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May 20, 2001

Narco News 2001

Montesinos Video

Reveals U.S. Plan

Vladi-Video #1487 (April 21, 1999):

The Invasion

Narco News Commentary: We have reported consistently over the past year that the United States government backed and protected the Fujimori-Montesinos regime in Perú throughout the 1990s, despite known human rights violations, drug trafficking activities and corruption by both men.

We have also reported that the U.S. allowed Vladimiro Montesinos to escape (he is now a fugitive from justice), because Montesinos made thousands of secret videos of meetings he had that incriminate current leaders in Perú and U.S. officials who he met with while in power.

This is a transcript from one of those videos, published last week by the daily La Republica of Lima, Perú.

Here, Montesinos speaks with a Television executive about U.S. pressures and plans for the Andean region in April 1999: before "Plan Colombia" was announced as a strategy by Washington.

This video transcript confirms the pressures upon Fujimori to spearhead Plan Colombia, and the opinion of Narco News Perú correspondent Peter Gorman that Fujimori was deposed by covert U.S. action - including the broadcast of selective videos - precisely because he did not go along with the $1.3 billion Plan Colombia military invasion.

It also speaks, candidly, about the regional resistance to the pressures of Washington that continue today.

- Al Giordano, Publisher

The Narco News Bulletin

From the daily La República, Lima, Perú

May 14, 2001

Vladi-Video #1487 (April 21, 1999):

The Invasion

Vladimiro Montesinos

On April 21 of 1999, Vladimiro Montesinos had a meeting with the owner of Global Television of Peru, Genaro Delgado Parker, during which he made statements around the presumed operation of the United States in order to occupy the south of Colombia. This is their version:

Delgado: "I saw the other day that the President (of Perú, Alberto Fujimori) had a chat in Washington."

Montesinos: "Yes, on the theme of Colombia? Clearly, that was coordinated with the Americans."

Delgado: "Yes, but I think that behind this is the idea is of making a kind of NATO in Latin America."

Montesinos: "Do you know why that could not happen? Because, in first place, (Ecuador President Jamil) Mahuad doesn't agree. That lunatic from Venezuela, (President Hugo) Chávez, doesn't agree either. And the only one that supports is (Argentina President Carlos) Menem, but Menem is very far from the stage; and (Brazil President Fernando) Cardoso doesn't want it either.

"Then, the only alternative that the Americans have in order to solve the problem of Colombia, is the invasion, that they are going to do this year. They are preparing half a million Marine infantry troops in order to invade Colombia and they asked us for the President to make declarations because they could not say it themselves. Then, the President made declarations at the Interamerican School. Here we are making preparations in order to close the entire zone that we have, 1,600 kilometers of border. When the infantry of the Marines does enter, what are they going to make the FARC and the drug dealers do? They are going to come to Perú. And if we don't close the border now and adopt security measures, we will bring the problem here."

Transcribing Immediate History