Rebels Fire Volley to Mark ’79 Strike

Rebel leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini paid tribute to his revolutionary roots with a six-shot volley fired from inside the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima to commemorate a violent factory strike 18 years ago. The bright flashes of gunfire appeared before dawn from the colonnaded entrance of the residence, where Cerpa and 14 other Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement rebels have held 72 hostages for seven weeks. With each of the six shots, Cerpa called out the name of a worker killed when 700 police stormed the textile factory Feb. 4, 1979, to end a 2-month-old strike. Police deployed around the building did not appear to be alarmed by the gunfire.