Spy Chief Search Becomes Soap Opera

C H A C L A C A Y O, Peru, Oct. 27, 2000 -- Call it Peru’s version of The Fugitive.

Machine-gun toting agents and sniffer dogs led by the nation’s president raced through streets of a resort town in search of the country’s shadowy top fugitive — all broadcast on televisionto astounded Peruvians.

But the prey — ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos —proved too elusive, possibly shielded by his military allies. Aclearly upset President Alberto Fujimori did not speak to reportersThursday after the search flopped.

Peruvians, however, remain transfixed by the search for thespymaster, with one Lima tabloid even putting his picture on itsfront page above the caption “wanted dead or alive.”

Bribery Scandal, Political Chaos

Montesinos, once the president’s top adviser, returned to PeruMonday after a monthlong exile in Panama, plunging the country intopolitical chaos and forcing Fujimori to act to calm a furiousopposition and critical international community.

Montesinos had fled Peru in September after a videotape showinghim apparently bribing an opposition congressman set off angryprotests and led Fujimori to call early elections in which he willnot run.

But now the game is on to see whether Montesinos can be shieldedfrom popular outrage by the web of spies, informers and allies inthe military and judicial system he built up during his years atthe head of Peru’s feared intelligence service.

Peruvian prosecutors announced Thursday they will investigateseven criminal complaints charging Montesinos with assorted humanrights violations.

Meanwhile, congressman Alberto Kouri — the lawmaker seen taking$15,000 from Montesinos on video — reportedly fled to Dallas on acommercial flight late Thursday, hours after Congress voted tocharge him with corruption, illicit enrichment and malfeasance.

A Nationwide Soap Opera

Fujimori searched Chaclacayo because Montesinos was thought tohave a home in the affluent community of weekend homes, swimmingpools and mountains, 22 miles east of Peru’s capital, Lima.

Members of an elite police force under Fujimori’s commandswarmed over the town Wednesday and maintained their positionsovernight. Helicopters crisscrossed overhead throughout the morningThursday.

The search for Montesinos has become an ongoing soap opera thathas amused and enraged Peruvians.

Radio stations cut into regular programing into the nightThursday with reports, even long after the hunters had given up andgone home.

“It was like they went hunting for a rabbit, a very smartlittle rabbit,” joked Jorge Lopez, who works as a housepainterhere.

But some government officials and pundits don’t find theextravaganza so funny.

“This is gangland. None of the trappings of law are at playhere,” said Hernando de Soto, an international economist whoworked closely with Fujimori during his first term as president inthe early 1990s. “The president himself has to head thisridiculous group of forces to try to find” Montesinos.

Lima Mayor Alberto Andrade said it was an embarrassment for Peruthat Fujimori took along his eldest daughter — first lady KeikoSofia — as well as a cook and a butler while directing a late-nightportion of the raids.

“Never have we seen a president like this one playing cowboy orcop,” Andrade said.

Amnesty Issues

Fujimori was further criticized for offering contradictorystatements about what he will do if he finds Montesinos.

First he said he was not out to detain Montesinos, only locatehim. Then, he said that once the spy chief was found, police wouldturn him “over to judicial authorities.”

Before his return, Montesinos’ allies had pushed for Congress topass a sweeping amnesty law that opposition leaders contend wasmeant to shield him and his allies in the military from prosecutionfor ties to drug and arms trafficking.

His return to Peru was seen as an attempt to force the amnestylaw through and may also have been a product of Panama’s hesitancyto grant his political asylum. As head of intelligence, Montesinosis rumored to have built up a large collection of videotapescompromising many people in power in Peru.

Though the operation failed to net the shadowy Montesinos, whohas been an integral part of the Fujimori regime since 1990 but wasfirst seen in public just a few years ago, some say Fujimori’sstand against his former right-hand-man may prove to be a wisedecision.

Former First Vice President Francisco Tudela, who resigned indisgust on Monday saying he didn’t think Fujimori’s governmentwould survive Montesinos’ return to Peru, urged the nation to“support with full hearts,” Fujimori’s attempts to captureMontesinos.