Peru’s Ex-President Is Charged as Fujimori Tightens His Grip

President Alberto Fujimori’s government, seeking to solidify its control of the country, filed charges Wednesday against former President Alan Garcia.

In the charges announced in El Peruano, the government gazette, Garcia and his former interior minister, Agustin Mantilla, were charged with possessing illegal ordnance, including machine guns and explosives. The ordnance was found in April 5 raids on Mantilla’s home and the headquarters of Garcia’s APRA party.

In a television interview Wednesday night, however, Fujimori said no arrest order has been issued against his adversary.

Garcia has been in hiding since Fujimori suspended the constitution and closed Congress and the courts April 5. Mantilla is in custody, but Garcia escaped arrest.

In clandestine tapes and newspaper interviews, Garcia has urged Peruvians to resist Fujimori’s authoritarian rule. So far, public opinion polls show that average citizens strongly back Fujimori.

In another development, Fujimori’s Change 90 party said it has expelled First Vice President Maximo San Roman from the party.

San Roman, formerly closely allied with Fujimori, went to Monday’s Organization of American States’ session on Peru in Washington to present an anti-Fujimori position.

Congressmen in Peru say they will proclaim San Roman as president as soon as he returns to the country. They contend that Fujimori violated the constitution when he seized total power and thus can’t hold office any longer.