Néstor Cerpa Cartolini

Néstor Cerpa Cartolini (August 14, 1953 – April 22, 1997) — sometimes known by the nom de guerre "Evaristo" — was a leader of the Peruvian Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) rebel movement.

Cerpa was born in Lima. In the early 1980s he became involved with MRTA. He quickly rose to be the leader of the San Martín Zone Committee and led and/or participated in:

• Putting a red communist flag in the "Plaza Unión" on September 9, 1984.
• Arson at the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Benavides Av., Surco, on March 20, 1985.
• Attempted attack on the office of Sedapal, located in the intersection of Benavides Av. and La Paz in Miraflores.
• Assault and armed robbery against the San Borja Galleria on March 30, 1985.
• Assault on the Julio C. Tello Technological Institute in Villa el Salvador on May 6, 1985.
• Assault and armed robbery against Electro Perú, Lima, on May 25, 1985.

The 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis was, however, MRTA's most spectacular action, and Cerpa was the leader of the MRTA commando squad that seized the ambassador's residence in Lima in December, 1996. The MTRA's main demand was for the exchange the hostages for 465 members of the MRTA in prison, including Cerpa's wife Nancy Gilvonio, the Chilean members of the organization, and U.S. citizen Lori Berenson. The government rejected the demands, and on April 22, 1997, after 126 days, a 140-man team of commandos of the Peruvian Armed Forces stormed the ambassador's residence and rescued all the hostages. One hostage and two soldiers died in the assault, as did all fourteen (MRTA) rebels. Evidence later emerged which indicated that up to eight of the terrorists had survived the raid and were executed extrajudically.