Raising Fears, Ex-Spy Chief Returns to Peru

Former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos returned unexpectedly to Peru on Monday from exile in Panama, in a move that caused the resignation of the vice president and worsened fears that the military wants to abort democratic reforms.

The latest political turmoil intensified demands that an increasingly beleaguered President Alberto Fujimori resign. It flared up as the result of a typically secretive, late-night gambit by Montesinos, who fled to Panama on Sept. 24 after charges of corruption against him forced Fujimori to call early elections and promise to dismantle Montesinos’ all-powerful National Intelligence Service, or SIN.

Apparently aware that Panama was about to reject his bid for political asylum, Montesinos boarded a private jet Sunday night and flew to Ecuador, then flew early Monday to a military base in Pisco, about 125 miles south of Lima, the Peruvian capital.

Montesinos’ whereabouts later Monday were unclear. Some reports indicated that he remained at the military base, in what could be construed as an unsubtle display that he retains the protection of the armed forces. Others suggested that he had traveled to Lima by helicopter.

Fujimori emerged from the presidential palace after midnight to defiantly declare, “I exercise total control of the armed forces, and I absolutely deny the possibility of a breakdown of constitutional order.”

He did not elaborate about Montesinos’ whereabouts but acknowledged that the former spy chief’s return had made negotiations with the opposition more difficult and had prompted “some resignations.”

Earlier in the day, Fujimori visited several military installations and the headquarters of the SIN, once the spy chief’s feared inner sanctum. Fujimori was accompanied by military officers.

It was unclear whether the spy chief’s latest move reflected confidence or desperation. Montesinos appears intent on forcing concessions from the president, perhaps regarding a proposed amnesty law for the security services or an agreement to find the former spy chief a refuge in a third nation. But his presence also increased the likelihood that Fujimori will be forced to step down, making way for a government that could be more hostile to any deal with Montesinos.

Fujimori’s critics reiterated their demands that he make way for a transition government.

Government human rights ombudsman Jorge Santistevan, who is seen as a potential head of a transition government, said the president’s “authoritarian administration must end. More than ever, we have to demand decisions from the president, because Peruvians are asking who is in control.”

Monday morning, Vice President Francisco Tudela announced his resignation. Tudela, a relatively moderate leader and potential candidate for president, expressed indignation about Montesinos’ return. He linked the spy chief’s presence to a “conspiracy” by the military and to the armed forces’ demand that the political opposition agree to an amnesty before a date is set for elections next year.

Although Montesinos is vilified by most Peruvians, he apparently controls the armed forces command, which is stacked with his friends and relatives; a bloc of congressional deputies; and other allies in government. His return amounted to a political ambush, suggesting that an accord crafted by U.S. and Latin American diplomats to allow a transition to full democracy is on the verge of breaking down.

“We deeply regret Mr. Montesinos’ decision to return to Peru,” said U.S. Embassy spokesman Benjamin Ziff. “His return is a complicating factor for the efforts of the Peruvian government and the political opposition to move forward on new elections and democratic reform.”

Montesinos’ defiance of the international community and Peruvian public lends credence to the worst-case allegations by his enemies: that the spy chief remains the puppeteer behind a fatally weakened Fujimori as the security forces drop democratic pretenses in hopes of retaining power and immunity from prosecution.

Monday afternoon, leaders of the political opposition met with representatives of the Organization of American States, or OAS, who have brokered two months of talks to prepare for elections and the reform of democratic institutions such as the courts and the electoral agency. Representatives of the Fujimori administration attended the previously scheduled talks.

Those negotiations had reached a critical point in recent days that set the stage for the latest drama. On Sunday, the government proposed a law of “national reconciliation” that would grant amnesty to the security forces for human rights abuses and other wrongdoing committed in the battle against terrorism and drug trafficking since Fujimori temporarily shut down Congress in 1992.

Although the amnesty would theoretically exclude corruption, opposition leaders say the law would ensure impunity for numerous crimes attributed to Montesinos and the security forces. They accused the military of gangster-like intimidation by making the amnesty a condition for scheduling a presidential election in which Fujimori has promised not to run.

The OAS also criticized Fujimori for not trying to block Montesinos’ return. It said Fujimori apparently views Montesinos’ presence as “compatible with the country’s democracy and not something that seriously jeopardizes democratic stability in Peru.”

Monday night, riot police used tear gas to disperse scores of anti-government protesters, mostly students, who had hurled rocks, trash and plants pulled up from the roots in Lima’s main plaza in front of the presidential palace.

Montesinos may have acted because he realized that he was no longer welcome in Panama, which accepted him only after a blitz of pressure from Washington and Latin American capitals. Shortly after his departure Sunday, the Panamanian government announced that his request for political asylum had been denied.

Panamanians generally disapproved of Montesinos’ presence, saying their nation has become a dumping ground for international pariahs. Some critics wanted to pursue criminal charges against Montesinos in Panama for torture allegedly committed by intelligence agents in Peru. Such a move would make use of the same international laws that were the basis for the Spanish case in London against Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator.

Montesinos no longer faces criminal charges in Peru because prosecutors, outraging many Peruvians, have already shelved a corruption investigation of an incident in which he was videotaped paying an apparent bribe to a congressman. That case led to the spy chief’s ouster last month.

“I think it is a desperate decision by Montesinos,” said Santiago Pedraglio, a Peruvian political commentator. ‘Whether it is calculated or the product of desperation, I perceive weakness. . . . I think they are on the defensive and are capable of anything. The problem is the military high command and the alliance that Fujimori constructed with the command.”

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Times staff writer Rotella reported from Miami and special correspondent Tarnawiecki from Lima. Associated Press contributed to this report.