Happy ending in Lima
Whatever one may say about the delayed ending of the hostage drama in Lima, all but the most stubborn believers in the Machiavellian adage that "the end justifies the means" must surely agree that Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori deserves to be commended for his firm action, after reasonable persuasion had failed.
After a four-month standoff -- the longest in Latin American history and one of the longest anywhere -- Peruvian government troops stormed the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima in a blitz assault, freeing 72 hostages who were being held in the building by a band of 14 gunmen from the Tupac Amaru (MRTA). The raid can certainly be considered a success, even though two soldiers died and one of the hostages, Peruvian Supreme Court Justice Carlo Giusti, died of a heart attack after being wounded.
Through his stance, President Fujimori has made a valuable contribution to his country by affirming the universal principle that -- to borrow Fujimori's words -- governments "must not give in to terrorist blackmail". After four months of fruitless attempts to come to a negotiated solution, no one can accuse the Peruvian president of lacking patience.
One may argue that such a violent ending was inevitable from the beginning. If anything, President Fujimori is known among both his allies and rivals as a politician who does not easily give in to opponents. Similarly, Peruvian intelligence reports describe his adversary in the hostage drama, the rebel leader Nestor Cerna, as a man who does not easily back down from a taken position.
Whatever the case, Tuesday's storming of the Japanese ambassador's residence in the Peruvian capital brought an end to the crisis that began on December 17, when armed gunmen of the MRTA burst into a cocktail party at the Japanese ambassador's residence -- a beginning that was almost as dramatic as the way it ended. At the same time, it ended the revolutionary career of former labor union leader Nestor Cerna that began 18 years ago when he led workers in seizing a factory.
Unfortunately for Peru, the end of the hostage drama does not spell the end of the country's troubles with leftist revolutionary groups. Although the number of members has dwindled considerably from an original estimate of 10,000, the MRTA, which is the smaller of two revolutionary groups in Peru, is believed to still have about 100 dedicated followers. The larger of the two leftist groups, the Maoist Shining Path, is believed to still have several thousand followers.
So, the possibility of more trouble in the future cannot be discounted. Sadly, the Latin American region has in the past several decades proven itself to be vulnerable to terrorist activity. In 1993, Costa Rica was shaken by two hostage dramas. In the first, Contra revolutionaries from Nicaragua occupied the Nicaraguan Embassy, taking 24 people hostage. In the second, five gunmen from a group calling itself the Command of Death occupied the Supreme Court in Costa Rica, holding 19 judges hostage for four days.
The just-concluded drama in Lima is a reminder, not only for Peru and Latin America, but for other regions in the developing world as well, that as long as conditions exist that can provide a breeding ground for revolutionary movements, trouble will be difficult to prevent. Prosperity and justice are still the most effective weapons to fight against them. The Peruvian example shows that under any circumstances governments can stay firm in their stance and need not give in to terrorist blackmail.