Bribery scandal brings President Fujimori
down
By BARBARA J. FRASER
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Lima,
Peru
The predawn flight of Vladimiro Montesinos, the powerful de facto
head of Perus intelligence service, to exile in Panama climaxed a
political chain reaction in Peru that included coup rumors, accusations that
military officers were involved in running guns to leftist guerrillas, and the
broadcast of a video showing Montesinos apparently bribing an opposition
congressman to switch to the governing party.
On Sept. 16 -- less than two months after his July 28 inauguration
to a third term widely considered unconstitutional and two days after
opposition legislators showed the video in public -- President Alberto Fujimori
stunned the nation by announcing that he had decided to call early general
elections and deactivate the National Intelligence Service.
The bribery scandal and its aftermath overshadowed another
bombshell that had dropped several weeks earlier, when the government announced
a new trial for Lori Berenson, a 30-year-old New York woman who made headlines
in 1996 when anonymous judges in a Peruvian military court sentenced her to
life in prison on charges of terrorism and treason.
For years, Fujimori had been adamant that the New York woman would
be treated like any other prisoner and that no terrorist will be
released, but on Aug. 28 the Supreme Court of Military Justice said it
had nullified Berensons military court trial and transferred her case to
a civilian court.
The new trial is under way, but the case practically dropped out
of the news on Sept. 14, with the airing of the video showing Montesinos giving
Congressman Luis Alberto Kouri $15,000 in cash and discussing the need to
ensure Fujimoris governing Peru 2000 Party the legislative majority that
had eluded him in the April 9 general election. Kouri was among about 20
legislators who switched to Peru 2000 in the weeks after the election.
Two days later, Fujimoris announcement that he would cut
short his third term was greeted with jubilation, but it actually raised more
questions than answers. It was not clear when or how either of the two goals --
elections and deactivation of the National Intelligence Service -- would be
carried out. Moreover, Montesinos was not under arrest for corruption, and the
congressional majoritys legitimacy was in question.
After apparent negotiations with the military, Fujimori said
elections would be held in March, and the new president and legislature will
take office next July.
Political analysts say Fujimoris decision was prompted by a
failed attempt to get rid of Montesinos after the video was aired. They say his
announcement -- which was followed on Sept. 19 by a news conference in which he
said Montesinos might have made mistakes, like any human being but
underscored the security advisers role in fighting terrorism and
drug-trafficking -- only highlighted the power that Montesinos and his military
allies continue to hold.
On Sept. 22, in a session mediated by Eduardo Latorre, foreign
minister of the of the Dominican Republic who acted as representative of the
Organization of American States, the government agreed to remove Montesinos
from his advisory post within 48 hours.
While opposition politicians called for Montesinos to be removed
from his post and tried for corruption, observers said safe passage out of the
country was more likely. Montesinos was granted asylum in Panama.
Bishop Luis Bambarén, head of the Peruvian Conference of
Bishops, called for the country to continue to work toward democracy and
freedom of the press, under the auspices of the Organization of American
States. Referring to Montesinos, he added, One must always forgive the
sinner, but the sin must be condemned.
The political disaster came as Fujimori faced increasing pressure
at home and on the international front. Fifty-four percent of the
countrys 24 million people live in poverty and the country remains in the
grip of the worst recession in recent history. Fujimoris democratic
credentials, thrown into question when he sought a third term, were further
sullied by an electoral process from which OAS monitors withdrew saying
conditions do not exist for free and fair elections. His main
rival, Alejandro Toledo, pulled out of the May 28 runoff election, charging
fraud.
The OAS has been overseeing a dialogue among representatives of
the government, opposition groups and civil society organizations, but the
discussions have made little progress in the face of the chaotic events. The
opening of the dialogue on Aug. 21 was overshadowed by a news conference in
which Fujimori and Montesinos announced that the intelligence service had
broken up an international gunrunning ring, including several retired low-level
military officers that had been parachuting arms to Colombian guerrillas.
The announcement that Perus intelligence service, on its
own, had broken up a group running arms from Jordan to the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, along a route that included stops in the Canary Islands and
Guyana, drew an immediate chilly reaction from the other countries involved,
including Jordan, which insisted that the sale was legal.
It also marked the first time that Montesinos -- a lawyer and
former army captain whose murky past includes legal defense of drug traffickers
and reputed links with the CIA -- had assumed a public role. Although he has
never held an official post, Montesinos has controlled the Peruvian
intelligence services throughout Fujimoris time in office.
The news conference -- which appeared to be an attempt to gain
legitimacy for Montesinos and curry favor with the United States -- was a
gamble that backfired. Peter Romero, U.S. undersecretary of state for
hemispheric affairs, has said U.S. officials knew of the arms trafficking, and
that at least two high-level Peruvian military officers, one active and one
retired, were involved. Suspects under arrest have fingered Montesinos.
The trafficking of arms to guerrillas in the area where money from
a large U.S. aid package is to be used in anti-drug operations that will almost
certainly involve confrontations with the guerrillas has cooled relations
between Peru and the United States.
Relations were further strained by indications that payment for
the arms was made in cocaine. The United States had considered Peru an
important ally in its anti-drug crusade. U.S. officials have been critical of
the erosion of democracy in Peru. During her August swing through South America
to discuss the situation in Colombia with the regions leaders, U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright skipped Peru.
Sofía Macher, executive secretary of the Coordinadora
Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Coordinating
Committee), a respected human rights coalition, sees a connection between
the announcement of the arms smuggling and the decision to retry Berenson.
The arms trafficking was going to be denounced, and they
announced it first to make it seem that they had discovered it, to protect
themselves, she said. The subsequent announcement of the decision to
retry Berenson, she said, was an attempt to deflect attention from the more
serious problem and restore Peru to favor with the United States.
Berensons parents say they doubt their daughter can get a
fair trial even in a civilian court. In what probably will be a self-fulfilling
prophecy, David Pezua, head of the executive commission that has overseen the
judiciary since Fujimoris institutional coup in 1992, has
already said he expects her sentence to be reduced.
While Berenson became a cause célèbre for solidarity
groups in the United States, there has been little sympathy for her in Peru.
When she was paraded before the press in January 1996, she shouted that the
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, known as MRTA, of which she was accused of
being a leader, was a revolutionary movement, not a terrorist organization. For
most Peruvians, weary of more than a decade of violence, that was enough to
convict her.
Berenson made several depositions in mid-September, and other
people have also been called to testify in closed hearings. Several people who
were taken hostage when the MRTA seized the Japanese ambassadors
residence in Lima in 1996 have said leaders of the group told them that
Berenson was not a leader of the organization, but that they took advantage of
her sympathy. The evidence against her now appears to be more consistent with
the charge of apology for terrorism, which normally carries a six- to 12-year
sentence.
Unconvinced of her innocence, Peruvian human rights organizations
steered clear of Berensons case, focusing instead on cases of people who
were clearly innocent, many of them fingered by repentant Shining
Path and MRTA members who took advantage of a 1992 amnesty law.
Human rights groups won freedom for nearly 460 inocentes
(innocents) through an ad-hoc commission consisting of the
minister of justice, the governments well-respected human rights
ombudsman and Fr. Hubert Lanssiers, a Sacred Hearts priest known for his human
rights work.
Another 500 were freed after courts reviewed their cases, and
about 200 cases are pending, Macher said. The Berenson case gives us more
arguments for continuing to insist that they resolve the pending cases of
inocentes, she added.
National Catholic Reporter, October 6,
2000
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