DIRECT talks between Peru's government and left wing Tupac Amaru rebels have produced the first tentative signs of progress in the hostage crisis in Lima. Twenty more hostages were released yesterday and the rebels have apparently eased their demands.
But some of the remaining 83 hostages said that their situation was becoming more precarious as rebels whittled down the captives to those considered close to the Peruvian administration.
The government's negotiator, the Education Minister, Mr Domingo Palermo, arrived at the Japanese ambassador's residence on Saturday, the first confirmation that the government was talking to the rebels. Negotiations between the minister and the rebel leader, Mr Nestor Cerpa, lasted 3 1/2 hours and Mr Palermo later said they had made "advances".
Shortly after the meeting ended, the rebels released 20 more hostages in what they termed a "goodwill gesture", keeping up their campaign to convince Peruvians that they differ from the country's other rebel group, the Shining Path, in considering violence only as a final resort.
Among the first three to be freed was the president of the Peruvian exporters' society, Mr Juan Enrique Pendavis, who read a three point statement signed by the rebel leader.
Mr Cerpa's statement said his group was willing to negotiate its withdrawal from the residence and said the path towards a lasting peace should start with a revision of the harsh prison conditions in which rebel inmates have been held for years.
The freeing of the latest group of hostages - who include the ambassadors of the Dominican Republic and Malaysia, 10 ethnic Japanese businessmen and seven Peruvian officials - has kindled hopes of a peaceful solution.
But a letter from Japanese hostages to the Japanese government said that the situation was becoming more dangerous. They called on Tokyo to intervene and press for the release of all the hostages.
The rebels now seem to be seeking a way out within the ground rules set by President Alberto Fujimori. He has refused to free any prisoners but offered guarantees for the rebels if they lay down their arms. Diplomats say that Lima might offer a commission to review prison conditions as part of a deal, while the captors are likely to demand their safe passage either to their Peruvian jungle stronghold or to a friendly country, such as Cuba.
Lima's La Republica newspaper published a letter yesterday that it claimed was signed by at least 16 prominent hostages, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Francisco Tudela. The letter proposed the rebel group be flown into exile in a neutral country.
It also called for all Tupac Amaru prisoners, estimated to number around 400, to be taken from different prisons and grouped in a single institution under the supervision and control of the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
Peace talks should take place with the rebel leaders along the lines of recent negotiations in Guatemala, the letter reportedly said.
Two teenage girls in the rebel group were just as concerned about missing their favourite soap opera as guarding their captives, a former hostage said yesterday.
"They'd shout: `Leave it there!' if one of us tried to change the channel," Prof Carlos Aquino Rodriguez said.
The girls, both from Peru's jungle region and aged around 16 or 17, were particularly fond of Maria From the Barrio, a Mexican soap about a poor but girl trying to overcome her impoverished background.
One of the teenagers, assigned to guard Prof Aquino and 27 others, said she had developed a taste for television while holed up in a Lima hideout in the weeks leading up to the rebels' assault on the Japanese ambassador's residence. "They'd rarely seen television before, as they are from the jungle," he added.