Terrorists from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took over the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, during a diplomatic reception on 17 December. More than 500 persons were taken captive, including eight US officials, numerous foreign ambassadors, prominent Peruvians including the Foreign and Agriculture Ministers, six supreme court justices, high-ranking members of the police and military, as well as members of the Peruvian and international business community. Most hostages were freed in the first several days after the attack, including all of the US officials. At the end of the year efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully were under way.
Peru hosted the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism in Lima in April. Sponsored by the Organization of American States, the conference, which reflected heightened inter-American cooperation against terrorism, adopted the Declaration and Plan of Action, which strongly endorsed the characterization of terrorist acts, regardless of motivation, as common crimes rather than political offenses.
Colombian guerrillas continued in 1996 to foment violence directed at that country's infrastructure and armed forces. Efforts by the Colombian Government to negotiate a peace agreement were spurned by the guerrillas. There was a high level of domestic political violence, but international terrorist incidents declined, from 76 in 1995 to 66 in 1996. The guerrillas continued to use kidnapping for ransom as a major source of income. At year's end, guerrillas held four US citizens hostage.
In Mexico, the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) carried out a series of small-scale attacks, killing 17 persons including several civilians, and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) signed an agreement on indigenous peoples' rights with the government.
Investigations into three major acts of international terrorism in Latin America-the 1992 bombing attack against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center building in Buenos Aires, and the 1994 bombing of a commuter airliner in Panama-continued without significant progress.
The Government of Guatemala and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) ended their 36-year armed conflict, the hemisphere's longest running, with a final peace accord signed 29 December.
Argentina
During 1996 the Argentine Government continued its investigation into the bombing in 1994 of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) in which 86 persons were killed and about 300 were injured. In July the investigating judge ordered the arrest of one former and three current police officers from Buenos Aires Province. On the basis of leads developed after the 1995 arrest of Carlos Telleldin, accused of involvement in illegally obtaining the van used in the bombing, these officers were charged with possession of that van and were accused of being part of a police extortion ring that received the van as part of a down payment on an extortion debt owed by Telleldin. The policemen, however, have not been charged with complicity in the AMIA attack. The Argentine Government throughout the year reaffirmed its commitment to resolve this case and established a special congressional commission to follow and assist the court's investigation.
The Supreme Court's investigation into the March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires failed to develop new leads. Interior Minister Carlos Corach on 27 November increased from $2 million to $3 million the reward offered to develop new leads in the investigations of the 1992 and 1994 bombings.
The Interior Minister negotiated and began implementing border security measures with Brazil and Paraguay to help address the growing security concerns in the "triborder" area where the frontiers of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet. Argentina adopted a machine-readable passport as part of its program to control the improper use of its passports.
Colombia
Colombia continued to grapple with widespread violence in 1996, suffering numerous terrorist bombings, murders, kidnappings, and narcotics-related violence. Drug traffickers, leftist insurgents, paramilitary squads, and common criminals committed with impunity scores of violent crimes. Although most of the politically motivated violence was directed at domestic targets, Colombia recorded 66 international terrorist incidents during 1996, a drop from 76 such incidents in 1995. The most frequent targets of international terrorist attacks were the nation's oil pipelines, which are operated in partnership with foreign oil companies.