President Condemns Hostage-Taking Angry Message Overshadows Guerrilla Leader’s Promise To Release Other Hostages

President Alberto Fujimori condemned the rebel hostage-taking Saturday in his first public words on the crisis, calling it a “repugnant” act of terror and rejecting the guerrillas’ chief demand.

In a late-night televised address, Fujimori refused to rule out an armed rescue attempt but said he was willing to explore a peaceful solution “which doesn’t violate the human rights of the hostages or captors.”

The Tupac Amaru rebels holding some 340 people in the Japanese ambassador’s residence have insisted they will not budge unless their jailed comrades are freed.

Fujimori’s message overshadowed the rebel chief’s announcement several hours earlier that he would gradually release hostages not connected to Peru’s government.

The president insisted in the four-minute speech that the guerrillas lay down their arms and release all hostages, saying that was a clear way of preventing the use of force.

“You can’t talk about a peace accord while using terror as the main argument,” said Fujimori, who built his political reputation on giving terrorists no quarter and locking them up.

Alluding to demands he free some 300 of the rebels’ jailed comrades, Fujimori said “freeing people who commit murders and terrorist attacks is unacceptable …”

“They want dialogue while putting an AK rifle on the necks of the hostages,” said Fujimori, who has shunned direct contact with the sophisticated, heavily armed rebels.

Fujimori’s harsh words conflicted with a claim earlier Saturday by a close ally, the president of Congress, that the president had rejected a military raid to end the standoff.

Victor Joy Way had said in a television interview that the elite units offered by “numerous countries” wouldn’t be necessary.

In a short-wave radio pronouncement as dusk fell, Tupac Amaru chief Nestor Cerpa said he wanted to avoid bloodshed and believed a peaceful resolution to the four-day standoff could be reached.

“I want to repeat that the gentlemen who are the great majority and have no connection with the government will be released by degrees,” Cerpa said, whose 10-minute transmission was broadcast over Lima television. He said the releases would follow “in the next hours and days.”

Minutes after the short-wave transmission, power was cut to the crowded residence in an apparent attempt to unnerve the rebels.

The government had cut power once before, but restored electricity and water earlier Saturday amid complaints from the increasingly uncomfortable hostages. Telephone service has been down since early in the siege.

The hostages have been captive since Tuesday night, when two dozen guerrillas seized the ambassador’s residence during a party honoring Emperor Akihito’s birthday.

Also speaking in the short-wave transmission were Peru’s foreign minister, Francisco Tudela, and the Japanese ambassador, Morihisa Aoki, both of whom called for direct negotiations.

Tudela said the rebels, though “well-trained and well-armed,” had not hurt any hostages and that none were ill. That contradicted Aoki, who said “there are already cases of people sick, especially the Japanese guests.”

The guerrillas freed 38 hostages on Friday night, the largest number since a few hours after the raid, when rebels freed nearly 200 people, mostly women. Eleven ambassadors and six Americans were among those still held in the walled-in compound.

Cerpa said freedom for those hostages with government ties - who include police generals and Supreme Court justices - “will depend solely on the government’s will to arrive at a solution …”

During the day, the Red Cross delivered some diversion: playing cards, chess sets and dominoes.

It became known Saturday that Cerpa, the only Tupac Amaru leader not currently in jail, was leading the rebel unit.

“We’re not talking about just anyone,” said Javier Diez Canseco, a congressman and spokesman for the hostages freed Friday. “If this leader has placed himself in the lion’s den, it’s because he’s going for broke.”

Some officials expected incremental releases, saying fewer hostages would be easier for the rebels to handle.

“I thought at the outset, ‘What are they going to do with some 400 hostages? That’s unmanageable,”’ said Diez Canseco.

In a 12-point statement released Friday, Cerpa said that if permitted to speak by telephone with jailed comrades, the rebels would free “a significant number of detained people with no ties to the government.”

Sequestered in the presidential palace miles away, Fujimori has not permitted his designated mediator to visit the besieged compound, relying on the Red Cross and freed ambassadors to serve as go-betweens.

The Red Cross has been delivering food and bottled water, along with messages from family and friends. But freed hostages said those inside were not getting enough food and were cramped - 40 people jammed into each room.

Manuel Romero, a newspaper publisher freed Friday, said hostages were fighting off boredom by giving impromptu lectures on a field of knowledge, ranging from law to cooking.