Daily Headlines: September 28, 2016

* Peru: Vladimiro Montesinos, the shady former Peruvian intelligence chief who was instrumental in the rise and fall of Alberto Fujimori from the presidency, was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison for the kidnapping and burning of three people.

* Panama: Panamanian officials formally sought the extradition from the United States (US) of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli who is accused of using public funds for illegal surveillance.

* Puerto Rico: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen warned that Puerto Rico is facing a fiscal crisis and claimed it’s up to Congress or the White House to formulate an adequate solution.

* Latin America: The Pan American Health Organization declared the Americas are free from all endemic cases of measles “after years of intense efforts to vaccinate children under the age of five.”

YouTube Source – Journeyman Pictures (Documentary from December 2003.)

Online Sources – UPI, Reuters, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: October 4, 2010

* Peru: Vladimiro Montesinos, former spy chief and aide to disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori, was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison over his role in a pair of massacres.

* Ecuador: The government may reconsider a controversial law that led to violent protests against President Rafael Correa last Thursday.

* Cuba: Spain’s Repsol will reportedly drill several oil wells off the northern Cuban coast next year.

* Puerto Rico: Police on the island have come under fire as a result of several recent incidents where cops may have used excessive force.

Image – teleSur
Online Sources- AP, LAHT, Miami Herald, The Guardian, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: June 21, 2010

* Cuba: Slow progress has reportedly been made in migration talks between the U.S. and Cuba in part due to the imprisonment of a U.S. contractor in Havana.

* Peru: A U.S. judge blocked rewarding a Venezuelan man over $10 million based on his role in bringing down the controversial former head of Peruvian intelligence Vladimiro Montesinos.

* Latin America: According to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms spending in Latin American continued in 2009 with Brazil and Colombia leading the way.

* Mexico: Intellectuals, ordinary Mexicans, and (ironically) politicians have all paid tribute to author Carlos Monsiváis who died on Saturday.

Image – LAHT
Online Sources- Reuters, San Francisco Examiner, The Latin Americanist, MSNBC, UPI

Peru: Montesinos could be freed in July ‘11

In a perversion of justice the convicted former top aide to ex-President Alberto Fujimori may be a free man in about fourteen months.

Vladimiro Montesinos served as de facto head of Peru’s intelligence agency as well as Fujimori’s right-hand man between 1990 and 2000. His and Fujimori’s downfall came with the publicizing of secret videotapes he recorded where he doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to politicians, the press, and anyone else in order to stifle opposition. He has been convicted on thirty-one charges including in 2006 when he was sentenced to twenty years in jail for illegal arms sales to Colombian rebels.

Despite such a checkered past Montesinos could be out of jail in July 2011 over a technicality. According to Peru’s La República all but one of Montesinos’ sentences will be up by July 2011. Peru’s Supreme Court has yet to ratify Montesinos’ punishment for the aforementioned weapons conviction and they must do so before the July 2011 deadline or else he could be let out of prison.

Montesinos could be tried for human rights abuses for the same 1991 massacre that led to a 25-year conviction against Fujimori. Yet it has been reported that his lawyers would try to delay such a trial from occurring including using Montesinos’ upcoming surgery as a stalling tactic.

Though Montesinos has been out of power for a decade the repercussions of his malfeasance still affects contemporary Peruvian politics. Justice minister Aurelio Pastor was fired last week over his links to a Montesinos figure:

(Ex-television owner Jose Enrique) Crousillat was sentenced in 2006 to eight years in prison for taking payoffs from former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, to run favorable news about President Alberto Fujimori.

Crousillat complained of heart problems and was granted a presidential pardon in December.

But following his release, he was seen in apparently good health in restaurants and on beaches in Lima.

Image - PBS
Online Sources- BBC News, SFGate.com, Wikipedia, La Republica, ADN.es

Weekend Headlines: July 19, 2009

* U.S.: Univision won its federal court case over Mexican media conglomerate Televisa regarding Internet rights to broadcasts.

* Peru: During his corruption trial, ex-President Alberto Fujimori said that he did pay off $15 million to former right-hand man Vladimiro Montesinos but only to avoid being ousted in a possible military coup.

* Nicaragua: Speaking of coups, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega claimed that the U.S. is cooking up a scheme to overthrow him.

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez is none too pleased at a State Department report that claims that Venezuela could turn into a “narcostate.”

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- AP, LAHT, Reuters, Bloomberg

Guilty verdict in Fujimori human rights case (Updated)

Update:

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in jail for human rights abuses while he was president from 1990 to 2000. (Link via Bloomberg).

Original Post:

Peruvian high court convicted former President Alberto Fujimori for numerous human rights abuses during his decade in power.

The “mega-trial” took place over fifteen months and Fujimori became the first democratically elected Latin American leader convicted of human rights violations in his own country. The judges were firm in their verdict against the figure who now faces a thirty-year jail sentence:

"The charges have been proved beyond all reasonable doubt," said Cesar San Martin, the chief judge…

The verdict related to two massacres, the first committed on November 3, 1991 when a group of armed and masked soldiers burst into a party in the Lima suburb of Barrios Altos, killing 15 people, including an eight-year-old boy.

Several months later, nine university students and their professor were rounded up by the same "La Colina" squad, taken to a deserted area of the city and executed with shots to the back of the head.

Fujimori was also found guilty in relation to the kidnapping of a Peruvian journalist working for a Spanish newspaper and a businessman, both critics of his government.

The trial was filled with intrigue and controversy including Fujimori being reprimanded for napping during proceedings and facing the testimony of former right-hand man Vladimiro Montesinos.

Ironically, one of the main beneficiaries of today’s guilty verdict could be Fujimori’s daughter, Keiko, who may garner support from her father’s sycophants and possibly launch her presidential bid. Yet the big winners today were the justice that has been served against someone who arrogantly thought he was above the law as well as the victims of the massacres and murders during Peru’s armed conflict.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- BBC News, Al Jazeera English, The Latin Americanist, Reuters

Today’s Video: Fujimori and Montesinos, together again

Reunited and it feels so…awkward.

An interesting twist in the human rights trial of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori took place today when his former right-hand man- ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos- took to the witness stand. Both men returned to face each other since Fujimori fled to exile eight years ago and Montesinos backed his former boss by denying that Fujimori masterminded massacres committed by government commandos in the 1990s.

Below is a portion of Montesinos’ testimony today where he washes his hands (and Fujimori’s) of any culpability:

Fujimori is currently serving a twenty year jail sentence for arms smuggling.

Sources- BBC News, Tehran Times, YouTube, Living in Peru