Ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s once-feared intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, testified Monday that his former boss is innocent of charges he sanctioned the Colina group paramilitary death squad.
Fujimori, 69, could hardly contain a grin as his former spy chief depicted him as a “courageous” hero who defeated a bloody leftist insurgency and lifted Peru from its knees. […]

The head of Peru’s military Joint Chiefs of staff said it would be a mistake to start eradication of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, in the Apurímac and Ene river valleys, VRAE, because of the social chaos it would cause among the majority of the poor inhabitants who eek out their living on […]

The Peruvian government’s response seemed unified and swift last week against a proposal by the vice president to defy verdicts by Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Peru for brutal excesses during its 20-year battle to crush leftist guerrilla insurgencies.
It was just such a decision in 1999 by ex-President Alberto Fujimori — now on trial […]

While Peru celebrates the fruits of record economic growth, poverty reduction and political stability, forensic experts in an isolated, windswept Andean zone are unearthing evidence of a dark past few want to remember.
The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team started last week to exhume the human remains from Peru’s largest known mass grave in the highland community […]

Peru has delivered a letter of diplomatic protest to Bolivia over President Evo Morales’ allegation that Peru’s efforts to extradite for his former adviser to face terrorism charges is part of a CIA plot to discredit his socialist administration, Peru’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
“The letter of protest reflects the Peruvian government’s displeasure with some declarations […]

By Rick Vecchio ~

The decision last week by the European Parliament to reject inclusion of Peru’s Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement on its list of known terrorist groups has reverberated through Peru with hardly any notice taken by English language news media — with one very notable exception: The Wall Street Journal. And boy, did they […]

Peru is filing a request to the international Mine Ban Treaty, or Ottawa Convention, to extend to 2012 its deadline to remove anti-personal land mines within Peruvian territory. The current deadline is 2009.
Gonzalo Gutiérrez, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, told Andina news agency that a lack of infrastructure and a limited budget have slowed down […]

Ex-army Maj. Antauro Humala and 173 of his ultra-nationalist followers milled about, chanted, sang and complained bitterly Monday through chaotic court proceedings in their trial for the January 2005 assault on a remote Andean police station.
Problems with the audio system forced the judge to twice suspend the hearing, provoking disorder among the accused, who […]

A Miami federal judge has ordered a retired Peruvian army major to pay $37 million for his role in the 1985 massacre of 72 peasants in a remote Andean village during Peru’s internal conflict with Shining Path and MRTA guerrillas, daily Correo reported.

Following meetings with his Ecuadorean counterpart, President Alan García said today that Colombia did indeed violate Ecuador’s sovereignty when its military killed 21 members of Colombia’s largest rebel group, including a senior commander, during a raid Saturday on a guerrilla encampment in Ecuador’s northern jungle.
Garcia said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe should offer a full explanation […]