Lima, Peru — Peru’s Congress on Wednesday announced that Luis Giampietri Rojas, who was a decorated Navy Admiral and Vice President of the country during the administration of Alan García (2006 to 2011), has died. He was 82.
Congress observed a minute of silence during a plenary session to remember the former official.
Giampietri is remembered for being one of the hostages during the takeover of the Japanese Embassy by the Marxist-Leninist guerrilla army Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA). During his captivity, he provided information about the captors’ movements through microphones placed in the residence, which enabled the rescue operation.
He was rescued by the Chavín de Huántar commandos on April 22, 1997.
The former official was also implicated in the 1986 massacre of prisoners who rebelled at the former El Frontón prison colony off the coast of Callao, Peru.
Born on December 31, 1940, Giampietri was a specialist in Naval Intelligence in the Navy, who founded the Special Operations Forces (FOES), and served as a military attaché to the Organization of American States (OAS).