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World leaders back Fujimori after hostage rescue
April 22, 1997
Web posted at: 9:09 p.m. EDT (0109 GMT)In this story:
- Rebels vow revenge
- United States blames rebels
- 'It is a great sense of relief'
- Related stories and sites
(CNN) -- Stunned by Peru's swift assault to free 72 hostages, world leaders offered their support Tuesday to President Alberto Fujimori after the rescue that ended a four-month standoff with leftist rebels.
Fujimori said all 14 rebels in Lima were killed. One captive, Peruvian Supreme Court Justice Carlos Giusti, and two army commandos also died.
Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said the 24 Japanese captives -- 12 businessmen and 12 diplomats -- were safe.
"We, unfortunately, were not told of the operation before the move. I regret this, but we thank the Peruvian authorities for seizing the chance," Hashimoto said.
After the hostages were seized, Japan, one of Peru's closest allies, repeatedly asked Fujimori to avoid any steps that would risk the safety of the captives.
"We were truly hoping for a peaceful solution, but that is a notion of someone who is far away at a place where there is a 14-hour time difference," Hashimoto said.
"How can anyone criticize President Fujimori? It is not important whether we had prior knowledge of the move. The important thing is that the hostages were freed," he added.
Peruvian soldiers and police on Tuesday afternoon stormed the Japanese ambassador's compound, where 72 hostages had been held by Marxist rebels since December 17.
Rebels vow revenge
A spokesman for the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) rebels who had held the hostages condemned the government assault and threatened retaliation.
"There are economic and military targets that will be attacked," Isaac Velazco, international spokesman for the rebel group, said from Hamburg, Germany.
"The present regime has taken criminal steps and has acted in a criminal fashion by this action," he said, calling the government troops "death squads."
"We are not afraid that our comrades have died. The MRTA is not going to die," Velazco said.
Analysts have said, however, that MRTA's hostage-taking was a final attempt to resuscitate a dying movement, estimated to have fewer than 200 armed members.
The MRTA had demanded the release of some 400 colleagues held in Peruvian jails.
United States blames rebels
State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the United States believes MRTA "bears the full and complete" responsibility for the outcome of the storming of the building.
"The United States deeply regrets these injuries and any loss of life that may have occurred. Our thoughts are with the hostages and their families, who are to be saluted for the courage they have shown throughout this difficult ordeal," Burns said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen told CNN that U.S. officials had no prior warning that the commando raid would happen, and expressed sympathy with Peru's government.
"I think it points out the fact that patience is obviously a virtue, but it need not be eternal. And the Peruvian government had decided that it had reached an end point after four months of trying to negotiate the demands of the terrorist group," Cohen said.
'It is a great sense of relief'
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was glad to hear most of the hostages were safe. They "have suffered for a long time, and I can understand they would want to free them."
Bolivia said its ambassador to Peru, who was among the hostages, was safe at a Lima hospital after the assault.
Bolivian Minister of Information Mauricio Antezana said the Bolivian ambassador in Lima, Jorge Gumucio Granier, would be returning to his country in the next few days.
"It is a great sense of relief that the hostages have been released and, particularly, our ambassador," he said. "We had no previous knowledge of the rescue operation."
In Canada, Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said his country would have preferred it if Peru had used peaceful means to end the Lima hostage crisis, but nonetheless supported the result.
"We would have of course preferred to see the resolution take place by more peaceful means, but that was simply a preference," Axworthy told reporters.
"A judgment call, as we said right from the start, had to be made by the Peruvian government."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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