Word: fujimori
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Military men, like nature, hate a vacuum. And that's why Peruvians are keeping a wary eye on the barracks following Monday's announcement that President Alberto Fujimori has resigned. The president, on an unscheduled visit to his ancestral homeland, Japan, announced his retirement to preempt congressional moves to oust him. But that may have only deepened the political crisis triggered two months ago by the release of videos showing Fujimori's top aide, intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, bribing a member of congress. Fujimori has indicated he has no immediate plans to return to Peru from Japan...
...Fujimori has been conducting a purge of Montesinos supporters in the military since the intelligence chief's departure, but many Peruvians still fear that the intelligence chief - who has also been accused of involvement in running guns to Colombian rebels and of maintaining other underworld links - may yet command sufficient loyalty to attempt a coup. If Montesinos is indeed looking to make a comeback, his window of opportunity is narrowing. The government and opposition on Thursday announced an agreement to hold new elections next April, at which time the Fujimori regime, which first elevated Montesinos to power, is expected...
When a president goes knocking on the doors of his citizens, it's usually a campaign stunt. But not in Peru. President Alberto Fujimori on Thursday raced around Lima with an escort of special forces troops, leading a house-to-house search for his disgraced former intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. Montesinos had earlier this week flown home following a failed bid for political asylum in Panama. The release last month of a videotape showing him bribing an opposition legislator to support President Fujimori had precipitated a political crisis that forced the strongman president to call new elections early next year...
...more than pique that's prompting Fujimori to seek a word with Montesinos. Throughout the recent constitutional crisis, there has been a fear that the former intelligence chief could lead a coup d'etat by calling in favors from the military's top commanders who are, for the most part, his personal appointees. Coup rumors have been rife since the return of Montesinos, and Fujimori claims to be trying to get his former enforcer to "contact the authorities" to lay such rumors to rest. The president did, for good measure, order the military confined to barracks while he goes knocking...
...your report on political turmoil in Peru [WORLD, Oct. 2]: How simple it is for people, especially those sitting in comfortable offices in the U.S. or Europe, to accuse Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori of running a "brutal and authoritarian government." How easily Fujimori's critics forget the brutal years of 1987-92, when thousands of innocent people died at the hands of the guerrillas. Fortunately most Peruvians recognize what Fujimori has achieved. That is the reason he was elected for a third term. BERNARDO ALVAREZ Lima...