Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

488 • NESTOR PAZ ZAMORA COMMISSIONof the monarchy by a republic were rejected. Although the CPN-Mwas responsible for at least four terrorist attacks following its ownunilateral cease-fire declared in April 2006, since winning its demandfor abolition of the monarchy and receiving a share of power throughelectoral politics, the violence of the CPN-M appears to have abated.NESTOR PAZ ZAMORA COMMISSION (CNPZ). The Comisión deNéstor Paz Zamora described itself as a unit of a National LiberationArmy (ELN), named after the group of the same name founded and ledby Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the 1960s. The CNPZ sought to overthrowthe democratic Bolivian government in favor of a Cuban-stylerevolutionary Marxist state. The tactics of the group strongly suggestexternal aid from the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ofPeru, itself a beneficiary of Cuban state sponsorship.The CNPZ undertook its first action on 11 June 1990 with the kidnappingof Jorge Lonsdale, the president of the Bolivian subsidiary ofCoca-Cola, who was held for $500,000 ransom. Lonsdale was killedon 5 December 1990 when the police attempted to free him. On 10October 1990 the CNPZ bombed the U.S. embassy Marine Guard residencein La Paz, severely damaging the building. This bombing wasaccompanied by a machine-gun attack that killed one Bolivian guardand wounded another. The last known CNPZ attack was a machinegunattack upon the U.S. consulate in La Paz on 8 April 1991 withoutharm to life or limb.The CNPZ was named after a former Roman Catholic seminarystudent who became a leftist guerrilla after the capture and executionof Che Guevara in 1967. Nestor Paz Zamora and his comradesperished in 1970, reportedly of starvation and exposure, while tryingto fight the Bolivian army. Ironically, Nestor Paz Zamora’s brother,Jaime Paz Zamora, who also had been a Roman Catholic seminarystudent and leftist opponent of the Bolivian government, was electedpresident of Bolivia in 1989.While the CNPZ was supposedly only one group within the umbrellaorganization of the National Liberation Army, there is littleinformation available about other members of that umbrella group.The CNPZ was thought to have about 100 members and probablyconstituted the bulk of the ELN. After the murder of Jorge Lonsdale,it was learned that his killer was actually an Italian, Michael (Miguel)Northfuster, while another of the guerrillas slain in the rescue attempt