-Caveat Lector- Monday January 15 12:57 PM ET Official: Montesinos Planned Coup LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peru's jailed former armed forces commander has confirmed that fugitive ex-spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos tried to persuade top military commanders last September to overthrow then-President Alberto Fujimori (news - web sites) and install Peru's finance minister in his place. Retired Gen. Jose Villanueva Ruesta said in a television interview Sunday night that Montesinos proposed the coup plot after Fujimori's Sept. 16 announcement that he was dissolving the spy chief's intelligence agency and stepping down after special elections. The proposal, which Villanueva said he and other military commanders turned down, came days after the release of a video of Montesinos apparently bribing an opposition congressman. Fujimori was later declared morally unfit for office by Congress after he fled to his ancestral homeland of Japan in November, amid mounting corruption scandals surrounding his former intelligence adviser. He was replaced by interim President Valentin Paniagua, whose mandate is to hold elections in April and turn power over to a new government in July. Former Finance Minister Carlos Bolona, now a presidential candidate, confirmed Sunday night that Montesinos had approached him with the offer to head a ``provisional government of national reconciliation.'' He said he refused the offer. Villanueva, who has denied any illicit involvement with Montesinos, was arrested near the border with Ecuador last month and placed under house arrest to prevent him from leaving the country. He was transferred to a prison this weekend on charges that he helped hide Montesinos, who reportedly slipped out of Peru on Oct. 29 on a yacht and whose location remains a mystery. Fujimori used the threat of a coup to rally support from the United States and other governments in the region to pressure Panama into giving Montesinos refuge in late September. But the spymaster returned to Peru a month later after it became clear that his bid for political asylum was going to be turned down. He immediately went into hiding, amid mounting charges ranging from money laundering and influence peddling to illegal arms dealing. Since then, dozens of former military officers, government officials and businessmen have come under investigation for taking part in Montesinos' reputed web of corruption. Email this story - View most popular | Printer-friendly format <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
