High-octane talk show star Laura Bozzo has admitted in court that she was hopelessly in love with Peru's imprisoned ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos.
But the bleached blonde host of the Jerry Springer-like show "Laura" -- a Spanish language hit in the US and much of Latin America -- denied charges Friday that she took bribes from Montesinos to support ex-President Alberto Fujimori's fraud-filled re-election campaign.
"I would go and see Mr. Montesinos because I was absolutely in love with Mr. Montesinos. I was absolutely obsessed with Mr. Montesinos," Bozzo told the court.
"I've been detained three years unjustly. I never received one cent," said Bozzo. She faces up to seven years in prison and a maximum fine of 20 million Peruvian soles, the equivalent of about US$6 million, if convicted.
The balding, hawk-nosed Montesinos sat with his legs crossed in a corner of the special courtroom in the maximum security naval base prison where he has been held since his capture in Venezuela in June 2001.
"I can imagine how you will laugh at me," she told the court tribunal, "because the truth is, yes, I was in love. He absolutely never gave me the time of day."
The state's star witness, former Montesinos confidante Matilde Pinchi Pinchi, testified Friday that, on Montesinos' orders, she prepared five envelopes with US$10,000 each to give to Bozzo.
Pinchi Pinchi said she never actually handed the cash to the TV star, but that on one occasion she gave one of the envelopes to Montesinos to give to Bozzo in an adjoining office in the spy chief's headquarters. Montesinos later told her he had given Bozzo a total of US$3 million, Pinchi Pinchi testified.
She said Bozzo visited the intelligence service headquarters several times, "in the afternoons after her show, and evenings. Sometimes she even stayed to sleep overnight."
Bozzo insists her only crime was publicly singing Fujimori's praises in the lead-up to his victory to a third five-year term in 2000 -- condemned as fraudulent by international election monitors.
Bozzo maintains she is being persecuted because her program revealed that Fujimori's ultimately victorious opponent, President Alejandro Toledo, had an illegitimate teenage daughter. Over the course of her five-month trial, Bozzo has changed her story about the nature of her relationship with Montesinos.
"Yes, now I'm telling you this because I'm tired of not saying it," she said Friday, explaining why she now says she loves the former spy chief.
Montesinos, 59, has already been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison on various charges, including paying millions to Peruvian TV executives, including Bozzo's former bosses. He refused to talk when he was called to testify about Bozzo last month.
He is also being tried for allegedly dealing arms to Colombian guerrillas, and faces pending charges for alleged drug trafficking and directing a paramilitary death squad.
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they
RSS