Cable 44640, Llegada y arresto de Fujimori es noticia de último minuto en Perú

«This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.»

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 004748

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2015
TAGS: PREL, KJUS, PE, CI, JA

SUBJECT: FORMER PRESIDENT FUJIMORI’S ARRIVAL, ARREST IN SANTIAGO IS STUNNING NEWS IN PERU

REF: A. SANTIAGO 2284
B. LIMA 4733

Classified By: D/Polcouns Art Muirhead for Reason 1.4 (B, D)

1. (C) SUMMARY. Former President Fujimori’s surprise arrival in Santiago over the weekend adds another complex issue to the strained Peruvian-Chilean bilateral agenda. A Chilean court quickly acted to detain Fujimori, and the GOP is sending a high-level delegation to Santiago to argue for Fujimori’s extradition. The Chilean Embassy Political Officer (protect) told D/Polcouns that President Lagos, irritated with the GOP over the maritime border issue, was not taking calls from President Toledo. The GOC, he added, was concerned about possible defects in the quality of the extradition request that will be presented by Peru. END SUMMARY.

2. (U) From the moment the story broke the afternoon of 11/6, Peruvians have raptly followed the media reports about former President Alberto Fujimori’s arrival and subsequent detention in Santiago. Lima dailies on 11/7 stressed that Fujimori had been arrested within 10 hours of his arrival in Chile, and would be the subject of an extradition process. Press reports noted Foreign Minister Oscar Maurtua’s statement that the Appellate Court of Santiago had ordered Fujimori’s arrest after Peru submitted a diplomatic note requesting the former President’s preventive detention, and that Fujimori was prohibited by the Court from leaving Chile. Maurtua also said that a high-level delegation, including Interior Minister Romulo Pizarro, Anti-Corruption State’s Attorney Antonio Maldonado, Police Interpol Director Carlos Medel, and special legal adviser Javier Ciurliza, was traveling to Santiago to argue the GOP’s case.

3. (SBU) Initial reports held that Fujimori had traveled from Japan to Chile in a private plane via a technical stop-over in Mexico. Some press reporting on 11/7 (including that of leading daily «»El Comercio»») alleged that Fujimori’s routing from Tokyo had been first to Atlanta on a Delta Airlines flight, then on to Tijuana, Mexico and finally, Santiago. Embassy DHS Attache has consulted with National Transportation Center in the U.S. and is examining immigration records for the period in question — up to now, no/no information has been located which would substantiate Fujimori’s having passed through the U.S. on his way to Santiago.

4. (U) Immediately after the news of his arrival in Santiago, several hundred Fujimori supporters, many wearing the t-shirt of his «»Si Cumple»» (He Keeps His Promises) Party, rallied in downtown Lima. An evening rally in front of the Chilean Ambassador’s residence by anti-Fujimori protestors drew about a hundred participants. Both demonstrations were orderly and without incident.

5. (C) On 11/7, D/Polcouns discussed Fujimori’s arrival in Santiago with Chilean Embassy Political Officer Fernando Velasco (strictly protect). Velasco said that at least initially, President Lagos was not taking calls from President Toledo regarding Fujimori — Lagos was upset about the GOP’s disregard over the past few weeks for Chilean interests, especially on the issue of Peru’s unilateral definition of the starting point for the two countries’ maritime border (Ref B). Lagos had, however, discussed Fujimori’s arrival in Chile with FM Maurtua. Maurtua had pushed for Fujimori to be immediately expelled to Peru by the GOC. When Lagos made it clear this was not an option, Maurtua had agreed to submit an extradition request. Velasco’s opinion was that an extradition case against Fujimori could spin out over a long period of time and had no guarantee of success, especially when considering the poor quality of submissions that Chile had received from Peru in other extradition cases. (NOTE: Chilean courts rejected Peruvian extradition requests for publicist Daniel Borobio in 2002, and for newspaper editor Eduardo Calmell del Solar in 2004. END NOTE.)

6. (C) Velasco said he had met the previous evening with Fernan Altuve, a former Fujimorista Congressman and expert in legal affairs who claimed to have been in regular contact with the former President during his exile in Japan. Velasco was impressed with the detailed information that Altuve had about legal procedures in Chile, leading him to conclude that Altuve had been involved in planning for Fujimori’s travel to Chile for some time. Velasco said it was possible that Fujimori had entered Chile on his Japanese passport (since no visa would be required for Japanese citizens), raising concerns about the possible involvement of the GOJ as an advocate once extradition proceedings begin to move ahead.

7. (C) COMMENT: The quality of the GOP’s extradition request to Japan for Fujimori has been repeatedly criticized in the Peruvian media. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has been hard-pressed to come up with a «»smoking gun»» to prove Fujimori’s involvement in charges of corruption and human rights violations. Javier Ciurliza, a law professor at the Catholic University and a member of Peru’s high-level delegation to Santiago, told Poloff several months ago that he had been hired by the Foreign Ministry to revise Peru’s extradition requests to Japan for Fujimori, characterizing those documents as «»deeply flawed.»»

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