Gustavo Saberbein

Gustavo Saberbein, former Peruvian minister of the economy, was one of the hostages in the Japanese ambassador’s residence when it was taken over an occupied by MRTA in 1996. He was one of the hostages who were released soon after the beginning of the crisis. Since his release, he had openly defended the government negotiating an agreement with MRTA to permit a peaceful solution to the crisis

On March 16, 1997, Saberbein came home along with his wife and son after a family get together. When their automobile was pulling into the garage, a man with a gun got out of a car with five occupants following Saberbein. Saberbein, who was already inside the house, listened to his wife’s desperate screams and grabbed an arm that he kept for protection. When he went into the garage he found himself facing a gunman, who shot him while the other men shot at him from the car. Saberbein returned fire.

The five men escaped in their car. There were bullet holes in the door of the house, the car and the interior wall of the garage. Before the attack, Saberbein received anonymous telephone calls for three months warning him not to make any more public statements on the crisis in the Japanese ambassador’s residence and to cease criticizing the economic policies of Fujimori.