Peruvian internal conflict: Fourteen members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement provoke a hostage crisis by taking over the Japanese embassy in Lima.

The internal conflict in Peru is an armed conflict between the Government of Peru and the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path. The conflict's main phase began on 17 May 1980 and ended in December 2000. From 1982 to 1997 the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) waged its own insurgency as a Marxist–Leninist rival to the Shining Path.

The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was a Peruvian Marxist-Leninist guerrilla army which started in the early 1980s. Their self-declared goal was to demonstrate to leftist groups in Peru that sought change through the current government the viability of radical revolution. The MRTA also aimed to provide an alternative to another militant group, the Shining Path, which placed them in direct competition. The group was led by Víctor Polay Campos until he was sentenced to 32 years' imprisonment in 1992 and by Néstor Cerpa Cartolini until his death in 1997.

The Japanese embassy hostage crisis began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when 14 terrorist members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took hostage hundreds of high-level diplomats, government, and military officials and business executives. They were attending a party at the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru, Morihisa Aoki, in celebration of Emperor Akihito's 63rd birthday. Although the crisis took place at the ambassadorial residence in San Isidro rather than at the embassy proper, it is often referred to as the "Japanese embassy" hostage crisis.

December 17 is the 351st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 14 days remain until the end of the year.