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No apparent sign yet to resolve Peru's hostage crisis
LIMA. Jan 17: Through binoculars, police scrutinize the windows of the Japanese ambassador s residence for even the slightest movement. Reporters watch from rooftops nearby, reports AP
Peru's hostage crisis has dragged on for nearly a month. Rebels still hold 74 captives Hundred of police and reporters are still staked out around the residence, in an upscale Lima suburb.
Elsewhere in the city, however. Peruvians have other things to think about As the hostage standoff becomes routine people have turned their attention back to the concern of daily life — jobs, summer vacations and the national soccer team
"We only have time to work not chat." said Maria Samanez as she cooked sweet potatoes at a grimy street stall in Uma s
working-class neighborhood of La Voctoria.
That attitude suits the government just fine.
The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement thrives on publicity, and Peru s leaders are trying to take the spotlight off this rebel group which stormed the ambassador s residence during a diplomatic party Dec. 17.
This week the government s chief negotiator in the hostage standoff asked TV executives to scale back coverage
And President Alberto Fujimori seized a state visit by his Ecuadorean counterpart to show Peru s affairs were in order Photos of the visit knocked the hostage story off the front pages of Peru s newspapers
It indicates. I'm here and life goes on as usual. ... I'm ready to wait until the cows come home Hernando de Soto bead of an economic think tank
and a former Fujimori adviser, said of the state visit.
Among the hostages are Peruvian Foreign Minister Francisco Tudela and others of polit -leal value — judges, congressmen. police generals and a younger brother of Fujimori. Hundreds have been released, the last batch on Jan 1.
But while the hostages may be important to Peru's govern ment. they have little relevance to ordinary Peruvians.
Those are people who don't have anything to do with us, said Julio Ugarte, a parking lot attendant in La Victoria. 'The terrorists aren t representatives of the people, because nobody supports them. Nor are the hostages "
These days. Lima residents drive 45 minutes to the beaches to escape the summer heat They honked car horns and danced in the streets Sunday af
ter Peru beat Chile 2-1 in a World Cup soccer qualifying match.
But that doesn't mean the hostages are forgotten. The soc cer coach dedicated the victory to the remaining captives Red-and-white national flags fly in solidarity over many homes.
People have little sympathy for the rebels, who demand freedom for hundreds of Jailed comrades. The Tupac Amaru lias won few converts in a nation exhausted by 16 years of rebel violence: that's why the 20 or so rebels inside the ambassador’s residence cherish the media attention the govern ment Is trying to deny them.
Many Peruvian TV Journal ists complied when Education Minister Domingo Palermo asked them to cut coverage. Palermo, a major shareholder In Lia's Channel 9 television
station, owns stations In four northern cities. The media rely heavily on government advertising.
Several TV vans have left the hostage site, where camera crews and photographers sleep in cars or deck chairs in the street under klieg lights. Some residents say police have told them they are aiding terrorism by allowing reporters to work from their homes.
In the first development in days, guerillas said Wednesday they accepted the government’s proposal to create a peace commission to mediate.
Television stations, which once routinely broke into regular programs with updates, waited until 7 p.m. newscasts to report the latest. Even then, they cited a government statement detailing the rebel response Instead of talking to a rebel spokesman
In the early 1990s. local me dia often respected the govern inent s request to play down terrorist attacks by the Shining Path, the larger and more violent of Peru s two rebel group.
Lima residents alarmed by large car bombs would find newspaper accounts buried on inside pages the next day. Sometimes the explosions weren't reported at ail.
Dwindling attention may alarm the TYipac Amaru, for whom public relations has been as powerful a weapon as their rifles and grenades. In La Victoria. one resident speculated the fading interest could prompt the rebels to end the standoff.
"It could speed things up if they lose that attention, and force them to make decisions more quickly." said Camilo Valencia. owner of an auto parts shop.