Overview

Vladimiro Illich Montesinos Torres is a former Peruvian intelligence chief who served as the de facto head of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN) under President Alberto Fujimori from 1990 to 2000. A graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) and a paid CIA asset receiving approximately $1 million per year during the 1990s; Montesinos became one of the most powerful and feared figures in Peruvian politics. He ran a shadow government from SIN headquarters; controlling the judiciary; military; media; and legislature through a vast network of bribery (documented on thousands of "vladivideos" he secretly recorded); intimidation; and political assassination. Montesinos oversaw the Grupo Colina death squad; which carried out massacres including the Barrios Altos killings (1991; 15 dead including an 8-year-old boy) and the La Cantuta kidnapping-murders (1992; 9 students and a professor). He simultaneously worked with Colombian drug cartels; facilitating cocaine shipments through Peru while nominally leading the country's anti-drug efforts (funded by U.S. aid). The CIA maintained its relationship with Montesinos despite knowledge of his human rights abuses and drug connections; only cutting ties when his crimes became impossible to conceal. He was captured in Venezuela in 2001 and is serving a 25-year prison sentence for murder; kidnapping; arms trafficking; and drug trafficking.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

Known Associates & Connections

Sources & Documentation

2 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports