Portal:Peru/Selected biography

Vladimiro Lenin Montesinos Torres (born May 20, 1945) was the long-time, powerful head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN), under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos were televised revealing him bribing a politician and the ensuing scandal caused Montesinos to flee the country, later contributing to the resignation of the administration of Alberto Fujimori. Subsequent investigations revealed Montesinos was at the centre of a vast web of illegal activities, including embezzlement, graft, and drug trafficking, for which he is currently being tried.

Montesinos was born in Arequipa. His parents were fervent communists who named him after Lenin. In 1965, as a military cadet, he studied at the US Army's School of the Americas...