Conflicting reports: Spy chief detained or holed up in fort

 BY JUAN O. TAMAYO

 LIMA -- A government crisis sparked by a videotape depicting a bribe to a member of Congress
 deepened Monday as the central figure in the scandal, Peruvian intelligence chief Vladimiro
 Montesinos, remained out of public sight, reportedly inside a military garrison that has long served as his
 headquarters.

 Although some local media reported that Montesinos was under arrest, others said he was
 defying demands for his resignation. Meanwhile, the nation's military command maintained a steadfast
 silence over the crisis that forced President Alberto Fujimori to announce he will leave power.

 ``The country is on edge because we don't know what's going on with this man,'' said opposition
 congressman Luis Ibérico as rumors of an army split with the navy and air force
 over Montesinos swept the nation.

 Lima's CPN radio station reported that Montesinos was under arrest at the
 National Intelligence Service (SIN) headquarters, part of the Las Palmas air base
 outside Lima, on orders from the head of the armed forces, Gen. José Villanueva.

 His sister, Juana Montesinos, gave the story credence later in the day when she
 asked Judge Percy Escobar to issue a writ of habeas corpus forcing the
 government to publicly confirm that he was being detained at Las Palmas.

 But Peru's Justice Minister Alberto Bustamante denied this.

 ``I know that he is in Lima and I know that he is not detained,'' Bustamante told a
 news conference late Monday.

 Former SIN official Francisco Loayza said friends in the heavily guarded SIN
 compound told him the 54-year-old Montesinos was not detained but was
 defiantly entrenched in the building with several loyal army officers.

 A coup is unlikely, Loayza added, but Montesinos ``wants to negotiate an easy
 exit -- exit from the country, exit from the scandal he finds himself in.''

 An opposition congressional delegation that visited SIN headquarters Monday
 was given a written statement by Deputy Commander Col. José Herrera Rosas
 certifying Montesinos ``is not under arrest in the military prison.''

 The conflicting versions kept the crisis wrapped in confusion over the fate of the
 Machiavellian figure considered the power behind Fujimori's 10-year authoritarian
 rule.

 In a surprise announcement Saturday night, Fujimori declared that he would call
 new elections and leave office after opponents released a video showing
 Montesinos early this year paying a $15,000 bribe to an opposition lawmaker to
 switch sides.

 His capitulation was a shocking move for a headstrong man who just seven
 weeks ago had begun a third five-year term despite widespread allegations that
 April elections and the May runoff were rigged.

 The United States called Fujimori's announcement an important step that the
 U.S. had hoped he would take in the wake of the ``flawed elections.''

 ``We call on all parties . . . to work toward a peaceful transition and . . . a
 democratic election,'' said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.

 Neither Fujimori nor Montesinos has been seen in public since the president's
 stunning Saturday speech, in which he also promised to disband the SIN, which,
 along with the military, was considered a main pillar of the president's power.

 The powerful armed forces have made no statements either, despite the
 unconfirmed reports that while senior army officers are loyal to Montesinos, the
 air force and navy hierarchy is willing to allow him to face justice.

 ``We need a signal, a clear signal from the armed forces on what's going on,'' said
 respected La Republica newspaper columnist Mirko Lauer.

 ``There are people who think Fujimori's resignation has been a sort of Velvet
 Revolution a la Czechoslovakia, but right now it's more like a chess game being
 played by the military,'' Lauer told The Herald.

 Montesinos has built a strong base of support in the military since he became
 Fujimori's top security advisor in 1990, deciding most promotions and allegedly
 overlooking and even encouraging corruption among top officers.

 Lauer and Loayza said they confirmed reports that Fujimori tried to fire
 Montesinos after the videotape was made public, but that senior army officers
 loyal to the spy chief blocked the attempt.

 Peru's political class, meanwhile, tried to grapple with Fujimori's call for elections
 since the constitution does not give him the power to disband congress or call for
 a ballot.

 Montesinos' arrest, if true, would open the door to negotiations between Fujimori's
 Peru 2000 party and opposition leaders now boycotting all sessions until the spy
 chief is brought to justice.

 Justice Minister Bustamante announced late Monday that the new election would
 be held in in March 2001. Over the next few days the government will announce a
 package of measures aimed at ensuring fair elections, he said.

 Opposition leaders, however, have pressed for an immediate transition.

 Stanford-educated Alejandro Toledo, the opposition presidential candidate who
 boycotted the May runoff alleging fraud, said Fujimori should resign immediately
 to clear the way for a fair ballot.

 ``I will be president,'' said Toledo, a former World Bank economist, proposing a
 unified opposition candidacy.

 But Fernando Olivera, leader of the small opposition Moralizing Independent
 Front, who released the compromising Montesinos video and is reported to have
 at least seven others, has already announced he will run for the presidency.

 Peru 2000 officials have floated the idea that Vice President Francisco Tudela
 could run on a platform of continuing Fujimori's successful economic, anti-guerrilla
 and anti-narcotics policies.

 But Tudela said Monday he would not run.

 Herald special correspondent Lucien O. Chauvin contributed to this report.