Ex-spy chief lands in Peru amid amnesty calls

Montesinos

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- The former spy chief who set off Peru's worst political crisis in a decade arrived home to a political storm over government plans for a sweeping amnesty on Monday after Panama refused his request for asylum.

The surprise return of Vladimiro Montesinos after the government unveiled its plan to make protection for the military and government a precondition for promised elections, looked set to deepen five weeks of political turmoil.

A white Panamanian plane carrying Montesinos landed in Pisco, some 156 miles (250 km) south of Lima, at 5:30 a.m. (1030 GMT), five hours after leaving Guayaquil in Ecuador, where it refueled. It had left Panama on Sunday evening.

But it seemed Montesinos may not be planning to stay long. An official in the control tower told Reuters the plane was refueling but he had no details of where it could head next.

An ambulance was parked on the runway beside the plane but Montesinos was not seen disembarking.

MESSAGE BOARD Peru in transition

Opposition leaders were outraged. Jorge Del Castillo, of the APRA party, said the opposition planned a protest rally in Lima on Monday evening and said the return of Montesinos would be "tremendously destabilizing" for Peru.

Montesinos, who ran the notorious national intelligence service (SIN), was President Alberto Fujimori's link to the powerful military. He fled to Panama a month ago when a video was aired of him apparently bribing an opposition lawmaker.

After the corruption scandal erupted, Fujimori said he would call elections and quit in July, four years early.

The United States and regional powers had supported Montesinos' asylum bid, fearing the military who had loyally supported Fujimori for a decade could launch a coup.

Montesinos had been calling for the amnesty from exile and critics say the plan is tailor-made for the former spymaster, who ran the SIN amid charges of corruption, ordering torture and authorizing death squads.

Montesinos' plane, a white jet with the number HP1411-BA, landed in the Guayaquil around 10:30 p.m. (0330 GMT) on Sunday. Witnesses saw it take off two hours later and it arrived in Pisco five hours after that.

Unconfirmed radio reports said Montesinos had been refused permission to land at Lima's main military bases.

Amnesty plan

The government issued its new amnesty demands, which would extend current laws and shield officials from charges of rights abuses during Peru's war on drugs trafficking, late on Sunday in a five-page statement couched in dense legal language.

The main opposition leader, Alejandro Toledo, labeled it a bid to win impunity with blackmail and demanded Fujimori quit.

"I don't negotiate with gangsters," Toledo said late on Sunday. "I call on Fujimori to step down tomorrow."

The government unveiled the proposals -- in the form of a legal pact with the opposition that simply needed signing -- ahead of a meeting with the government under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS) due on Monday.

The OAS talks have struggled to make progress on overhauling Peru's electoral authorities, media and courts from a decade of Fujimori control -- vital steps required to ensure that the next election is cleaner than the last.

Fujimori won a third five-year term in a May runoff vote the opposition boycotted and said Fujimori stole.

Opposition leaders say the elections are at risk because of the government's amnesty demands.

"Peru needs reconciliation, but it can't be done like this," Toledo said. "Peru cannot be kidnapped by the military commanders and you cannot permit negotiations with a gun to your head."

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