MRTA assault on Japanese ambassador's residence
MRTA seizes Japanese ambassador's residence with 490 hostages
At 8:35 p.m., a commando of 14 MRTA members stormed the residence of the Japanese ambassador, Morihisa Aoki. Two hours after the takeover, the MRTA members allow the women and elderly to leave, but hold about 490 hostages. MRTA demands that the government release all MRTA prisoners. The crisis would continue for several months until April 1997.
