Néstor Paz Zamora Commission

On June 11, 1990, members of the group kidnapped businessman Jorge Lonsdale, the manager of the Vascal bottling firm (a Coca-Cola distributor), shareholder in La Razón newspaper, and member of La Paz's Club Social. Lonsdale's family members and the authorities were initially unaware that his kidnapping was the act of a political organization rather an ordinary attempt to extract ransom.[2]

Members of the group publicized its existence with graffiti bearing its initials and the phrase Bolivia digna y soberana (Bolivia dignified and sovereign) in August 1990.[2] The group first gained international attention following an attack on the marine guardhouse at the United States embassy in October 1990.[3] During the October attack a police guard was shot dead.[2]

On December 4, police with the Centro Especial de Investigaciones Policiales (CEIP) captured Evaristo Salazar, one of two members of the Peruvian Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement operating within the CNPZ, during a sting operation in which Lonsdale's family promised to deliver ransom.[2] Bolivian police fatally tortured Salazar, discovered the location where the group was keeping Lonsdale, and finally shot him later that night.[2]

During a police operation to retrieve Lonsdale, the kidnapped businessman and three CNPZ guerrillas were killed by gunshots, while two other CNPZ members were captured alive.[2] A forensic report indicates that at least one of the guerrillas, Italian national Michael Northfuster, was shot at close range in an apparent execution.[2]