Peru, Japan to Pursue Talks With Lima Rebels

The leaders of Peru and Japan pledged Saturday to push for talks with rebels holding hostages in the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima but insisted that Peru will not free imprisoned terrorists in exchange for the release of the captives.

At a hastily arranged summit, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto presented a united front after a week of tension over aggressive police operations around the besieged mansion in the Peruvian capital--operations that brought public rebukes from Hashimoto and raised fears of an imminent clash between police and rebels. The two met here because a Canadian diplomat is a member of a commission established to monitor talks between the Peruvian government and the guerrillas.

“We will attempt all possible means for a peaceful solution of the incident,” Fujimori told reporters after the Saturday morning meeting.

But the leaders’ words offered little hope that Japan and Peru have devised a strategy to resolve the standoff, which began Dec. 17. The joint refusal to consider the release of more than 300 convicted terrorists brought a quick and defiant response from the rebels of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), who are holding 72 hostages, two dozen of whom are Japanese diplomats and corporate executives.

“This seems to indicate that the ones who have to back down are the MRTA,” said rebel leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini, whom reporters interviewed about the Toronto meeting via two-way radio.

“Once and for all, public opinion should realize . . . that this will never happen,” he said. “We will not back down. And so, whatever option that the government wants to take, it should go ahead and take now. Whatever option.”

Cerpa spoke more rapidly and sounded more emotional Saturday than in his previous declarations. He is a veteran of numerous firefights and narrow escapes who has shown notable serenity throughout the siege. But his hard-line tone was another sign that the rebels are growing edgy and that the newly expressed resolve by Japanese and Peruvian leaders to begin talks may not produce immediate results.

“I think it will be difficult for talks to begin,” said Carlos Alberto Irigoyen, a former top Peruvian diplomat to Japan who was a hostage for five days. As long as the hostages remain unharmed, Japan will not interfere with Fujimori’s strategy, which is based on patience and the president’s political self-interest, Irigoyen said in an interview.

“The idea is to tire the adversary,” Irigoyen said. “After all, Cerpa is a hostage too.”

In a joint statement after a 1 1/2-hour meeting at a luxury hotel, Fujimori and Hashimoto said they “agreed to promote the commencement of preliminary dialogues” with the Tupac Amaru. The chief Peruvian negotiator, Education Minister Domingo Palermo, has only met once with the rebels.

Hashimoto had told reporters aboard his plane to Toronto that he wanted negotiations to resume as soon as possible, noting that “holding talks with the guerrillas does not necessarily mean you are yielding to their demands,” the Yomiuri newspaper reported today.

But, following Japanese news reports last week that Tokyo wants a softer line from the Peruvian government, Hashimoto said Japan would not meddle in such talks or lay down conditions for ending the crisis.

“Rather, the Japanese government will take action only if it is found in the envisioned peace talks that doing so would be necessary,” he said.

On Saturday, Fujimori apparently reassured Hashimoto that Peru will rein in shows of force by police commandos who have thrown rocks and made obscene gestures at the rebels in the ambassador’s compound. The commandos’ actions provoked a burst of gunfire last week that narrowly missed police and could have ignited a shootout.

“We would see to it that such acts will not be repeated,” Fujimori said.

Saying he was told that Peru will not use force, Hashimoto endorsed Fujimori’s refusal to release the imprisoned Tupac Amaru guerrillas.

“Prime Minister Hashimoto supported President Fujimori in his rejection of the MRTA’s demand . . . a position which was in agreement with the opinion of the entire international community,” the two leaders said.

That position has widespread support among Peruvians and has posed the main impediment to face-to-face talks.

The government plans to hold the talks in a house across the street from the mansion. It has arranged for Cerpa to be transported there in a van by the International Committee of the Red Cross, whose chief is a member of the so-called commission of guarantors along with Anthony Vincent, the Canadian ambassador to Peru, and Peruvian Bishop Juan Luis Cipriani.

In a sign of increasing Japanese presence in the negotiations, Fujimori and Hashimoto agreed that Terusuke Terada, the Japanese ambassador to Mexico, will join the commission as an official observer.

Cipriani, Vincent and Palermo all participated in the meeting in Toronto. The media here speculated Saturday that Canada may take advantage of its good relationship with Havana to help craft an agreement in which the Tupac Amaru rebels are granted safe passage to Cuba.

Fujimori and Hashimoto declined comment when asked about a potential Cuban role. The Canadian foreign minister, who met with Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana last month, would not confirm or deny that Canada and Cuba are working on a deal to provide safe passage.

Times staff writer Rotella reported from Buenos Aires and researcher Van Velzen from Toronto. Staff writer Sonni Efron in Tokyo contributed to this report.