-Caveat Lector- from - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020108/wl/peru_us_montesinos_9.html
Tuesday January 8 7:33 PM ET Ambassador Defends U.S. on Spy Chief By CRAIG MAURO, Associated Press Writer LIMA, Peru (AP) - Newly declassified documents show that U.S. officials were aware of possible death squad activity in Peru, but the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday denied that his government kept quiet about the matter. John Hamilton spoke a day after the State Department released 38 U.S. diplomatic cables about jailed Peruvian spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos, former President Alberto Fujimori (news - web sites)'s right-hand man for a decade. The documents provided a glimpse into how U.S. officials worked warily with Montesinos while he was Fujimori's security chief and the key Peruvian official for counter-narcotics operations. In one, embassy officials said they received a report from an unidentified former military intelligence officer only days after Fujimori took office in 1990 that Montesinos was organizing paramilitary death squads to fight leftist rebels. ``I don't think you can rightly say that the government I represent kept quiet,'' Hamilton told reporters. ``If you read the human rights reports that the State Department publishes every year, the abuses that were committed are fully denounced there.'' Montesinos faces dozens of charges involving corruption, arms smuggling, drug trafficking and directing a death squad. A Peruvian congressional committee had requested the documents under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act as part of its investigation into Montesinos' illegal activities. ``The American government, as far as I know, is the only one that provides for the possibility of handing over those internal documents to a government, to a foreign citizen,'' Hamilton said. The 1990 cable quoted the Peruvian military source as saying Montesinos planned a secret effort to train ``assassination teams'' to kill members of rebel groups. The U.S. Embassy could not independently confirm the secret plan, the cable noted. The documents also showed that U.S. officials considered Montesinos a ``close collaborator'' in fighting drugs but were concerned that he had ``a significant amount of negative baggage.'' As an example, one cable included his expulsion from his post as an army captain in the 1970s on suspicions he sold military secrets to the United States and his past as a defense lawyer for accused drug traffickers. ``The question of whether our relationship with Montesinos will become a liability looms before us,'' the cable noted. Hamilton said U.S. officials' hands were tied since Fujimori had designated Montesinos as the official liaison for intelligence, counterterrorism and anti-drug matters. ``He was there. We had to deal with him. He was a reality,'' Hamilton said. ``I think we dealt with him in a way consistent with our commitment to democracy and human rights throughout the 10 years.'' <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
