Pubdate: Mon, 25 Jun 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Clifford Krauss

FORMER SPY CHIEF RETURNED TO PERU AFTER BEING CAPTURED

BUENOS AIRES, June 25 - Vladimiro Montesinos, the former Peruvian spy 
chief and longtime C.I.A. agent wanted on charges of gun running, 
money laundering and collaborating with drug traffickers, was 
returned to the Peruvian capital today after being captured in 
Venezuela on Saturday night with crucial help from the F.B.I.

A Peruvian National Police plane that left Caracas early this morning 
touched down in Lima after a brief refueling stop in a jungle border 
city, and Mr. Montesinos was whisked to a waiting helicopter.

The helicopter took off after a few minutes but it was not 
immediately clear where he would be taken - to a high-security prison 
or to the maximum-security naval prison in Lima's port of Callao.

Justice Minister Diego Carcia Sayan said a decision would be made 
based on concerns for the safety of Mr. Montesinos.

Mr. Montesinos, who was the principal aide to the ousted Peruvian 
president, Alberto K. Fujimori, was seized by Venezuelan military 
intelligence officers in a hideout in Caracas and held at a local 
military headquarters there. It marked the end of an eight-month 
international manhunt.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela announced the seizure Sunday 
during a meeting of Andean region leaders and said he had told his 
interior minister to speed legal proceedings to send him back to Peru 
to stand trial.

Mr. Chavez, long considered a secret ally of Mr. Montesinos, came 
under pressure from Peru to make the arrest. He long insisted, 
despite mounting evidence, that Mr. Montesinos was not under 
protection in Venezuela. He vowed on Sunday that the 56-year-old spy 
would be sent back "more quickly than immediately."

"Last night, fortunately, and I thank God for it, we captured 
Vladimiro Montesinos alive," President Chavez said. He refused to 
give details of the capture.

Witnesses reported having seen Mr. Montesinos in Venezuela in 
December seeking plastic surgery. There were persistent reports that 
he was hiding out at a ranch owned by a Venezuelan tycoon associated 
with the Venezuelan interior minister in the province of Barinas, 
protected by 100 guards. Mr. Montesinos had a $5 million bounty on 
his head.

A Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, 
said the F.B.I. had played a crucial role in the capture.

Investigating Mr. Montesinos's money-laundering trail, the F.B.I. 
arrested three people in Miami on Saturday, including a Venezuelan 
who said he knew where Mr. Montesinos was hiding, the official said. 
Senior Peruvian officials were immediately notified, and Peru then 
demanded that Venezuela take action.

The two other people were later released.

United States officials said that given the overwhelming new evidence 
of Mr. Montesinos's whereabouts, Mr. Chavez had no choice but to 
order the arrest.

"We're extremely pleased that Vladimiro Montesinos has finally been 
caught," said a statement issued by the American Embassy in Lima. 
"The longstanding U.S.-Peruvian cooperation in the hunt for 
Montesinos bore fruit over the last few weeks, generating leads which 
led to the detention of Montesinos."

The statement said United States support over the course of the 
manhunt had "played a vital role in Montesinos's capture."

The Peruvian interior minister, Antonio Ketin Vidal, agreed that the 
F.B.I. had played an important role in the capture, though Mr. Chavez 
credited his own intelligence agency for spotting the fugitive.

Mr. Chavez told reporters Sunday that "certain people" in Venezuela 
had been hiding the fugitive. Mr. Chavez said he had never seen Mr. 
Montesinos in person.

Nevertheless, the Venezuelan leader added, "There's bound to be 
someone who's going to say, `You see, Chavez did have him all along.'"

For months Peruvian authorities have asked that Washington make every 
effort to find Mr. Montesinos, arguing that the United States had a 
moral obligation to pursue him.

As a young junior army officer, Mr. Montesinos first helped the 
C.I.A. in the 1970's by passing the agency documents disclosing 
Soviet arms purchases by the leftist military government that ruled 
Peru at the time. He was cashiered and jailed for a year for 
sabotage, and he became a defense lawyer for drug trafficking 
suspects after he was freed.

