Vladimiro Montesinos

Who is Vladimiro Montesinos?

Vladimiro Ilich Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional, under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos, which he had recorded, were televised that showed his bribing an elected congressman to leave the opposition and join the Fujimorist side of Congress. The ensuing scandal caused Montesinos to flee the country and prompted the resignation of Fujimori.

Subsequent investigations revealed Montesinos to be at the centre of a vast web of illegal activities, including embezzlement, graft, gunrunning, and drug trafficking. He has been tried, convicted and sentenced for numerous charges. Montesinos had strong connections with the CIA, the United States international intelligence Agency, and was said to have received $10 million from the agency for his government's anti-terrorist activities. Montesinos is cousin of the incarcerated terrorist leader Óscar Ramírez Durand, a.k.a "Feliciano".