Fujimori Fires Armed Forces Chiefs

L I M A, Peru, Oct. 28, 2000 -- President Alberto Fujimori replaced Peru’s topthree military commanders Saturday after rumors they might beplotting a coup to restore his ousted spy chief, a powerful andshadowy figure whose dismissal has sent the nation into politicalchaos.

Fujimori announced that he had accepted the resignations of theheads of the army, the navy and the air force, and said the moveswere intended to “contribute to the process of institutionalfortification in this transition period.”

Peru has been in turmoil since the September release of a videoshowing intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos apparently bribinga congressman to support Fujimori. In the ensuing scandal, Fujimoriannounced he would step down in July, and Montesinos fled thecountry.

Rumors followed that Montesinos and his allies in the militarywere planning a coup, and Fujimori has since distanced himself fromthe spy chief.

Change of Guard

Montesinos returned to Peru on Monday after a failed asylum bidin Panama, and has been in hiding. Although no charges have beenfiled against him, the president launched a personally directedmanhunt — something many Peruvians believe is nothing but a show.

“This seems a step forward toward ending this politicalcrisis,” said retired Army Gen. Daniel Mora, a longtime critic ofFujimori’s cozy relationship with Montesinos. He called Fujimori’smove “a decision of courage.”

Interior Minister Walter Chacon would replace Gen. JoseVillanueva Ruesta as head of the army and chief of Peru’s jointarmed forces command, Fujimori told reporters at the GovernmentPalace. Villanueva Ruesta was perceived as a close ally ofMontesinos, with whom he attended military college.

Replacements also were named for Navy Adm. Antonio Ibarcena andAir Force Gen. Elesvan Bello. Both men have backgrounds inintelligence and were closely linked to Montesinos.

After making the announcement, Fujimori took off in a helicopterwith Montesinos’ brother-in-law, Gen. Luis Cubas. TV and radioreports said he was dismissed as commander of Peru’s tank divisionbased in Lima. The helicopter landed at Cubas’ military barracks,where he turned over command to a replacement chosen by Fujimori,cable news station Canal N said.

Spy Chief Supported President

Montesinos’ return to Peru on Monday precipitated a breakdown innegotiations between Fujimori’s government and its opponents intalks mediated by the Organization of American States.

Fujimori’s foes accuse Montesinos of spearheading smearcampaigns against the president’s opponents in the recentpresidential elections. Montesinos’ intelligence service also hasbeen linked to death squads and torture. Many Peruvians areoutraged that he has not been prosecuted.

Despite Montesinos’ dark reputation, Fujimori for years haddefended their close relationship, insisting that Montesinos provedeffective in helping defeat leftist rebels and undercut narcoticstrafficking.

Fujimori was elected in 1990 and won a landslide re-election in1995 from Peruvians grateful to him for halting guerrilla violenceand ending the economic chaos of the 1980s.

New Prosecutors

Also Saturday, three new prosecutors were assigned toinvestigate Montesinos. Appearing to bow to public pressure,Attorney General Blanca Nelida Colan — a Montesinos loyalist — alsoremoved a controversial prosecutor from the case.

The three new prosecutors will investigate, among otherallegations, that Montesinos laundered money from a drug traffickerwho testified in 1996 that he paid Montesinos $50,000 a month foruse of a jungle airstrip.

Montesinos also will be investigated as the man responsible fortwo infamous massacres: the November 1991 murders of 15 people,including an 8-year-old boy, in a tenement building in Lima’ssqualid Barrios Altos district; and the death-squad executions thefollowing year of nine students and a lecturer at La Cantuta, apoor public university on Lima’s outskirts.

Both massacres were thought to have been engineered to strikeback at sympathizers of the now nearly-defunct Maoist Shining Pathguerrilla movement.

In a radio interview from a secret location Tuesday, Montesinosdenied involvement in either massacre.