1. Vladimiro Montesinos' career was marked by his deep connections with the US Central Intelligence Agency, through which he received substantial funding ostensibly for anti-terrorism efforts.
63 Facts About Vladimiro Montesinos
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Vladimiro Montesinos's tenure saw numerous human rights abuses and corruption scandals.
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The "Vladi-videos," secretly recorded tapes showing Vladimiro Montesinos bribing officials, led to a national scandal in 2000.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was captured, tried, and convicted on multiple charges.
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Vladimiro Montesinos received military training in the US and Peru, later becoming involved in intelligence and political advisory roles.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was born in the city of Arequipa, the capital of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru.
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Vladimiro Montesinos's parents were devout communists of Greek origin and named their son after Vladimir Lenin.
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In 1965, Vladimiro Montesinos graduated as a military cadet at the US Army's School of the Americas in Panama.
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In 1973, during the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru's leftist military junta of General Juan Velasco Alvarado, Vladimiro Montesinos became an artillery captain in the Peruvian army and was appointed to the role of aide to General Edgardo Mercado Jarrin, who served as both Prime Minister and Chief of the Armed Forces.
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Vladimiro Montesinos visited several foreign institutions as an official representative of the Peruvian army, without authorization.
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Vladimiro Montesinos would serve as an aide for prime ministers Guillermo Arbulu Galliani and Jorge Fernandez Maldonado Solari during the government of Francisco Morales Bermudez.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was reportedly writing various treatises regarding an invasion of Chile and granting Bolivia access to the Pacific Ocean.
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In 1974, political scientist Alfred Stepan of Yale University recommended to the Embassy of the United States, Lima that Vladimiro Montesinos be given the International Visitor's Leader Grant, describing him as the "most theoretically sophisticated of young military officers in national security doctrine" and that he had "considerable leadership potential".
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Vladimiro Montesinos expressed during the nomination process that he wanted to meet with officials of the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States National Security Council of President Gerald Ford to discuss military and economic relations.
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Vladimiro Montesinos specified to US officials that he did not want to "waste time" going to tourist destinations such as Walt Disney World.
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Vladimiro Montesinos had travelled to the US without authorization from army command, and had forged military documents to allow him to complete the trip without being detained.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was dishonorably discharged from the military and sentenced two years in the military prison at Bolivar Barracks in Pueblo Libre.
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In February 1978, Vladimiro Montesinos was freed after two years in jail.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was given work by his cousin Sergio Cardenal Montesinos, a lawyer who persuaded him to pursue a degree in law.
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Vladimiro Montesinos received his law diploma only three months later, through fraudulent means.
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On 15 August 1978, Vladimiro Montesinos used his degree to register as a lawyer with the Superior Court of Lima.
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Vladimiro Montesinos became notorious for representing a number of Colombian and Peruvian members of the illegal drug trade, as well as police officers accused of being involved in drug trafficking.
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Between 1980 and 1983, Vladimiro Montesinos revealed sensitive information related to military wiretapping and assassinations to the newspaper Kausachum, run by Augusto Zimmerman, ex-spokesperson of deposed president Juan Velasco Alvarado.
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Vladimiro Montesinos fled to Ecuador, where in 1984 he revealed information to the Ecuadorian Army about Peru's military weapons purchases.
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The investigation was closed that year in order to "protect institutional image", and Vladimiro Montesinos was allowed to return to Peru.
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Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti reported that Vladimiro Montesinos allegedly used $1 million provided by Pablo Escobar to fund the presidential campaign for Fujimori in the 1990 Peruvian general election to enter as a dark horse candidate.
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Peruvian political analyst Umberto Jara would describe the relationship Vladimiro Montesinos had between the military and Fujimori:.
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Diaz and Vladimiro Montesinos allegedly convinced Fujimori that he was being targeted by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and made Fujimori stay at the Circulo Militar, limiting his access to only military officials.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration, according to documents, believed in 1990 that Vladimiro Montesinos effectively ruled Peru through the SIN.
30.
Vladimiro Montesinos had strong connections with the US Central Intelligence Agency for over 25 years and was said to have received $10 million from the agency for his government's anti-terrorist activities, with international bank accounts possessed by Vladimiro Montesinos reportedly holding at least $270 million.
31.
US Ambassador to Peru Dennis Jett told the Fujimori government that "any appearance of succumbing to French pressure would feed rumors of corruption in the Peruvian judicial system and thus scare off international investors", with Vladimiro Montesinos later telling a supreme court judge tasked with decision that if the decision was not in favor with Newmont, then the United States would not support Peru's territorial dispute with Ecuador from the Cenepa War.
