The Peruvian president, Mr Alberto Fujimori, is entitled to feel well pleased with the outcome of the hostage crisis. The decision to allow Peruvian troops storm the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima may have been a calculated risk but the president will no doubt glow in the reflected success of the operation.
Casualties among the hostages and the troops were mercifully light only one hostage and two soldiers were killed and 72 of those held captive were rescued. All 14 of the rebels died during the 40 minute gun battle.
The outcome confounded those who believed that an assault on the residence would inevitably lead to a great number of casualties; indeed, an armed forces assessment earlier in the siege calculated that some 70 per cent of the hostages would die in a commando attack. In the event, some meticulous planning by the Peruvian forces and the use of sophisticated electronic equipment to monitor the movements of the terrorists inside, helped the president to achieve his objective of ending the 126 day crisis.
The Peruvian forces were also helped by the apparent complacency that had developed among the guerrillas members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). In fact many were playing football in the reception hall when the rescue operation was launched. The success of the assault may not, however, change the way future sieges are handled. International anti terrorist experts may take the view that the Lima operation provides few lessons for other hostage dramas. Certainly, from a military perspective, it bears little resemblance to the Iranian embassy siege in London or to the various hostage and kidnap crises in this State.
In political terms, the outcome is very much a success for President Fujimori. The siege may have been the most severe crisis of his turbulent seven years in office but he has emerged from it with great personal credit.a The president resisted demands from some Japanese political figures to pay off the MRTA and held a strong, unflinching, line against them. The president, himself the son of Japanese immigrants, did not even inform the authorities in Tokyo of his decision to storm the compound. But the Japanese prime minister, Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto, has been generous in his praise of a "splendid rescue" and he has thanked the president for freeing all 24 Japanese hostages.
President Fujimori is clearly anxious to build on his success; only one hour after the raid he strapped on a bulletproof vest and triumphantly entered the compound. The president, who has seen his approval ratings decline markedly during the siege, is now set for a political revival and, perhaps, an unprecedented third term in office especially if the economy continues to improve. It is to be hoped, however, that the outcome will not reinforce his autocratic and personalised style of leadership. Negotiation and dialogue may have been put to one side in order to bring a successful end to the siege; but these methods will need to be restored in all other aspects of Peruvian life and politics, after 17 years of violence in which an estimated 17,000 people have been killed and 25 billion dollars worth of damage done to property.