Mr. Montesinos eventually became Mr. Fujimori's personal lawyer, 
handling a potentially embarrassing tax problem for him during his 
first presidential election campaign, in 1990, and later his divorce.

On taking office, Mr. Fujimori made Mr. Montesinos his spy chief. The 
C.I.A. set up an anti-drug force within the National Intelligence 
Service under Mr. Montesinos's command in the early 1990's.

Mr. Montesinos was credited with coordinating an anti-drug campaign 
that decreased coca cultivation in Peru by more than half, but he was 
accused of taking bribes from a number of traffickers.

He used his closeness to American intelligence as an asset in 
garnering increasing power in Peru, although he was a contentious 
figure within the Clinton administration. There were repeated debates 
in the United States government over whether to break off ties with 
him.

The Clinton administration finally distanced itself from Mr. 
Montesinos early last year when evidence mounted that he was working 
to fix the 2000 presidential election and that he was involved in 
trafficking arms to Colombian guerrillas while the United States was 
planning an anti-drug plan for Colombia.

Peru's public prosecutor charged Mr. Montesinos last week with 
amassing a fortune of some $265 million during Mr. Fujimori's decade 
in power. Mr. Fujimori resigned and fled to Japan last November, 
escaping looming corruption charges.

Mr. Montesinos has been linked to death squad activities, taking 
protection money from drug traffickers, running guns to Marxist 
guerrillas in Colombia and committing electoral fraud to ensure the 
re-election of Mr. Fujimori to a third term last year, according to 
prosecutors and Peruvian congressional investigators. He was also 
linked to purchases of faulty military equipment in return for 
kickbacks.

Peruvian prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of life in 
prison for the former spy chief, but they have hinted that they may 
be more lenient if he agrees to cooperate in other investigations.

Hundreds of videotapes already captured from Mr. Montesinos after his 
flight have shown him giving bribes and conspiring with congressmen, 
business executives, army generals, election officials, mayors and 
owners of television stations. It is likely that he could offer 
information on scores of officials and others who remain in powerful 
positions.

Born into a family of Marxist labor organizers, Mr. Montesinos was 
given Lenin's first name, Vladimir. Former associates said Mr. 
Montesinos had a taste for diamond-crusted watches, double-breasted 
suits, military history books and Bach. He had several houses and 
apartments, including one in Argentina and a beachside mansion 
outside Lima with a secret tunnel leading from his bath.

Peru's interim president, Valentin Paniagua, expressed satisfaction 
at the news of the capture, calling Mr. Montesinos the "the 
mastermind of the worst-ever web of corruption in Peru." He sent 
Interior Minister Vidal to Caracas to escort Mr. Montesinos back to 
Lima.

"This is an encouraging development, and it makes possible the 
ultimate success of the fight for the moralization of Peru," Mr. 
Paniagua said from the Peruvian city of Arequipa, where he was 
overseeing a rescue effort after a powerful earthquake that struck 
southern Peru on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 50 people and 
leaving thousands homeless.

Peru's prime minister, Javier Perez de Cuellar, was in Venezuela for 
the meeting of Andean leaders in the city of Valencia and is expected 
to remain in the country to monitor the extradition process.

President-elect Alejandro Toledo, who met with Mr. Chavez on Thursday 
in Lima, said he hoped that the capture of Mr. Montesinos would 
accelerate the extradition of former President Fujimori, who is 
living in an apartment in Japan and has Japanese as well as Peruvian 
citizenship.

"This is good news for the men and women of Peru anxious for 
justice," Mr. Toledo, who takes office on July 28, said in a radio 
interview. "I'm not going to be party to a witch hunt or to 
vendettas, but neither am I going to be party to impunity."

Mr. Chavez may have owed Mr. Montesinos and Mr. Fujimori a favor, 
since Peru gave refuge to several Venezuelan officers allied with Mr. 
Chavez in a failed coup attempt in 1992. After the tainted Peruvian 
election last year, Mr. Chavez was one of the few Latin American 
leaders who defended Mr. Fujimori.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe