IPS-English PERU: Fujimori Admits to Signing Key Documents Tying Him to Death Squad Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:27:00 -0800 Angel Páez LIMA, Dec 13 (IPS) - Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori confessed that he signed two secret memos in 1991, recommending promotions and raises for army intelligence officers shortly before they were organised in a death squad that went on to kill 25 people suspected of belonging to the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas. The two documents are key to establishing a direct relationship between the former president and the Army Intelligence Service (SIE), members of which formed the Colina Group paramilitary unit. When Fujimori was questioned Wednesday, in the trial against him that opened Monday, he provided new details that showed how closely he worked with his shady security chief Vladimiro Montesinos, now in prison on multiple corruption charges, during his 1990-2000 presidency. But in the hearing, he refused to respond to some of the most direct and compromising questions. In the first memo, dated Jun. 25, 1991, Fujimori instructed Defence Minister Jorge Torres to officially congratulate 10 members of the SIE who took part in ”special operations” in the counterinsurgency struggle, including the chief of the ”Colina Group” death squad, Captain Santiago Martín, and his deputy, Captain Carlos Pichilingüe. In the second memo, from Jun. 30, 1991, Fujimori orders, ”as commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” the immediate promotion of captains Martin and Pichilingüe, as well as other soldiers, ”for having participated in successful operations against subversion.” ”Do you admit that you signed these documents?” prosecutor José Peláez asked Fujimori. ”Yes, I do,” said the former president. ”What were those ‘successful special operations'?” asked the prosecutor. ”I don't know, I was not familiar with those cases,” said Fujimori. ”You did not take an interest in knowing what documents you were signing?” asked Peláez. ”Papers are necessary but secondary,” Fujimori said, evading the question. ”My work was to be with the people. I slept four hours a day. And when piles of documents were given to me, I signed them.” After he ordered that the SIE officers who led the Colina Group be congratulated and promoted, the death squad killed 15 people -- including an eight-year-old boy -- at a barbecue on Nov. 3, 1991 in the Lima neighbourhood of Barrios Altos. A few weeks later, in December, Martín and Pichilingüe were promoted to major. On Jul. 18, 1992, the Colina Group seized nine students and a professor from the La Cantuta University campus and killed them. At that time, the university was controlled by the army, under Fujimori's orders. The group that committed the killings included the two officers who had been promoted to major. Fujimori also acknowledged that he actually lived at SIE headquarters from May 1991 to February 1992, ”for security reasons.” That means that when the Barrios Altos massacre was committed, the president was residing at SIE headquarters, where the Colina Group was based. He said that in February 1992 he left the SIE installations and moved into the general headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency (SIN), where Montesinos -- widely known as the ”eminence gris” of the Fujimori administration -- worked and slept. The former president said he lived at SIN headquarters until 1997. The La Cantuta murders occurred on Jul. 18, 1992, three months after the self-coup staged by Fujimori and Montesinos, when Congress was dissolved, constitutional guarantees were suspended, and the judiciary was purged. Nevertheless, when asked whether he was aware of the existence of the Colina Group, the former president responded: ”I am going to give you a clear, concrete and indubitable answer: I didn't know, I never knew.” The prosecutor once again asked him how it was possible that, living at the SIE and SIN headquarters, he was unaware of the activities of the Colina Group, especially if he was working practically every day with Montesinos, who exercised de facto control over the armed forces. ”I repeat: I didn't know,” he answered. ”How did you find out about the Barrios Altos killings?” ”From the news on the radio,” he replied tersely. Peláez noted Fujimori stated that when he took office in 1990 he know nothing about military affairs, not to mention the intelligence system, and that it was through former army captain Montesinos that decisions were made relating to the military. ”Mr. Fujimori, it cannot be explained then how you were unaware of the existence of the special operations commando named Colina,” the prosecutor said. ”I abstain from responding to that question,” said the former president. In Wednesday's hearing, the president was no longer the same person as he was when he had an angry outburst in court on Monday, flailing his arms and screaming at the judges ”I am innocent!” This time around, he was not only calm, but he also appeared as a convict: on Tuesday the first sentence was handed down to him -- six years for ordering an illegal search of the home of Montesinos' wife, for videotape recordings showing bribes made during his government. Those who carried out the search seized 70 boxes and suitcases full of the so-called ”vladivideos” filmed by Montesinos, which, when several were broadcast, triggered the corruption scandal that toppled Fujimori's government after his reelection to a third term. On Nov. 13, 2000, six days after the videos were confiscated, Fujimori took refuge in Japan, where he was staying when he found out that he had been impeached by Congress and removed from office. On Tuesday, Fujimori was also fined to pay the state 133,000 dollars in reparations. In the case involving the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres, for which the prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence, it has been clearly established to what extent Fujimori depended on Montesinos, whose future testimony in the trial will basically seal the former president's fate. Despite the advances made so far, the lawyers of the massacre victims' families complained that Peláez lacked ”rigour” and ”intensity” in his questioning of the former president. Carlos Rivera told IPS that ”It would seem as if Fujimori felt like he was not being questioned in-depth, but that he was being given an opportunity to make political declarations.” ”Fujimori answers in vague terms and refers to political questions because he is allowed to do so,” he added, alluding to the former president's frequent political justifications of his actions, which dilute his responses and evade the real meanings of the questions put to him. ”When the questions become a little more pointed, Fujimori refuses to respond, because they are awkward questions referring to his close relations with Montesinos during the last stage of his government, and to his responsibility for the Colina Group killings,” said Rivera. For his part, Ronald Gamarra told IPS that the former president's statements were predictable. ”Fujimori is not going to admit his guilt for the human rights violations,” he said. ”He has tried to mark his distance from Montesinos, and obviously, the line taken by the defence is moving in that direction too. I believe the prosecutor has asked weak questions; but this isn't a conversation -- it's an interrogation,” he added. Nevertheless, the prosecution believes that significant progress was made, given Fujimori's admission that he signed two key documents linking him to members of the Colina Group and his acknowledgement of his close relationship with Montesinos, ***** + PERU: Fujimori Denies Knowledge of Military Abuses (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37242) (END/IPS/LA IP/TRASP-SW/AP/07) = 12140249 ORP003 NNNN