Democracy Loses a Round in Peru

Vladimiro Montesinos, the sinister head of the Peruvian National Intelligence Service and the main figure in a corruption scandal, fled the country last weekend, dodging justice one more time under the cloak of democracy.

President Alberto Fujimori, no paragon of justice himself, pondered the charges against Montesinos and chose to send the spymaster off to refuge in Panama rather than risk a public trial in Peru and what might come out of it. Montesinos was accused of bribing a congressman.

Showing his characteristic disregard of legal proceedings, Fujimori ignored the strong evidence against Montesinos, who was videotaped handing $15,000 to a politician who had just promised to switch his party allegiance. The tape ran on national television, and it is not the only evidence of criminal conduct by Montesinos. He is also a suspect in drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnappings, torture and murder. On a wider scale, many credible sources in the United States, Colombia and Peru have accused Montesinos of being involved in the shipment of Russian AK-47 assault rifles to rebels in Colombia.

The big question is exactly why Fujimori sent him out of the country. Given Montesinos’ closeness to the presidential office, the notion of collusion seems inescapable.

It is especially troubling that the United States and many South American leaders have taken what they call a pragmatic approach to the developments in Peru. Their appeal to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso persuaded her to give Montesinos refuge.

Having the spy chief out of Peru, said a U.S. State Department official, “enables the democratic process in Peru to move forward and allows the focus to remain on ensuring that free and fair elections and reforms to the intelligence service, in fact, will occur.”

That’s one way to look at it, but democracy does not flourish in a country where, for political expediency, key institutions are weakened and the judiciary is prevented from acting. Making sanctuary possible for a major violator of human rights like Montesinos does not help democracy in Peru.