In December 1996, armed terrorists attacked the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru, taking diplomats and other party guests hostage. After 127 days, the incident was resolved when special forces raided the residence, killing all 14 of the perpetrators and freeing 71 of the 72 hostages. One hostage and two members of the special forces lost their lives.
In an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, Morihisa Aoki, the then ambassador and one of the hostages, spoke about the unprecedented incident that targeted one of Japan's overseas diplomatic missions, providing significant lessons. The following is excerpted from the interview.
The ambassador's official residence in the capital Lima is likened to the white mansion that appears in the film "Gone With the Wind." On Dec. 17, 1996, about 900 people from a variety of fields and industries were invited to a reception at the residence in honor of the Emperor's birthday. Around 8:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m., Dec. 18, Japan time), the sound of explosions suddenly rang out. I saw an armed group coming toward us firing automatic rifles. They also held hand grenades and grenade launchers.
I thought, "We're done for." At the time, two terrorist groups were active in Peru: the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Anything could have happened then.
They said, "We are the Tupac Amaru. Unlike the Shining Path, we're not going to kill hostages right away." The Shining Path was known for its atrocities such as the July 1991 shooting death of three Japanese agricultural engineers sent by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. I thought I should first focus on protecting the hostages' safety if the perpetrators were members of Tupac Amaru.
Together with Michel Minnig, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Peru, who was also present, I negotiated with them and had them release women and elderly people. The number of hostages was reduced by half, and hostage releases continued afterward.
[When the incident occurred, the writer was at the Tokyo head office of The Yomiuri Shimbun and tried to collect information by calling Japanese companies and relevant organizations in Lima. At a little past midnight on Dec. 18, Aoki answered after an another reporter called the ambassador's residence repeatedly.
"As ambassador, I feel a great responsibility," he said. "I have just told them I would offer my own life as a hostage if it means that other hostages will be freed."]
Language lessons
Tupac Amaru's demands included the release of all its imprisoned members and the payment of a ransom it termed a "war tax." They threatened us by saying, "We will kill hostages one by one if the [Peruvian] government does not agree to negotiate." In response, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori said that the military would raid [the residence] if even a single hostage was killed, demonstrating his stance of never succumbing to terrorism.
I tried to keep things peaceful inside the residence until the negotiations went well. I myself must remain firm, I thought. The important thing was to preserve dignity as human beings, without becoming subservient to the terrorists.
Their true selves were gradually revealed. Their leader, [Netor] Cerpa [Cartolini], came from the labor movement and was stubborn about the release of his imprisoned wife. [Rolly] Rojas, a high-ranking member, was an intellectual from the Communist Party. Another member called Tito claimed to be influenced by liberation theology. But both Rojas and Tito were disillusioned by their activities and looked forward to an easy life in foreign countries after receiving the ransom money. The level of noncommissioned members was such that they even called for a society in which everyone would be able to have a glass of beer every day.
There were eight young soldiers. With zero ideological background, they were participating as if they were in a part-time job. They were saying it would be a way to earn 500 dollars in two weeks and that they wanted to return to their hometowns to open variety stores if they got the money.
"I heard you are a navy [official]," one said to retired Peruvian Navy Admiral Luis Giampietri, who was a hostage. "Can you help me join the navy after all this is over?"
The hostages in the residence served as teachers for one another, opening language classes of Japanese, Spanish and French. The Japanese class was enthusiastically attended by the terrorists. Games like mahjong and playing cards were also popular, and the terrorists were taught Othello. I wanted both the hostages and terrorists to remain mentally stable. The pressure the terrorists placed on the hostages became minimal.
Calm was maintained inside the residence until the Holy Week at the end of March 1997. As an agreement for peaceful settlement was reached, hopes were raised that all the hostages would be released. However, the terrorists changed their intention during a period when Archbishop [Juan Luis] Cipriani -- who had entered the residence almost every day to persuade the terrorists -- returned to his diocese of Ayacucho. The agreement was canceled and a sense of despair spread. Even a plan was floated to start an armed uprising by some of the hostages who had grown impatient. The morale of the terrorists visibly deteriorated.
[As the head of reporters from The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department who gathered in Peru, the writer was looking into how the incident would proceed -- wondering if it would end up with a peaceful resolution or an armed raid. The Peruvian government thoroughly controlled relevant information, but a piece of information hinting at a possible armed raid was conveyed to The Yomiuri Shimbun on April 20. According to the information, a drill was conducted at an army hospital near the residence to swiftly transfer injured people to the hospital and treat them, and doctors and nurses were ordered to stay at home. Two days later, the scenario in the information turned out to be reality.]
Armed raid unexpected
At 3:30 p.m. on April 22, the sound of explosions roared in the residence. Several members of Tupac Amaru, who were playing soccer in the first floor hall, were blown away. The situation inside of the residence was known beforehand through such equipment as very small microphones. Special forces from the Peruvian Army and police dashed out from tunnels dug up through the garden and rushed into the residence.
To be honest, I did not anticipate the situation would be solved by a raid. I thought that if such a raid occurred, we -- or at least I -- would die.
In fact, one of the terrorists ran up to the second floor and turned an automatic rifle on us, but walked away without pulling the trigger. Numerous hostages would have been killed or injured if shots had been fired.
That terrorist was a 20-year-old woman. She was one of those who participated as if she was doing a part-time job, but her mission was to execute me. She shoved a gun at me almost on a daily basis in preparation for shooting me to death. She could not shoot, probably because human ties had been formed and she had become somewhat emotionally attached.
[The special forces team took control of the residence in 40 minutes to save the hostages.]
I think we probably won't see more cases like the one in Peru in which terrorists take VIPs hostage in the hopes of achieving their political objectives. No government will meet demands such as the payment of a ransom or the release of terrorists' associates. The incident in Peru established a know-how in which such situations are ultimately resolved by an army or police raid, that results in the shooting deaths of the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, indiscriminate terrorist attacks will likely not disappear. Japanese citizens were victims in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and the 2016 bombings in Belgium. Japanese hostages were killed without mercy in Algeria in 2013 and Bangladesh in 2016.
Sites for international economic cooperation are vulnerable to attacks by anti-government forces. Japanese citizens actively working overseas had better expect to face a terrorist incident. Panicking is definitely out of the question. In such situations, mental readiness is crucial to maintaining composure. In a nutshell, always be alert and careful.
The titles of the officials mentioned in the interview are those at the time of the hostage incident.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 24, 2018)
-- Morihisa Aoki / Former Japanese Ambassador to Peru
Aoki, 79, graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and entered the Foreign Ministry in 1963. After serving in such positions as minister at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations and director general of the secretariat of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, he became ambassador to Peru in 1994. In May 1997, Aoki resigned, after the hostage incident. He subsequently served as ambassador in charge of conflict-related issues in Africa and ambassador to Kenya. Aoki retired in 2001. He is from Tochigi Prefecture.
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