Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 15:12:05 -0800
Subject: M-G: The Godfathers of Fujimori's Drug Cartel: Barry McCaffrey and



>FROM EL DIARIO INTERNACIONAL  - NUMBER 37
OCTOBER 1996 - PUBLISHED IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

___________________________________________________

BARRY McCAFFREY AND MONTESINOS

THE GODFATHERS OF FUJIMORI'S DRUG CARTEL

In Peru no one has the slightest doubt about that country's 
government's close involvement with the international drug 
cartels.  Some specialists have pointed out that Fujimori and the 
military High Command should be considered as the top leaders of 
what is now regarded as the "Lima Cartel".  Today, 
internationally, there is talk of the "Peruvian narco-state".

At least 200 top military officers have been revealed to be 
associated with the drug running gangs operating from the jungles 
in Peru.  Fujimori's Personal Adviser and current CIA asset has 
been repeatedly accused of acting as godfather to powerful drug 
gangs.  The money from drug rackets is freely laundered in the 
very official banking system of Peru.  Dollars obtained from drug 
dealing are used to pay the foreign debt and to finance 
counter-insurgency operations against the guerillas.

It is obvious that the principal accomplice of the 
narco-government in Peru is the US regime.  Both the Yankee and 
the Peruvian state have identical interests in the drug trade:  
To use the funds generated by drug dealing for their economical 
and political aims. 

This ill-gotten wealth serves - among other things - to finance 
and sustain their counter-insurgency efforts in Peru.  It is 
clear that without the support of the United States, the Peruvian 
regime would not be able to move with the free hand it has been 
enjoying up to now in this murky business.  It is the US regime 
who acts as the Godfather General in this filthy business.

CLINTON'S ENVOY

The US authorities openly support the corrupt Peruvian regime.  
That is what one of Clinton's envoys has confirmed recently upon 
his own arrival in Peru. 

On October 22, US General Barry McCaffrey, Director of National 
Policy of the Drug Control Administration of the USA arrived in 
Lima.  That same day he met with Fujimori, Montesinos, Hermoza 
Rios, the Chief of the National Intelligence Service (SIN), and 
other Peruvian top military brass.  

Barry McCaffrey extolled the figure of former infantry captain 
Vladimiro Montesinos, and as a result of that meeting told the 
press of his "satisfaction with the advances of the peruvian 
government in the struggle against the scourge of drug 
trafficking".  McCaffrey added that he "was entirely confident 
that President Fujimori would not tolerate drug corruption among 
the officers and functionaries of the government".

Barry McCaffrey landed in Lima at the very  moment when Vladimiro 
Montesinos - Fujimori's P.A. - and General Hermoza Rios were 
under extreme pressure by an avalanche of revelations regarding 
their links with the drug dealing organisation headed by "El 
Vaticano".  This drug lord had blown the whistle on these top 
figures fingering them as his own accomplices.  These revelations 
were generating an scandal of explosive proportions. Like old 
General Custer of the Seventh Cavalry fame, Barry McCaffrey came 
riding to their rescue in a US government jet. 

The Peruvian State and the Drugs Trade

There is abundant evidence that the drug trade is one of the 
principal activities of the Peruvian ruling circles.  Many 
economists have pointed out that the Peruvian state itself 
annually purchases between 1,500 and 2,000 million dollars 
originating from drug trafficking.  Part of these funds are used 
to service the Peruvian foreign debt and to make up the shortfall 
in the balance of payments.

In Peru there are no regulations against the laundering of money 
obtained from criminal activities.  In any Lima street or avenue, 
anyone can buy and sell millions of dollars without any control 
whatsoever.   The main real estate companies, import/export 
businesses, financial institutions, and the banks themselves, 
operate with the money of the drug cartels.

VATICANO SPILLS THE BEANS

Recently - August 1996 - Demetrio Chavez Penaherrera (a.k.a. "El 
Vaticano") the well known drug baron, has revealed in detail how 
in order to build up his cocaine empire in the Peruvian jungle he 
counted with the support and complicity of the military High 
Command of the region.  He told how for a number of years he had 
the military airfields and army helicopters at his disposal for 
transporting thousands of tons of this illegal product.

Vaticano revealed how he paid between 8 and 15 thousand US 
dollars for each drug flight.  He testified that his accomplices 
and partners within the highest spheres of the regime included 
the current Personal Assistant of Fujimori, former army captain 
Vladimiro Montesinos and the current head of the Armed Forces, 
General Nicolas Hermoza Rios.  According to "Vaticano", these two 
characters received from him a bribe of 50,000 US dollars per 
month.

This drug lord declared that as part of his arrangements with 
those military chiefs he also provided uniforms, food and other 
supplies for the counter-insurgency units stationed in the Alto 
Huallaga region.  The National Intelligence Service (SIN) and its 
real acting boss, Vladimiro Montesinos, were in fact the main 
props for the business activities of "Vaticano" and his gang.  


FUJIMORI'S PLANE

To "Vaticano's" tale - a man who, funnily enough, was condemned 
as a "terrorist" - we must add other well known cases which fully 
illustrate the links between the drug mafia and the government.  
On May 10, 1996, Peruvian public opinion learned that a Peruvian 
Air Force (FAP) aircraft had been interdicted while awaiting take 
off on the tarmac of Lima's airport.  The plane was ready to 
leave for Moscow loaded with 170 kilos of purest cocaine, valued 
at 5 million dollars.  The man at the controls of this "high 
flyer" turned out to be no other than Fujimori's own pilot and 
aide de camp, Air Commander Luis Escarcena Ishikawa, who in his 
professional function had been dedicated exclusively to the 
presidential service since 1993. 

In November of 1994, Edgar Solis Cano, Vice-Minister of the 
Interior - a trusty of Fujimori's inner circle - was indicted by 
magistrates as a member of the powerful cocaine cartel known as 
"Los Nortenos (men of the North".  This band operated from the 
northern regions of Peru and was suspected of being part of the 
giant Mexican Gulf cartel which handles around 3.2 billion 
dollars a year in drug related profits. In addition there is the 
case of the Peruvian Navy ship discovered carrying several tons 
of drugs in its cargo holds and with destination Europe. 

General Eduardo Bellido Mora, Military Commander of the Huallaga 
Front in 1992, has been found guilty of holding relations with 
the drug smuggling gangs operating in the Peruvian jungle. This 
military chief was accused of multiple crimes and having 
appropriated drug cargoes and drug money which had been seized 
>from drug dealers.  General Bellido Mora is the brother in law of 
the top chief of Fujimori's armed forces, General Nicolas Hermoza 
Rios. 


TODAY THERE IS MORE COCA PLANT CULTIVATION THAN BEFORE


To all this, one must add the fact that the areas under coca 
plant cultivation in Peru have increased at a dizzying rate 
during Fujimori's tenure.  In 1991, the agricultural land 
dedicated to coca plant cultivation amounted to 120,800 hectares. 
 In 1992 the coca tilled areas reached 129,100 hectares. Now, in 
1996, the land dedicated to coca plantations is reckoned to be 
200,000 hectares.  It is evident that the rate of growth of coca 
cultivation and, consequently, that of cocaine production, 
continues to rise.  This is completely logical because the state 
itself and, in particular, its rulers are the very people with 
direct interest in the prosperity of this industry.     

===============================================================Next from EL DIARIO INTERNACIONAL #37:

Statement of Families and Friends of Political Prisoners
===============================================================Posted by:
Peru Support Committee/Detroit
P.O. Box 23306
Detroit, MI     48223   USA
phone: 313 730-5213 (messages)
email:  detcom-AT-sprynet.com





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