Photos purport he underwent plastic surgery

 BY CHRISTINA HOAG
 Special to The Herald

 CARACAS -- The search for Vladimiro Montesinos, who in less than one year went from Peruvian intelligence chief to the most prominent
 fugitive in South America, has reached fever pitch in Venezuela, where published photos purport to show he underwent plastic surgery in
 December.

 The question is whether Montesinos, who is believed to have checked into the San Bernardino Diagnostic Institute on Dec. 13 under the
 name Manuel Antonio Rodríguez Pérez, is living secretly in Venezuela -- possibly under government protection.

 Bolstered by recent investigative reports by the Caracas newspaper El Nuevo País, some Peruvian officials say he is indeed hiding in Venezuela.

 The newspaper has reported that Montesinos is holed up on a remote farm, but no positive sightings have been reported.

 Peruvian Interior Minister Antonio Ketin Vidal visited Caracas last week to solicit cooperation in the investigation from the government of Hugo Chávez, which had
 previously denied all knowledge of Montesinos or Rodríguez Pérez.

 Vidal told reporters Peru was closing in on Montesinos and that his talks with Venezuelan officials had been ``fruitful.''

 Peruvian authorities say Montesinos used money from arms dealing, drug trafficking and extortion to amass a personal fortune. A congressional panel said Montesinos
 held the equivalent of at least $92 million in now-frozen bank accounts in Peru and abroad. He faces criminal charges, including illicit arms dealing, corruption of officials,
 money laundering and influence peddling.

 PUBLISHED REPORTS

 The new flurry of attention here comes in the wake of reports by El Nuevo País, which published pre-operation photos of a bearded man who, if not Montesinos, could
 pass for his double.

 The photos elicited a concession from Venezuelan Attorney General Isaias Rodríguez, who told the press it appeared likely that Montesinos had been in Caracas. He
 denied any knowledge of the fugitive's whereabouts.

 Montesinos, 55, has not been seen since his sudden return from brief exile in Panama to Peru on Oct. 23, but investigators believe he was in the Caribbean island of
 Aruba the following month. After that, the trail grew cold until reports of his presence surfaced in Venezuela.

 THE PLASTIC SURGERY

 In a recent interview with Globovisión television station, plastic surgeon Lorenzo DiCecilia said he performed an eyelid lifting and nose job on a patient named Manuel
 Antonio Rodríguez Pérez on Dec. 13. The patient abruptly left the clinic on Dec. 14 without medical leave and without paying his $14,000 bill.

 DiCecilia said Rodríguez was brought to him by a colleague, cardiologist Carlos Mora Villalobos, who asked him to operate on a business partner.

 Rodríguez, who was staying at the out-of-the-way Hotel Avila in Caracas, had a preliminary appointment Dec. 8, and again visited the clinic Dec. 12 for pre-surgical exams
 for the operation the following day.

 DiCecilia, who said he did not know whether Rodríguez was in fact Montesinos, said he thought it was odd that Mora performed blood tests and stayed at Rodríguez's
 side throughout the operation and during his recovery.

 DiCecilia told Globovisión that Rodríguez abruptly checked out. Then, much to his surprise, DiCecilia was hauled in for questioning by Venezuelan intelligence police.

 DiCecilia could not be reached for comment by The Herald, and has allegedly gone into hiding. In the televised interview, he said he had received numerous death threats
 by telephone.

 Mora, the cardiologist who signed a personal bond to admit Rodríguez into the clinic, also could not be reached for comment. DiCecilia said that under the bond, Mora will
 have to pay Rodríguez's bill.

 FOCUS ON VENEZUELA

 Interior Minister Luis Miquilena and Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel have denied that Montesinos, or anyone named Rodríguez Pérez, has entered Venezuela, and
 promised to cooperate with Peruvian authorities.

 Said Rangel: ``If Montesinos is in the national territory under his own name or an assumed name, we will immediately proceed to detain him and deport him to Peru.''

 But speculation that the government could be protecting Montesinos surged after the local press revealed that the Chávez government abruptly blocked the extradition of
 an alleged Colombian guerrilla, wanted in his native country on charges of hijacking an airplane, in February.

 José María Ballestas, the guerrilla suspect, had been living in Caracas for months with false Venezuelan identification papers. Unconvincing explanations by Venezuelan
 government officials for the thwarting of his repatriation gave rise to rumors that Ballestas was being protected by the Chávez administration. That, in turn, gave rise to
 suggestions that Montesinos too could be enjoying protected status.

 Miquilena denied that the Chávez administration has offered any protection to Montesinos. ``There's a strong rumor in relation to the possibility that Montesinos has been
 here and based on that conjecture we have opened an investigation,'' Miquilena said. ``But we have not proved in the least that he is in the country.''

 In another development in the mysterious case, the Caracas daily El Universal reported that Montesinos had received aid in Venezuela from the president of the
 Venezuelan baseball league and general manager of the Caracas Lions team, Efrain Muñoz.

 The story was based on a report by El Correo of Peru that Montesinos' companion, Aurora Mejia, had told Peruvian authorities he had entered Aruba and Venezuela with
 the help of a man named Muñoz.

 Confronted by El Universal, Muñoz denied knowing Montesinos, but later admitted to other news media that he had contact with the fugitive after he fled Peru. Muñoz was
 subsequently fired from his job.

                                    © 2001