Pabón and His Clone
The visit to Lima by Rosemberg Pabón, the former "Comandante Uno" of the M-19 who in 1980 led the takeover of the Dominican Republic Embassy in Colombia, has confirmed once and for all that that operation served as a model for the one the MRTA carried out one hundred days ago at the Japanese residence. What few people know is that Cerpa had a "textbook" to study that operation, and that within its pages lay the key that might have allowed the hostage crisis to be avoided. Published March 27, 1997.