PERU: ARCHBISHOP NAMED MEMBER OF MEDIATING COMMISSION

VATICAN CITY, JAN 15, 1997 (VIS) - In answer to journalists' questions regarding the appointment of Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani as a member of the Guarantee Commission set up to resume mediation between Peruvian authorities and the Tupac Amaru guerrillas, who are still holding 74 persons as hostages inside the Japanese Embassy in Peru, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration this afternoon:

"Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani of Ayacucho has been called to be part of the Guarantee Commission of the Peruvian Bishops, with the assent of the Holy See and the wish that a solution will be reached soon."
OP/HOSTAGES PERU/NAVARRO-VALLS:CIPRIANI VIS 970115 (110)