The Japanese embassy hostage crisis (Spanish: Toma de la residencia del embajador de Japón en Lima, Japanese: 在ペルー日本大使公邸占拠事件, romanized: Zai Perū Nihon taishi kōtei senkyo jiken) began on 17 December 1996, when hundreds of high-level diplomats, government, and military officials and business executives, were taken hostage at the Japanese ambassador's residence in San Isidro District, Lima, Peru. The incident occurred after 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) blasted a hole through one of the residence's less-defended walls, interrupting a celebration of Emperor Akihito's 63rd birthday. Although the crisis took place at the ambassadorial residence rather than at the chancery, it is often referred to as the "Japanese embassy" hostage crisis .
Foreign female hostages were released during the first night and most foreigners were let go after five days of constant death threats. After being held hostage for 126 days, the remaining 72 dignitaries, which included then Japanese ambassador Morihisa Aoki, 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
On the night of 17 December 1996, a party was held at the Japanese ambassador's residence in San Isidro District, Lima, Peru. The event was headed by ambassador Morihisa Aoki and commemorated the birthday of Emperor Akihito of Japan. In parallel, a group of 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) led by Néstor Cerpa Cartolini—formally the "Edgar Sánchez Command"—prepared to execute their plan, nicknamed "Operation Torre Condesú." The date had been carefully chosen by the group due to the number of important guests attending.
Beginning of the siege
At 8 pm PET (1:00 CST), an ambulance belonging to the Emergencia Clave 3 with the license plate OI-1359 arrived at the office of the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED, locally the Servicio Alemán de Cooperación Social-Técnica), located at number 255 of Guillermo Marconi, a street located behind the residence. The ambulance had reached the street after being let through by a police unit at the corner of the Clínica Italiana. The house's security guard, Jesús Sarase Prado, answered the doorbell, with two of the ambulance's occupants—in reality members of the MRTA—stating that they had arrived to transfer a patient. When Sarase replied that the house was empty, one of the men asked him to sign a document to verify that an error had been made. Once the door was opened, Sarase was threatened with a revolver and tied down, with the ambulance backing up hide the entrance of the ambulance's 12 other occupants and their equipment, which included AKM rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, ammo and mines. The ambulance was a 1992 Chevrolet model, sold to three men for US$ 13,500 by Homero Alva Bobadilla, a 42-year old former Edelnor worker born in Cajamarca who had invested his severance pay in an ambulance sold by the company. Alva had placed two adverts, first in September and then on the 10th of November. He was detained on the 18th due to him still being the vehicle's legal owner, and taken to the police's central building at Spain Avenue but being ultimately released due to having no connection to the three men who purchased the vehicle.
The group then headed towards the house's wall shared with the residence, placing an explosive charge that detonated at about 8:20 pm, allowing them access to the garden where the event was taking place. The men entered the event and subdued the people inside the residence, which was made easier due to a security protocol at the time that effectively made the embassies of Japan around the world gun-free zones. During the events, one of the rebels—Eduardo "Tito" Nicolás Cruz Sánchez—shot himself in the leg with his own AKM rifle, being treated by physicians Víctor Lucero and Ariel Frisancho.
The immediate panic led the security detail outside the residence to launch tear gas, and a shootout began between both parties. One of the rebels asked the ambassador to identify himself, which he did. Aoki was then given a loudspeaker to ask for a ceasefire, partially instructed by a member due to his poor Spanish. The hostages were then taken inside into the already crowded building. Soon after, Michael Minning, representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Peru, identified himself, asking to speak with the MRTA's representative. Minning spoke to Cerpa, explaining that the number of hostages would be an issue, and suggested that he let the women, elderly and ill leave, also offering to be a mediator between the group and the government. After deliberating with three other members, he accepted, with the selected hostages leaving at midnight. Also included in the group was José Buendía, a justice of the Supreme Court, due to the insistence of his wife. With the group gone, 381 men remained in the building, and the rebels turned more violent in their treatment of the hostages, demanding that nobody move.
The surprise ambush and seizure of the Japanese ambassador's residence was the highest profile operation of the group 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. 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 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 Cerpa 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 ICRC 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:
- The release of their members from prisons around Peru (including recently convicted US activist Lori Berenson and Cerpa's wife).
- A revision of the government's neoliberal free market reforms.
- They singled out Japan's foreign assistance program in Peru for criticism, arguing that this aid benefited only a narrow segment of society.
- They also protested against what they claimed were cruel and inhumane conditions in Peru's jails.
Leftist politician Javier Diez Canseco was among the 38 men who were released soon 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 militants 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.