Peru rebels to lay down arms
2005-01-03 19:00
Lima - The leader of a nationalist group that seized a remote Peruvian police station, taking 10 officers hostage, promised to publicly surrender his band's weapons on Monday, signaling an end to the weekend standoff.
About 100 gunmen, led by former army Major Antauro Humala, captured a police station on Saturday in Andahuaylas, 440km southeast of Lima and demanded President Alejandro Toledo's resignation.
Authorities said the group on ambushed a police vehicle at the scene on Sunday, killing four police officers and wounding several more. One gunman who was gravely wounded later died of his wounds, local media reported.
At least seven people were wounded in a shootout during the takeover early on Saturday, and the fate of one police officer who reportedly refused to hand over keys to the police station armory remained unclear.
"The turning over of arms will be tomorrow at noon before the entire town," Humala told his followers in a speech broadcast live by Radioprogramas radio. He told them their dignity would be respected, and that they would "each hand over their arms and, in uniform, be directed to a detainment complex".
"These soldiers, these romantics, these young boys have risked their skins for their nationalist ideals," he added.
Humala's group accuses Toledo of selling out Peru to business interests in Chile, a historic rival, and supports the legalization of coca, the raw material to make cocaine. Toledo refused Humala's demands to step down.
It appeared that Humala's offer to lay down arms stemmed from opposition voiced by his brother, Lieutenant Colonel Ollanta Humala, who told Canal N television he could not condone such violence. Ollanta Humala is in South Korea where he served as a military attache at the Peruvian Embassy until being forced to retire two weeks ago by the government.
'As good soldiers, we obey'
But it also came as the interior ministry issued a statement asking townspeople near the besieged police station to abandon their homes, triggering rumors of an imminent attack by security forces.
"I have heard my brother's words. I can only say that we are willing to put down our weapons since our commander Ollanta Humala is ordering it and, as disciplined soldiers, we obey," Antauro Humala told Canal N earlier on Sunday, saying the offer was conditional on the safety of his followers. The group seeks to establish a nationalist indigenous movement modeled on the ancient Incan Empire.
Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero told Radioprogramas radio on Sunday that more than 1 000 special forces were entering the town to restore order, in line with a 30-day state of emergency in the remote Andean region declared on Saturday night by the government.
Images broadcast on Sunday showed Humala in battle fatigues atop a car, brandishing a pistol while he addressed his men, all armed with automatic rifles.
Humala negotiated his terms of surrender with Reverend Domingo Paliza, a local priest, and the interior ministry later issued a statement guaranteeing to respect the rebels' rights under the law.
- SAPA