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Peru's spy master goes on trial over arms-deal scandal

The once-feared head of Peru's spy services, Vladimiro Montes-inos, went on trial Tuesday on charges that he helped smuggle guns to leftist Colombian rebels, allegedly with help from the CIA.

The judge in charge of the case announced that she will call for testimony from CIA Director George Tenet, as well as Robert Gorelick, the CIA Lima station chief in 1999.

Montesinos, the former right-hand man of disgraced president Alberto Fujimori, went on trial at this naval base just west of Lima on charges that he helped smuggle 10,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's largest insurgent group.

If convicted, Montesinos, 58, faces 20 years in prison.

Judge Ines Villa announced that she wants Tenet to testify following a request from Estela Valdivia, Montesinos's defense lawyer. According to court sources, Tenet may testify via teleconference.

Ronald Gamarra, the country's anti-corruption prosecutor, said he believes Montesinos had support from the CIA.

Prosecutors did not have "solid proof" of the connection, Gamarra said in a weekend interview with the daily El Comercio. However there were "many indications that could prove this relationship."

Montesinos' goal was to "ingratiate himself once again with the CIA," which at the time was attempting to "radicalize the fight against the FARC," Gamarra told the newspaper.

Gamarra however bemoaned the CIA's failure to help out in this investigation, "despite the requirements of Peruvian law."

Anti-corruption prosecutor Luis Vargas told Colombian radio network RCN that there is information showing that CIA agents collaborated with Montesinos in gun smuggling operation.

According to the charges, Montesinos, with the backing of Fujimori's government, formed a criminal organization that bought at least 10,000 AKM automatic rifles in Jordan.

Peruvian army officers -- or agents posing as army officers -- completed the purchase. But instead of going to Peru the guns were air dropped into FARC-controlled territory in southern Colombia in the first half of 1999.
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