The success of last week's raid on the Japanese Embassy in Lima is prompting praise from hemispheric leaders -- including President Clinton -- for President Alberto Fujimori's "decisive leadership." A closer look suggests that the Peruvian government applied a level of state terror that only reinforces the accusations made by the terrorists. PNS associate editor Andrew Reding is senior fellow for hemispheric affairs at the World Policy Institute.

As details of the raid on the Japanese Embassy in Lima last week come to light, it is looking more and more as though the lopsided death toll involved more than an element of surprise. Not just the body count but the testimony of freed hostages, the mutilated corpses of the guerrillas, and President Alberto Fujimori's refusal to allow autopsies suggest that the Peruvian government resorted to a higher level of terror than the terrorists.

Only two soldiers and one hostage died in the raid -- the latter dying of a heart attack after being struck by a stray bullet. The single casualty among the hostages was not just good luck. According to Peruvian agriculture minister Rodolfo Munante Sanguinetti, one of the young rebels burst into the room where he and other high level officials were being held. Rather than opening fire, however, he lowered his gun and left the room. The restraint was consistent with Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini's insistence all along that the guerrillas would not execute their captives, but would defend themselves in case of attack.

On the other side of the ledger, all fourteen guerrillas perished. According to former hostages, commandos shot to death three young rebels who laid down their weapons and surrendered. After executing captives, the elite troops mutilated the corpses, some of which were found beheaded and dismembered. Lest there should be any doubt who set the tone for the commando raid, President Fujimori pointedly declined to express condolences to the families of the dead guerrillas, or to turn over their bodies for burial. "I am very sorry for the loss of three human lives," he said.

The other fourteen had, in effect, forfeited their humanity. From the onset of the crisis last December, Fujimori had insisted on dehumanizing his adversaries, referring to them only as "terrorists." That is why negotiations were deadlocked throughout, despite the relatively modest aims of the guerrillas. In a December interview, Nestor Cerpa emphasized that the MRTA's minimum demand was for the improvement of prison conditions -- conditions that have been condemned by all major international human rights groups. "Peruvian prisons are places in which death, torture, and violations of human rights are the norm ... Our prisoners are kept incommunicado, denied any opportunity to appeal their sentences, many of which were made by clandestine judges within 24 hours of arrest, and without access to an effective defense, yet are subject to life sentences," the guerrillas had declared.

Rather than acknowledge the humanity of prisoners and adversaries, Fujimori chose to use negotiations as cover for a deadly assault. That it succeeded as well as it did is, ironically, a testament to the humanity of the guerrillas and the accuracy of their claims.

The use of terror is an abominable practice. Yet the anguish inflicted on the hostages and their loved ones by the MRTA should not negate the anguish inflicted by the Peruvian government on its numerous political prisoners and their loved ones, anguish accentuated by extrajudicial execution, torture, and life imprisonment without possibility of appeal. Terror carried out by the state is no more justifiable than terror carried out by groups or by individuals. In fact, in view of the state's responsibility to uphold the rights of individuals and the rule of law, it is arguably worse.

There is, therefore, little to cheer about other than the release of the hostages. Fujimori, who previously relied on the army to suspend Congress and the Supreme Court, will again be lionized by his compatriots for his audacity, and very likely rewarded with a third five-year term. The armed forces will further tighten their stranglehold on domestic affairs. Just last year, the high command prevailed on Fujimori to proceed with the purchase of $300 million of advanced fighter planes. How this serves the cause of democracy in a country and region long plagued by poverty, political strongmen and military solutions to civil problems, remains to be seen.