Secret Video Puts Peru’s Top Spy in Spotlight

The Peruvian government was shaken Friday by a fresh scandal involving its beleaguered spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, after the broadcast of a video allegedly showing him bribing a congressman to support President Alberto Fujimori.

Enraged leaders of the opposition demanded the ouster and prosecution of Montesinos, one of this nation’s most powerful people who, during 10 years at the president’s side, has been accused of electoral dirty tricks and ties to drug lords and death squads. Some of the government’s critics called for new elections and the president’s resignation.

The U.S. reaction Friday intensified pressure on a regime that has seemed increasingly authoritarian and isolated since Fujimori won a third term in a much-criticized election in May. Ambassador John Hamilton urged a “rapid, complete and transparent” investigation and reforms of the all-powerful National Intelligence Service, which is known as SIN, its initials in Spanish.

“We urge the government of Peru to take clear and energetic measures to restore the confidence of the public in the intelligence services while the investigation is underway,” Hamilton said.

The video released Thursday evening by opposition members of Congress seemed a masterstroke of counterespionage. It was a dramatic example of how Peruvian politics has become a cutthroat game of spy versus spy. And by providing the strongest evidence yet supporting allegations of governmental corruption, the bombshell sets the stage for a potentially momentous decision on Montesinos’ fate at a time when Fujimori has been making reformist gestures.

The 56-minute tape was reportedly filmed by a camera in an office of the SIN. The video shows Montesinos handing newly elected Congressman Alberto Kouri an envelope stuffed with currency, after a conversation in which Kouri agrees to switch from the opposition to the ruling faction in Congress. A transcript of the dialogue, which was partly inaudible as broadcast on Peruvian television, indicated that the amount was a $15,000 initial payment.

“How much? How much? Here’s 10, you tell me,” Montesinos said, according to the transcript, which was provided by Peruvian television and newspapers.

“No, let’s talk about 15, 20,” a deferential Kouri responded, according to the transcript.

“Good,” Montesinos responded.

The video shows the presidential advisor handing the legislator a second stack of bills. Kouri signs and fingerprints a document, apparently to ratify the agreement.

The remarkable images bolster previous accusations that the government bribed legislators to defect to the Fujimori camp, according to Congressman Fernando Olivera. Together with fellow legislators Luis Iberico and Susana Higuchi, the president’s ex-wife, Olivera presented the video to journalists.

A congressional election in April left Fujimori with a legislative minority. But 17 deputies later switched sides, giving the president a majority by the time he was sworn in July 28 for a new term.

The opposition has obtained more videos showing similar conduct, Olivera said. He alleged that the spy chief has a bank of 2,500 videos used to blackmail and influence military officials, politicians, businesspeople and journalists.

“Everything is going to come out,” Olivera declared. “What we have shown is just a sample.”

Rejecting the allegations, Kouri on Thursday admitted to accepting the money but denied that it was a bribe. He told journalists that Montesinos gave him a loan to finance the purchase of a truck to distribute fish to impoverished constituents. Kouri said he has documents to prove his version and accused his foes of creating an inaccurate transcript of the video.

“I have nothing to fear,” Kouri said. “I have strong proof that I did not put the money in my pocket.”

A turmoil-weary nation awaited a pronouncement by Fujimori, who tends to speak out on such explosive matters after a period of official silence. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Federico Salas announced that Montesinos had asked prosecutors to open an investigation.

“I have confidence in the honesty of the president,” Salas said. Amid speculation about the source of the leak, analysts suggested that it was a maneuver by military factions disgruntled with Montesinos.

“The principal hypothesis is that Montesinos has developed a policy of extortion within the armed forces and also outside them, and this has created . . . resentful groups who wanted revenge,” Jaime de Althaus, a political analyst, said here Friday. “I think his days are numbered.”

Previous allegations against the spy agency have come from investigative journalists with sources in the intelligence services and military. Some of those journalists had worked for Baruch Ivcher, an Israeli-born former owner of a television station here. Ivcher fled to Miami in 1997 after the government removed his Peruvian citizenship, allegedly in reprisal for the exposes.

Iberico, one of the lawmakers who presented the video, was a top journalist at Ivcher’s station.

Montesinos, a former lawyer for drug lords, rose to the rank of captain before being expelled from the army, allegedly for spying. He has fascinated Peruvians since the election 10 years ago of the president, who made Montesinos a top advisor on intelligence and national security.

A mysterious figure who shuns public appearances, he has been compared to Rasputin and J. Edgar Hoover and reportedly admires Joseph Fouche, the organizer of France’s secret police under Napoleon, according to a recent book, “The Fujimori File,” by British journalist Sally Bowen.

The spy chief has endured accusations of wrongdoing before. In 1996, a drug lord testified that he had given Montesinos suitcases full of cash in return for official protection. The drug lord later recanted, and prosecutors cleared the spy chief.

Human rights groups and U.S. senators also have expressed concern over allegations linking Montesinos to slayings and torture of leftists and turncoat spies. Critics accused him of masterminding the alleged dirty tricks that brought international condemnation of the presidential election.

But Fujimori has steadfastly defended his advisor, even as the president agreed to hold talks with the opposition on democratic reforms that would include an overhaul of the SIN.

On the day those talks began last month, Montesinos made a rare appearance with the president at a news conference in which they announced the dismantling of an international arms ring that smuggled guns to Colombian guerrillas. Fujimori praised his advisor’s work against terrorism and organized crime, seemingly rebuffing critics who say reforms will be impossible as long as Montesinos remains in power.

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Times staff writer Rotella reported from Buenos Aires and special correspondent Tarnawiecki from Lima.