LIMA, Peru (Reuters) --The United States considered Peru's jailed former spy chief
Vladimiro Montesinos a valuable asset in battling drugs, but warned his shady past
made him a dangerous friend, according to a raft of declassified documents released
by U.S. officials in Lima on Monday.

"Like it or not, he is the go-to guy, short of the president (Alberto Fujimori) himself
on any key issue, particularly ... counternarcotics," U.S. officials in Lima said in a
1999 dispatch to Washington.

Some 38 declassified documents, spanning the entire 1990-2000 term of ousted
President Fujimori, were released by the U.S. Embassy following a request from
lawmakers here probing allegations of corruption linked to the ex-spy chief.

Officials warned in the documents that Montesinos' reputation for shady deals,
including links to drug lords and human rights crimes, made him a potential liability.

"Montesinos carries a significant amount of negative baggage with him," said one
1996 document. "Montesinos: A valued ally in the drug fight, but no choirboy," it
quipped.

Montesinos sparked the scandal that toppled Fujimori, now in self-exile in Japan,
when a video aired in September 2000 showed him apparently bribing an opposition
politician.

Once Fujimori's most trusted adviser, Montesinos awaits trial on charges from
murder to embezzlement. He says he acted on Fujimori's orders while the ex-leader
denies that charge.

"Since 1990 the (U.S.) State Department and the embassy had information ... about
Montesinos' negative background. What is consistent throughout the documents is
that Montesinos was the man behind (Fujimori's) power," legislator Anel Townsend,
who heads the investigatory commission, told reporters.

Many of the documents were related to the fight against illicit drugs in Peru, lauded
by Washington in the 1990's as a model of success in stamping out drug trafficking.
In 1998, Peru ceded its title as the world's No. 1 producer of coca, the raw material
for cocaine, to neighboring Colombia.

Fujimori called the crackdown on drugs, in which Montesinos played a key role, one
of his greatest triumphs.

The documents highlighted U.S. wariness to completely endorse or shun
Montesinos. They also cited a 1998 threat from Lima to cut off all intelligence and
law enforcement cooperation with the U.S. after then-U.S. drug czar Barry
McCaffrey sought to distance himself from Montesinos.

Townsend said other interesting points in the declassified documents included an
alleged Montesinos plot to kill a top media magnate who died in 2000, apparently of a
heart attack.

Much of the information in the documents was fragmented due to classification. The
commission also said it would push the United States for more information.

    Copyright 2002 Reuters.