LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Speaking after her release from jail, the daughter of ex-spy
                  chief Vladimiro Montesinos defended her fugitive father Thursday, saying that
                  "deep down he is a good person."

                  "My love for him will continue unconditionally, whether he is guilty or innocent,"
                  Silvana Montesinos said in an interview with Canal N television. She described
                  her father as a "super hardworking" studious man.

                  The 25-year-old woman was released Saturday after spending 15 days in jail,
                  held under sweeping anti-corruption legislation spawned by the scandal
                  surrounding her father and former President Alberto Fujimori.

                  Investigators say she is still under investigation for possible links to her father's
                  reputed criminal empire. But some analysts saw her arrest, along with that of her
                  aunt and two uncles who are still being held, as a pressure tactic to make
                  Montesinos resurface.

                  He faces charges ranging from money laundering and influence peddling, to
                  smuggling arms to Colombian guerrillas.

                  Montesinos, for a decade the power broker behind Fujimori, left behind
                  mounting corruption scandals that led to Fujimori's downfall in November.

                  Since then, Peruvians have been shaken by the release of videos secretly
                  recorded by Montesinos, implicating politicians, judges, government officials and
                  business leaders in his web of corruption.

                  Silvana said the 44 criminal investigations of her father -- including allegations he
                  directed death squads and skimmed profits from narcotics traffickers -- have
                  come as a shock to her.

                  "What daughter would let herself believe that her dad is involved in bad things or
                  in illicit acts. No daughter would," she said.

                  Silvana described how family life changed drastically after Montesinos
                  established himself as Fujimori's top adviser following his surprise election
                  victory in 1990.

                  "He stopped living in the house. We stopped doing the things that a family does
                  together," she said. "We didn't have the luxury, so to speak, because he had very
                  important things to do."

                  Peru has been shaken in recent weeks by the release of videos secretly recorded
                  by Montesinos, showing him at work: influencing supreme court judges,
                  politicians, government officials and business leader with favors, political
                  appointments and cash.

                  Switzerland has frozen some $70 million in bank accounts linked to Montesinos,
                  and congressional investigators believe there could be hundreds of millions more
                  in other accounts around the world.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.