Vladimiro Montesinos | |
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![]() Montesinos in 1995 | |
Director of the National Intelligence Service | |
In office 28 July 1990 – 14 September 2000 | |
President | Alberto Fujimori |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres 20 May 1945 Arequipa, Peru |
Political party | Cambio 90 (1990–2001) New Majority (1990–2001) |
Other political affiliations | Peru 2000 (1999–2001) Alliance for the Future (2005–2010) |
Spouse |
Trinidad Becerra
(m. 1973; div. 2001) |
Children | Silvana Montesinos Becerra |
Alma mater | U.S. Army's School of the Americas Military School of Chorillos |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Rank | ![]() |
Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres (Spanish pronunciation: [bla.ð̞iˌmi.ɾo ˌle.nĩn iˌlit͡ʃ mõn̪.t̪eˌsi.nos ˈt̪o.res]; born May 20, 1945) is a Peruvian former intelligence officer and lawyer, most notorious for his role as the head of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN) during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori. Montesinos was widely regarded as the power behind the throne, often regarded as the true authority in the government, supported by the Peruvian Armed Forces.[1][2][3]
Montesinos' career was marked by his deep connections with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), through which he received substantial funding ostensibly for anti-terrorism efforts. His tenure saw numerous human rights abuses and corruption scandals.[4] The "Vladi-videos," secretly recorded tapes showing Montesinos bribing officials, led to a national scandal in 2000. This exposure forced him to flee Peru and precipitated Fujimori's resignation.
Investigations unveiled Montesinos' involvement in a wide range of illegal activities, including embezzlement, drug trafficking, and orchestrating extrajudicial killings. He was subsequently captured, tried, and convicted on multiple charges. Despite his imprisonment, Montesinos continued to influence Peruvian politics and sought to protect allies within the Fujimorist faction, including Keiko Fujimori.
Montesinos' early life was influenced by his communist parents and his cousin, a leader of the Shining Path guerrilla group. He received military training in the U.S. and Peru, later becoming involved in intelligence and political advisory roles. His legal career, following a brief imprisonment for espionage, was marred by fraudulent activities and associations with drug traffickers.
Part of a series on |
Conservatism in Peru |
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He was widely regarded as the power behind the throne in President Alberto Fujimori's government.
In the 1990s, Peru was run ... by its secret-police chief, Vladimiro Montesinos Torres.
The coup of April 5, 1992, carried out by high-ranking military felons who used the President of the Republic himself as their figurehead, had as one of its stated objectives a guaranteed free hand for the armed forces in the anti-subversion campaign, the same armed forces for whom the democratic system – a critical Congress, an independent judiciary, a free press – constituted an intolerable obstacle.
Lester: Though few questioned it, Montesinos was a novel choice. Peru's army had banished him for selling secrets to America's CIA, but he'd prospered as a defence lawyer – for accused drug traffickers. ... Lester: Did Fujmori control Montesinos or did Montesinos control Fujimori? ... Shifter: As information comes out, it seems increasingly clear that Montesinos was the power in Peru.
Mr Montesinos ... and his military faction, ... for the moment, has chosen to keep Mr Fujimori as its civilian figurehead
Alberto Fujimori,... as later events would seem to confirm—merely the figurehead of a regime governed for all practical purposes by the Intelligence Service and the leadership of the armed forces
Fujimori became a kind of, well, a figurehead
Lester: Though few questioned it, Montesinos was a novel choice. Peru's army had banished him for selling secrets to America's CIA, but he'd prospered as a defence lawyer – for accused drug traffickers. ... Lester: Did Fujmori control Montesinos or did Montesinos control Fujimori? ... Shifter: As information comes out, it seems increasingly clear that Montesinos was the power in Peru.
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