Terrorism Peru

By disrupting this nation with devastating terror and violence, a former philosophy professor known as "Chairman Gonzalo" helped set the stage for this week's civilian-military coup. Chairman Gonzalo is Abimael Guzman. He is the legendary creator and guiding light of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a guerrilla army unmatched by any other in Latin America for ruthless zeal.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo promised a crackdown on terrorist groups Thursday and officials closed off parts of central Lima in the wake of a bomb blast that killed nine people near the U.S. Embassy in Peru. The attack came three days before a visit by President Bush. No Americans were killed in the blast late Wednesday, which injured dozens and left debris scattered in the street outside the embassy. The White House said Bush's visit would proceed Saturday as scheduled.

In 1992, when an attempted military coup caused President Alberto Fujimori to flee the presidential palace, he reportedly took refuge at the Japanese ambassador's residence. The coup failed, but Fujimori's choice of sanctuary--reported back then by the respected magazine Caretas--reflected the special bond between Peru and Japan.

A lawyer for imprisoned American Lori Berenson asked Peru's highest appeals court Tuesday to overturn her 20-year prison term for collaborating with rebels in a plot to seize Peru's Congress, saying she was convicted for her leftist ideas. Berenson's defense attorney, Jose Luis Sandoval, made the plea before a five-judge panel of the Supreme Court. Berenson was not present during the hearing. The panel has up to 15 working days to reach a decision, Supreme Court spokesman Andiolo Zevallos said.

Crowning years of tactical experience in terrorist combat, Nestor Cerpa Cartolini's opening game was impressive. Cerpa led a meticulously planned attack by the leftist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement that captured hundreds of illustrious hostages in the Japanese ambassador's residence here without a single casualty. Cerpa's middle game has looked uneven.

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in Toronto this weekend to discuss the crisis here at the Japanese ambassador's residence where rebels hold 72 hostages, officials said Wednesday.

The former field marshal of Peru's war against terrorism awaits trial today in the very prison he designed for his foes. Accused of everything from commanding death squads to running guns to guerrillas, former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos sits in the fortified naval prison where he once had Frank Sinatra tunes played for the conjugal visits of Abimael Guzman, guru of the Sendero Luminoso guerrillas, in a psychological campaign to win Guzman over.

Over the past six weeks, the Peruvian government has demanded freedom for the diplomats, political leaders and police commanders being held hostage in the Japanese ambassador's mansion here. The barricaded guerrillas of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement have demanded the release of hundreds of convicted terrorist comrades and have complained about harsh prison conditions.

Shooting candidates and setting off bombs, Sendero Luminoso guerrillas have carried out a bloody campaign aimed at disrupting municipal elections today and showing that the Maoist group is still fearsomely effective. A powerful car bomb exploded Thursday outside the Peruvian headquarters of IBM, injuring several people, and terrorists assassinated a candidate for mayor of the important Lima district of Villa El Salvador. A dozen other mayoral candidates have been killed since late December.

President Alberto Fujimori gave his army and police special arrest and search powers by declaring a state of emergency in Lima on Friday, seeking to strengthen his position as a face-off with guerrillas holding more than 100 VIP hostages moved into its 11th day. Fujimori's action was the latest thrust in a diplomatic duel with Tupac Amaru rebels occupying the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima. Peru's Congress voted Friday to support Fujimori's policy of not negotiating with the rebels.

The former field marshal of Peru's war against terrorism awaits trial today in the very prison he designed for his foes. Accused of everything from commanding death squads to running guns to guerrillas, former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos sits in the fortified naval prison where he once had Frank Sinatra tunes played for the conjugal visits of Abimael Guzman, guru of the Sendero Luminoso guerrillas, in a psychological campaign to win Guzman over.

An anti-terrorist court Wednesday convicted Lori Berenson, a 31-year-old American, of collaborating with Peruvian guerrillas and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. Announcing the verdict after a three-month trial, a panel of three judges concluded that Berenson collaborated with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, a leftist group with a history of kidnappings and armed attacks on targets here that included U.S. diplomats.

A convicted guerrilla leader testified that Lori Berenson, an American on trial on terrorism charges, knew nothing about his rebel group's plot to take over Peru's Congress. Miguel Rincon testified Thursday in Lima, the capital, during Berenson's civilian trial on charges of aiding the plan by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Rincon said the rebels deceived Berenson into renting a house where the raid was planned.

An American convicted five years ago of helping plot a terrorist attack used her first appearance in open court Tuesday to proclaim her innocence. Lori Berenson heard a three-hour reading of charges accusing her of helping leftist guerrillas plot a thwarted takeover of Congress. Berenson, 31, stood in a cell in court--a common practice in terrorism cases--flanked by two guards.

The government, under increasing international pressure to clear its prisons of innocent people, on Friday freed 83 inmates jailed unjustly for terrorism during the state's war on leftist guerrillas. The releases, authorized in a decree published in the official daily El Peruano, brought to more than 311 the number of falsely convicted prisoners who have been freed by President Alberto Fujimori's government since 1996.

Guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, set off a powerful car bomb that blew off the front of a police station outside Lima, the capital, wounding 25 people, including eight police officers. The attack appeared to be an effort by the Maoist group to re-establish its reputation as the most feared rebel group in Peru, following a four-month hostage crisis led by the smaller Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

The terrorists of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement want to be known as good guerrillas. Along with the explosives strapped to their chests and the bandannas over their faces, the rebels holding the Japanese ambassador's residence here have wrapped themselves in the mantle of Latin America's romantic revolutionary myths.

Leftist guerrillas stormed the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Peru during a reception Tuesday night, taking hundreds of hostages, including the diplomat, Peru's foreign minister, several Latin American envoys and Peruvian legislative leaders. As many as 30 guerrillas armed with automatic weapons and explosives remained barricaded inside the residence in an upscale coastal neighborhood of Lima late Tuesday night, surrounded by police and soldiers.

At a full-dress funeral for two fallen commandos Thursday, the triumphant tone of Gen. Nicolas Hermoza, chief of the armed forces, told the story of a political resurrection fostered by the military raid that ended Peru's 18-week hostage crisis this week. During the past year, crises had weakened the triple alliance uniting the military, the intelligence service and President Alberto Fujimori that is the center of power here.

When soldiers die in defense of their nation, heroes are born. Lt. Col. Juan Valer Sandoval, who was buried with military honors Thursday, had a premonition of his imminent death. As the commander of a team of Peruvian army commandos awaited the order to attack the barricaded mansion where leftist rebels held 72 hostages, he wrote a farewell letter to his men.