-Caveat Lector-

from:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001112/wl/colombia_fujimori_drug_money_1.htm
l
Click Here: <A
HREF="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001112/wl/colombia_fujimori_drug_money

_1.html">Drug Lord Brother Accuses Fujimori</A>
-----

Sunday November 12 2:09 PM ET
Drug Lord Brother Accuses Fujimori
By JARED KOTLER, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia - A jailed brother of slain Colombian cocaine lord Pablo
Escobar claimed in an interview Sunday that Peruvian President Alberto
Fujimori (news - web sites) took a million-dollar contribution from Escobar
during his first campaign.

According to uncorroborated charges leveled in Cambio news magazine by drug
convict Roberto Escobar, the alleged go-between was Vladimiro Montesinos,
Fujimori's former spy chief and top aide who has been in hiding since last
month and is facing various criminal charges.

Escobar, a former Medellin cartel lieutenant who is nearly blind due to a
1993 letter bomb, provided no hard evidence for the alleged 1989
contribution. ``In the mafia there are never any documents lying around, much
less so about this,'' he told Cambio.

In Peru on Sunday, a prosecutor called for an investigation, while two people
involved in Fujimori's first election bid denied the allegations. He took
office in 1990.

Fujimori's ex-wife, congresswoman Susana Higuchi, called allegations of drug
campaign cash ``totally false, given that during 1989 we didn't even know
that Vladimiro Montesinos existed.'' Higuchi said Fujimori's shoestring
campaign never had more than $250,000.

Francisco Loayza, a former intelligence agent assigned by then-President Alan
Garcia to assist Fujimori during his campaign, said he introduced Fujimori
and Montesinos in April 1990.

Jose Ugaz, the Peruvian special prosecutor investigating Montesinos, called
for a preliminary investigation - but noted that the charges came from a
convicted criminal.

While criticizing Fujimori's strong-arm tactics in Peru, U.S. officials have
considered him a faithful ally in the war on drugs.

Even unsubstantiated allegations were bound to fuel the political uncertainty
swirling around Peru after Fujimori's re-election bid this year was marred by
fraud charges and then a bribery scandal involving Montesinos.

Fujimori has agreed step down in July after holding new elections. Meanwhile,
his security forces are continuing a weeks-old manhunt for Montesinos, who
went into hiding following a failed asylum bid in Panama.

Montesinos faces criminal complaints ranging from money laundering and
directing state-sponsored death squads to skimming millions of dollars in pr
ofits from the narcotics trade during his 10 years as Fujimori's spy chief.

The new allegations only add to the fallen spymaster's intrigue.

According to Roberto Escobar, Montesinos visited Pablo Escobar on one of the
drug lord's ranches in 1987, then solicited a million-dollar cash donation in
late 1989 for Fujimori's campaign. Escobar contends that Pablo Escobar
offered the money in an international phone call with Montesinos and Fujimori.

``Montesinos spoke from Fujimori's campaign, said that he was going to be the
president's right-hand man and then put Fujimori on the line, and he told
Pablo that if he was elected president he would be glad to help out in any
way he could,'' Escobar claimed. The date of the alleged phone call was not
given.

Fujimori was voted into office in a June 1990 second-round election and
assumed the presidency a month later. His candidacy was considered a long
shot until just before his strong showing in the April first round.

According to Roberto Escobar, 52, the Medellin cartel was buying protection
for its drug operations in Peru. The cartel purchased semi-processed cocaine
from its southern Andean neighbor, and Montesinos - once in the government -
helped ensure that Peruvian authorities allowed planes and fishing boats
packed with ``coca paste'' to reach Colombian unimpeded, Escobar claimed.

The Medellin cartel dissolved after Colombian police killed Pablo Escobar,
Roberto's younger brother, in a 1993 shootout.

During the 1980s Montesinos worked as a lawyer specializing in drug
trafficking cases.


Copyright � 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-----
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