Fujimori Insists He Retains Firm Grip on Peru’s Helm

Responding to fears that the military is resisting his decision to hold new elections and dismantle Peru’s intelligence service, President Alberto Fujimori declared Tuesday that he remains in full control of this crisis-ridden nation.

Fujimori spoke for the first time since his announcement Saturday that he will step down after the early elections. Since then, the silence of Peru’s armed forces regarding the president’s decision has fed suspicions that ousted spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos still controls military commanders and is defying the president’s authority.

“There is no vacuum of power,” Fujimori said at a news conference. “The armed forces expressed their support after my election [in May]. That is permanent; it is institutional. What there is here is total stability.”

Earlier Tuesday, opposition members of Congress made serious new allegations against Montesinos: They accused him of threatening last week to kill them and to launch a military uprising when he learned that they had obtained a videotape that showed him apparently bribing a congressman.

The opposition members have demanded the arrest of Montesinos, who has long been seen as the power behind the throne, before they discuss democratic reforms with the administration.

Political leaders urged Fujimori and the armed forces Tuesday to defuse political tension by demonstrating that the president controls the military and that there is no danger of violence. The legislators also reiterated allegations that Montesinos and his allies in the army had taken refuge in the headquarters of the intelligence service to prevent the spy chief’s arrest.

“President Fujimori, as the chief of the armed forces, must impose his authority,” said Congressman Fernando Olivera of the Independent Moralizing Front.

The silence of the armed forces contrasts with past crises, when they issued quick and emphatic statements backing the president.

There were new rumors of coup plots Tuesday as well as strange developments, such as a high-speed trip by a presidential motorcade to armed forces headquarters at 12:45 a.m. Fujimori used the base as a command post in 1992 when he and the military dissolved Congress and faced down an attempted counter-coup.

The mystery concerning Montesinos and the military reflected a troubling new reality: In a society accustomed to the firm hand of a strongman president, divisions have splintered the armed forces, the president’s political movement and the opposition.

But Tuesday evening, Fujimori presented an image of serenity. In a typically populist appearance, he and his daughter Keiko, the first lady since the president’s divorce, got their hands dirty climbing onto a column outside the presidential palace to wave a Peruvian flag at a crowd of supporters.

Fujimori looked relaxed, if slightly weary, when he spoke to the press. He said he and his daughter had jointly decided that he would leave office early. It was a “moral obligation,” he said, prompted by the scandalous video of Montesinos after months of political turmoil. He said he explained his decision to military chiefs, the Cabinet and legislators before broadcasting the message to the nation.

The president insisted that he is dismantling the intelligence service and that prosecutors are investigating Montesinos for alleged corruption. Notably, however, the president and three Cabinet ministers praised Montesinos, who they said was in Lima at an unknown location.

“He has committed errors, like all human beings, but he also contributed greatly to the pacification of Peru,” Fujimori said. Saying the advisor led the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, Fujimori said that Montesinos deserves due process and that only judicial officials can order his arrest.

“We must provide him full security. He is a target of terrorists,” Fujimori said. “We must defend everyone’s human rights.”

The graphic video of Montesinos handing stacks of cash to the congressman is sufficient evidence for an immediate arrest, according to critics. Opposition figures assert that the spy chief and his military allies are trying to cut a deal with the government to avoid prosecution. Montesinos reportedly testified in the case this week, according to congressmen who met with prosecution officials Tuesday.

At the news conference, Fujimori also outlined a plan to change the constitution and enable new elections to be held in the spring. He said the new president and Congress would take office in July.

Presidential hopeful Alejandro Toledo, who boycotted a much-criticized runoff election won by Fujimori, wants new balloting to take place in four months under a transition president.

But rivals in the opposition say Fujimori should not step down until after the vote. And Fujimori rejected the idea of leaving office early.

“We will keep working hard until the last day,” Fujimori said. “I will keep traveling across Peru, especially to the most impoverished areas. This is real democracy, not just speeches.”

The democracy’s troubles center on what former intelligence agent Francisco Loayza, author of a book about Montesinos, calls the “real power” here: the spy chief and the military. Except for the navy, which is perceived as the most independent branch of the armed forces, Montesinos has placed allies in key commands, according to experts.

“He’s got not only the army but people in the air force and the police,” said a former U.S. Embassy official here. “They are fully beholden to him.”

The spymaster’s power emanates largely from a bank of sensitive information obtained through a vast network of spies, telephone taps and videotapes, according to the former U.S. official, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his career and safety.

“Whenever we needed anything on anyone, it was only a phone call away,” he said. “He’s Peru’s [J. Edgar] Hoover. He has dossiers on everyone. . . . In the embassy, we knew that everything was tapped by the Peruvian intelligence service. We had very strict rules for telephone use.”

The decisive videotape that changed Peru almost overnight was obtained by legislators including Susana Higuchi, the president’s ex-wife, and Luis Iberico, a former leader of a team of investigative journalists whose contacts in the military make them a kind of private espionage service.

Olivera, the congressman, denied that navy officers leaked the videotape, though he confirmed news reports that, acting on that suspicion, the intelligence service had dispatched agents to arrest naval officers and that those agents were turned back after a confrontation.

After the video was broadcast Thursday night, Olivera alleged, an emissary of the spy chief went to the legislators with a chilling message: Any further leaked videotapes would result in a bloody military coup and the killing of opposition leaders and their families.

The legislators responded, according to Olivera, that “a military coup would not last more than 24 hours. Peruvians would not permit it, and I’m sure the international community would not recognize any rebel government.”