32.
The DEA documented in December 1990, that Vladimiro Montesinos utilized illegal surveillance acts both domestically and internationally.
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Vladimiro Montesinos is widely accused of threatening or harassing Fujimori's political opponents.
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Four officers who were tortured during interrogation after plotting a coup d'etat against Fujimori in November 1992 later stated that Vladimiro Montesinos took an active part in torturing them.
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On 16 March 1998, former Peruvian Army Intelligence Agent Luisa Zanatta accused Vladimiro Montesinos of ordering illegal wiretaps of leading politicians and journalists.
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In total, Vladimiro Montesinos paid more than US$3 million per month in bribes to Peruvian television channels.
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Vladimiro Montesinos funneled additional funds to the television channels through government advertising.
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Ultimately, Vladimiro Montesinos held editorial control over Peru's free-to-air television networks: Frecuencia Latina, America Television, Panamericana Television, ATV, and Red Global.
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Vladimiro Montesinos did not bribe Canal N because of their low viewership, numbering in the tens of thousands, which was a result of the unaffordability of the monthly fees for most Peruvians.
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Vladimiro Montesinos claimed to have been kidnapped by secret police agents, who sawed his arm to the bone to get him to give up the tape.
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The DEA was aware of reports in August 1990 that Vladimiro Montesinos was involved with being paid for the immunity of drug traffickers.
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Peruvian drug kingpin Demetrio Chavez Penaherrera, known as "El Vaticano", testified that Vladimiro Montesinos was a protector of drug trafficking.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was paid US$50,000 a month during 1991 and 1992.
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Frequently, Vladimiro Montesinos secretly videotaped himself bribing individuals in his office, incriminating politicians, officials and military officers.
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Vladimiro Montesinos's downfall appears to have been precipitated by the discovery of a major illegal arms shipment.
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Vladimiro Montesinos claimed the credit for uncovering the arms smuggling, which involved upwards of 10,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.
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Evidence emerged which pointed to Vladimiro Montesinos having orchestrated the gun-running operation rather than dismantling it.
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Vladimiro Montesinos had signed at least eleven deals with the Fujimori regime, most of them to provide supplies to the Peruvian military.
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On 14 September 2000, Peruvian television broadcast a video of Vladimiro Montesinos bribing an opposition congressman, Alberto Kouri, to support Peru 2000, Fujimori's party.
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Vladimiro Montesinos accepted the resignation of Montesinos and thanked him for his services.
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Vladimiro Montesinos then announced the dissolution of the National Intelligence Service and new elections, in which he would not run.
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In June 2001, through the assistance of the US Government, Vladimiro Montesinos was turned over to the Venezuelan government in Caracas and extradited back to Peru.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was convicted of embezzlement, illegal assumption of his post as intelligence chief, abuse of power, influence peddling and bribery.
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Vladimiro Montesinos was imprisoned at the Centro de Reclusion de Maxima Seguridad in Callao and is serving 15 years in prison, but he will have to face at least 8 more trials in the next years.
55.
On 29 January 2024, Vladimiro Montesinos pleaded guilty to charges of homicide, murder and forced disappearance in the 1992 killings of six farmers accused of being rebels in Pativilca, Lima Region, and was sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment.
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Vladimiro Montesinos had been working as a construction laborer without papers.
57.
Vladimiro Montesinos was sentenced in September 2006 to a 20-year prison term for his direct involvement in an illegal arms deal to provide 10,000 assault weapons to Colombian rebels.
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In 2007 Vladimiro Montesinos was on trial for allegedly ordering the extra-judicial killings of the hostage-takers from the left-wing Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement during the 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis.
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Vladimiro Montesinos had been involved by a number of drug traffickers.
60.
Rejas would later explain that he believed Vladimiro Montesinos was directly involved with the campaign of Keiko Fujimori.
61.
The Ministry of Defense opened an investigation of the matter and on 25 August 2021, President Pedro Castillo announced that Vladimiro Montesinos had been transferred to the Ancon II prison to serve the remaining of his sentence while four officers were replaced at the naval prison.
62.
Vladimiro Montesinos was portrayed in the Peruvian film Caiga quien caiga.
63.
Vladimiro Montesinos plays a significant part in Mario Vargas Llosa's novel Cinco Esquinas.