LIMA, Peru - Amid mounting signs of Japanese misgivings, the leaders of Japan and Peru agreed yesterday to hold a summit conference in Canada to discuss how best to handle the prolonged hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima.
The meeting between President Alberto Fujimori and Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, set for Saturday in Toronto, follows expressions of concern by Japanese officials here and in Tokyo over heavy Peruvian police activity recently around the residence, where hostages have been held captive by leftist guerrillas for 43 days.
The official residence has been the focus of Peru's security forces since the night of Dec. 17, when rebels from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement stormed the residence and began their occupation. But police activity has increased dramatically in the last week. It now includes regular and very visible patrols by heavily armed convoys, generating fears for the safety of 72 hostages still held captive.
This new aggressiveness has clearly perturbed the Japanese government and resulted in two separate but very direct calls for Peru to cease activities that may provoke a hostile response. Instead of yielding, Peru on Monday answered one such plea from Japan by sending out its largest display of force to date and provoking a volley of shots from within the residence.
In addition to increasing tension around the captured residence and alarming the government of Japan, the police tactics have forced the International Committee of the Red Cross to substantially reduce the amount of time it spends monitoring the remaining hostages.
Red Cross officials emphasized that the hostages are still receiving necessary care and attention, particularly from doctors who visit twice a day. But the fact that the organization's delegates are no longer on the site continuously from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., as they were from almost the beginning of the crisis, has altered life inside the residence and may adversely affect the outlook of captives.
Asked what psychological repercussions the reduced schedule has had on the hostages, Red Cross spokesperson Steven Anderson said: "It has some effects. To what degree, it is difficult to establish completely. ... We continue to do the job, but maybe not as well as we would like. It is satisfactory, but it is not ideal."
The change in the Red Cross schedule, which went into effect late last week but is only now being revealed, is one result of the Peruvian government's new aggressiveness in regard to the ambassador's compound.
To what degree this has complicated relations between Japan and Peru was not known. But the fact that Hashimoto and Fujimori are scheduled to meet - the announcement was made in Tokyo and confirmed later yesterday here - prompted all kinds of speculation on what it portended.
Domingo Palermo, the Peruvian government envoy in the crisis, said during a brief press appearance that the aim of the meeting is to evaluate a "strategy" to deal with the crisis.
A Japanese official here, part of the sizable task force set up by Japan, played down differences between the two governments and said relations are close enough that the two sides sometimes discuss the crisis on an hourly basis.
However, the official noted that Japan has complained about some aspects of the police activity, in particular one incident in which officers were seen throwing rocks into the compound. "We thought there was a lack of discipline on the part of the police force and that that could possibly lead to an incident that could jeopardize the whole process," said the official, who requested anonymity.
While the police activity was being dealt with diplomatically between the two countries, it has presented an entirely new set of challenges for the Red Cross. The first solution, offered last week, was the creation of a special area around the entrance to the compound - a "humanitarian zone" that under the original agreement would not be crossed by police while the Red Cross was inside the residence.
White lines marking the area off were painted last Thursday. But when police crossed the area on Friday, the Red Cross withdrew from the residence for almost six hours.
Meanwhile, the demarcation set off a political firestorm here and made the Red Cross a target for critics who said it was protecting the rebels and was no longer a neutral party.
The tense situation directly led to the reduction in the number of hours spent by Red Cross workers, which in practice means that the police can now mobilize around the residence during the day. Police now notify the Red Cross when they will move convoys around the residence.
AP PHOTO
A soldier stands by an armed car outside the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru, yesterday. Tupac Amaru rebels are holding 72 hostages inside the residence, which they seized Dec. 17.