Deported Fugitive Spymaster Lands in Peru
LIMA, Peru, June 25, 2001 -- Vladimiro Lenin Montesinos, a dreadedspymaster who once worked closely with the CIA and built an empireof corruption, was flown back to Peru today after being caughtin Venezuela with the help of the FBI.
A Peruvian National Police airplane and another aircraft thatleft Caracas today and touched down at 6:10 a.m. local time inIquitos, a frontier jungle city, 620 miles northeast of thecapital, Lima, said an airport official in the tower, who refusedto identify himself by name.
Peru's interior minister, Antonio Ketin Vidal, praised the workof several intelligence agencies, including the FBI, forMontesinos' capture.
Venezuelan officials said nothing about the deportation processfollowing Montesinos' arrest late Saturday, ending an eight-monthinternational manhunt for South America's most-wanted man.
But Ketin Vidal told Peruvian TV from Caracas that he wasbringing Montesinos home.
The plane was quickly surrounded by some 50 police as it pulledoff the runway and into a hanger. It was expected to refuel andlater take off for the capital, Lima.
Allegations of CIA Links
Montesinos' apprehension came after dozens of arrests in Peru oftop military commanders, politicians and media executives believedto have illicit ties to the former spymaster.
In the late 1970s, Montesinos, then an army captain, was accusedof selling classified information about Peru's Russian-suppliedarmaments to U.S. intelligence officials. He was court-martialed,dishonorably discharged and spent a year in a military prison.
U.S. diplomatic officials have balked at the suggestion fromPeruvian lawmakers that Montesinos was a CIA operative during hisyears as Fujimori's security adviser.
However, they said thatMontesinos, as de facto head of Peru's intelligence service, wasthe liaison for U.S.-Peru counter-narcotics efforts.
Scandal After Scandal
The FBI, which helped track Montesinos down, in Februaryarrested Peruvian police Col. Manuel Aybar Marca, accused ofhelping engineer Montesinos' escape from Peru last October as thegovernment of then-President Alberto Fujimori crumbled amidscandal.
Also in February, another Montesinos associate, Peruvian armsdealer Victor Venero Garrido, agreed to return to Peru to facecharges of embezzling $100 million in public pension funds ratherthan fight extradition from Miami. He has been cooperating withauthorities here, helping to untangle a 10-year web of corruptionreputedly spun by Montesinos.
Once in Lima, Montesinos was to be whisked away to a secretlocation, Ketin Vidal said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was almost casual in informingreporters of Montesinos' capture during an Andean summit on Sunday.
"Fortunately, we have captured Vladimiro Montesinos alive,"Chavez said. Montesinos would be deported "faster than a roostercrows," he said.
A Tip-Off
Suspicious neighbors and people whom Montesinos had hired tippedoff police to the Peruvian's whereabouts, Chavez said. Agents movedin when it appeared Montesinos was about to leave.
"The people who knew his whereabouts were very desperatebecause the time had passed to take him to another location. Thisdesperation led [Montesinos] to make some mistakes that weredetected by our intelligence agencies," Chavez said.
Ketin Vidal told Peru's Channel 5 television by telephone thatMontesinos' physical appearance hadn't changed since he vanished inOctober, contrary to reports that Montesinos underwent plasticsurgery to disguise himself.
"He has the physical characteristics very similar to what weall know. He doesn't have a beard, or anything additional," KetinVidal said, adding that Montesinos "was received in good physicalcondition."
Peruvians Welcome News
Peruvians coping with the aftermath of a deadly earthquake inthe country's second-largest city embraced the news of Montesinos'capture.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar thanked Chavezfor arresting "a delinquent drug trafficker." Peru had offered $5million for information leading to Montesinos' arrest.
Peruvian President Valentin Paniagua and President-electAlejandro Toledo also had words of praise.
Montesinos, 55, faces charges ranging from money laundering tocorruption to directing death squads. Peruvian legal experts sayconvictions on those charges will likely land Montesinos in prisonfor life.
Accused of amassing a fortune by dealing drugs, weapons andpolitical favors, Montesinos was the power broker behind formerPresident Alberto Fujimori's authoritarian 10-year rule. Hisscandals eventually brought Fujimori down.
Peruvian investigators detailed what they say was a hugecriminal network in which Montesinos, as Peru's spy chief,controlled politicians, courts, military officials and businessmenthrough bribery and blackmail. He allegedly paid off congressmenand judges to ensure Fujimori's 2000 re-election to a third term.
Incriminating Video
In September, videos appeared on television showing Montesinosbribing an opposition congressman to support Fujimori's government.As the number of incriminating videos grew, Montesinos fled toPanama, which denied him asylum. He returned to Peru, and vanishedin October.
In November, Fujimori fled to Japan as Peruvian lawmakersdeclared him "morally unfit" for office.
Montesinos' trail led to Costa Rica, Aruba and finally Venezuelain December, according to statements by three Peruvian armyofficers and Costa Rican officials. He allegedly used a falseVenezuelan passport bearing the name Manuel Antonio RodriguezPerez.
Until Sunday, Chavez's government insisted it had no knowledgeof Montesinos' whereabouts. Months of rumors had Montesinos inColombia, Ecuador and Cuba.