Operation Chavín de Huantar
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Operation Chavín de Huantar was the name given to a military operation and to its team of hundred and forty commandos of the Peruvian Armed Forces who ended the 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis by raiding the Japanese ambassador's residence to free hostages being held by the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
It is said that President Alberto Fujimori himself came up with the name Chavín de Huantar for the operation because to make the incursion possible tunnels were to be dug under the ambassador's residence from adjacent buildings. Chavín de Huantar is an archeological site in the central highlands of Peru which is famous for its underground passageways.
During the course of the assault on 22 April 1997, two commandos, one hostage, and all fourteen of the rebels died in the assault. The success of the operation was tainted by subsequent revelations that at least three and possibly eight of the rebels had been summarily executed by the commandos after surrendering.
In 2002, the case was taken up by public prosecutors, but the Peruvian Supreme Court ruled that the military tribunals had jurisdiction. A military court later absolved them of guilt, and the "Chavín de Huantar" soldiers led the 2004 military parade. In response, MRTA family members filed suit in 2003 at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) accusing the Peruvian state of human rights violations, namely that the MRTA rebels had been denied "right to life, the right to judicial guarantees and the right to judicial protection". The CIDH accepted the case and is currently studying it. [1]
Despite all controversy, the Chavin De Huantar operation will always be remembered as the most succesful operation in Peru's military history.
