Arms trial begins for spymaster on air drops to Colombia rebels

[Judi Lynn]

Arms trial begins for spymaster on air drops to Colombia rebels


Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published January 21, 2004

LIMA, PERU -- Former spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos went on trial Tuesday on charges he directed a scheme to parachute-drop 10,000 assault rifles into the hands of Colombian guerrillas.

Montesinos, security adviser to then-President Alberto Fujimori through the 1990s, faces nearly 80 charges ranging from corruption to drug trafficking and authorizing murder. Prosecutors seek a 20-year sentence.

Montesinos, 58, already is serving nine years on corruption convictions. For the most part, he has refused to testify, but prosecutors hope the prospect of a stiffer sentence will compel him to talk.

The court approved requests Tuesday by lawyers for testimony by top CIA officials. A defense lawyer asked that CIA Director George Tenet testify. State attorney Ronald Gamarra requested testimony from the head of the CIA in Lima at the time as well as a senior U.S. diplomat and an FBI agent.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on whether its officials would comply.
(snip/...)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0401210326jan21,1,5071498.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
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(Very prickly situation, with Montesinos being deeply involved with our own CIA, and the creator of death squads in Peru.)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Reuters story on Montesino's gun running

Peru's Montesinos in Court for FARC Gun-Running
Tue January 20, 2004 12:58 PM ET

(Page 1 of 2)
By Jude Webber
CALLAO NAVAL BASE, Peru (Reuters) - Former Peruvian spy chief went on trial on Tuesday facing the most serious charges since his arrest nearly three years ago -- smuggling guns to FARC rebels in neighboring Colombia.

The man who effectively ran Peru from the shadows for a decade, Vladimiro MontesinosMontesinos has been held in a top-security cell since his arrest in June 2001 pending trials on murder, drug trafficking and corruption.

Nodding to journalists before taking his seat, the 58-year-old former spymaster under ex-President Alberto Fujimori stands accused of arming Washington's enemy Colombia, the world's cocaine capital.

Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence, accusing Montesinos of masterminding an operation in which 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles were procured from Jordan and parachuted to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in 1999.

The following year Washington launched its anti-narcotics "Plan Colombia." State attorney Ronald Gamarra has said the arms deal was worth $750,000. Montesinos says he is innocent of the gun-smuggling charges.

But investigators say that, with on-the-record testimony from an arms dealer involved, the case against the man dubbed "Rasputin" for the power he wielded looks solid.
(snip/...)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4169406


Montesinos
("passed out" in court last time he appeared. Poor, poor death squad creator.")