burst of gunfire. This prompted the Prime Minister of Japan, Ryutaro Hashimoto, to publicly urge Peru to refrain from taking any unnecessary risks that could endanger the hostages' lives. Japanese leaders pressured Fujimori to reach some sort of negotiated settlement with the MRTA in order to ensure the hostages' safe release.
Fujimori subsequently met Hashimoto in Canada. The two leaders announced that they were in agreement on how to handle the hostage situation but provided few details.
On 10 February, Fujimori travelled to London, where he announced that the purpose of his trip was to "find a country that would give asylum to the MRTA group." Observers noted that his request that the MRTA group be given political asylum contradicted his previously stated position that the MRTA were not guerrillas but terrorists. On 11 February, Fujimori declared that "Peruvian prisons are built in accordance with international standards for terrorists." He also attended business meetings, which he described to his domestic audience as an "exercise in reassuring the international investors."
Military solution.
In February, Peruvian newspaper "La República" reported the existence of a secret government "intervention plan," involving the direct participation of U.S. military forces. The plan was reportedly devised by Navy Admiral and Director of Peru's Army Intelligence Agency, Antonio Ibarcena and submitted to Fujimori. On 17 February, "The New York Times" wrote, "United States participation in the assault is crucial, according to the plan, which said that the commandos would come from the Peruvian Army's School of Commandos and the United States Southern Command, based in Panama."
The MRTA called off the talks with the government in March when they reported hearing loud noises coming from beneath the floor of the residence. Peruvian newspapers confirmed the MRTA suspicions, reporting that the police were digging tunnels underneath the building. The police tried to cover up noise from the digging by playing loud music over loudspeakers and carrying out noisy tank maneuvers through the nearby streets.
According to the "New York Times", Canadian ambassador Anthony Vincent stated "in hindsight, some believed that the commission of guarantors [of which he was a member] had served as little more than a cover to give [Fujimori] time to put in place the physical and political elements for a raid;" he believed that "both sides were close to settlement" when Fujimori opted instead for a military assault.
Operation "Chavín de Huantar".
Preparations.
In preparation for the raid, Peruvian Navy Admiral and former commander of a special operations group, Antonio Ibarcena distributed hundreds of bugged items to the hostages. One of which included his personal guitar given to hostage Luis Giampietri (later elected Vice President of Peru for the term 2006–2011) to help pass the time in which Antonio Ibarcena installed a miniature two-way radio and gave encrypted instructions to warn the hostages ten minutes before the military operation began, telling them to stay as far away as possible from the MRTA members.
Light-colored clothes were systematically ferried in to the hostages, so that they could be distinguished easily from the dark-clad insurgents during the planned raid. Cerpa himself unwittingly helped with this part of the project when, upon hearing noises that made him suspect that a tunnel was being dug, he ordered all the hostages placed on the second floor.
In addition, sophisticated miniature microphones and video cameras had been smuggled into the residence, concealed in books, water bottles, and table games. Giampietri and other military officers among the hostages were given the responsibility for placing these devices in secure locations around the house. Eavesdropping on the MRTA commandos with the help of these high-tech devices, military planners observed that the insurgents had organized their security carefully, and were particularly alert during the night hours. However, early every afternoon, eight of the MRTA members, including the four leaders, played indoor football for about one hour.
Fujimori later unveiled a scale model of the building that was especially built to prepare for the rescue operation, which included the tunnels from adjacent houses used by commandos to enter the building.
Special forces raid.
On 22 April 1997, more than four months after the beginning of the siege, a team of 140 Peruvian commandos, assembled into a secret ad hoc unit given the name "Chavín de Huantar" (in reference to a Peruvian archaeological site famous for its underground passageways), mounted a dramatic raid on the residence. At 15:23:00 that afternoon, Operation Chavín de Huántar began.
Three explosive charges exploded almost simultaneously in three different rooms on the first floor. The first explosion hit in the middle of the room where the soccer game was taking place, killing three of the hostage-takers immediately – two of the men involved in the game, and one of the women watching from the sidelines. Through the hole created by that blast and the other two explosions, 30 commandos stormed into the building, chasing the surviving MRTA members in order to stop them before they could reach the second floor.
Two other moves were made simultaneously with the explosions. In the first, 20 commandos launched a direct assault at the front door in order to join their comrades inside the waiting room, where the main staircase to the second floor was located. On their way in, they found the two other female MRTA militants guarding the front door. Behind the first wave of commandos storming the door came another group of soldiers carrying ladders, which they placed against the rear walls of the building.
In the final prong of the coordinated attack, another group of commandos emerged from two tunnels that had reached the back yard of the residence. These soldiers quickly scaled the ladders that had been placed for them. Their tasks were to blow out a grenade-proof door on the second floor, through which the hostages would be evacuated, and to make two openings in the roof so that they could kill the MRTA members upstairs before they had time to execute the hostages.
At the end, all 14 MRTA guerrillas, one hostage (Dr. Carlos Giusti Acuña, member of the Supreme Court, who had pre-existing heart health problems) and two soldiers (Colonel Juan Valer Sandoval and Captain