Rebels Defiant After Peru Show of Force

LIMA, Peru — Marxist rebels holding 73 hostages chanted their defiance Friday as the government sent armored vehicles rumbling past the occupied Japanese ambassador’s house for the first time since the 38-day-old siege began.

Two armored personnel carriers with special forces police aiming their rifles at the residence made two passes directly in front of the siege site as a helicopter flew overhead with an armed policeman in a harness riding on its skids.

In response, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, rebels broadcast a revolutionary song for the second time, and chants of “long live the revolution” and “long live freedom” could be heard from inside the residence. The rebels had broadcast the same song earlier as dawn broke.

After the vehicles passed, an unidentified hostage, looking worried and tired, appeared briefly at a window.

The International Red Cross, which is carrying messages between the two sides as well as providing humanitarian relief to the hostages, suspended its activities at the siege site, saying it should have been informed of the police’s plans.

The armored vehicles, each with a heavy machine gun on top, appeared at the siege site Wednesday, but Friday was the first day they crossed police cordons and lines of journalists two blocks from the residence to enter the restricted zone in front of the house.

They also crossed an area, marked out Thursday by the Red Cross with white paint, that police were supposed to stay out of while the Red Cross was working at the residence.

The new police maneuvers followed a warning by President Alberto Fujimori on Thursday that he wanted to wipe out the MRTA after the crisis.