U.S. EYES ON PERU

WASHINGTON - The United States called yesterday for an orderly political
transition in Peru, a critical ally in the deepening drug war in South
America, after its president resigned in a crisis sparked by corruption.

President Alberto Fujimori sent his resignation from Tokyo amid rumors he
was seeking asylum in the land of his parents as his opponents moved to
dismantle his 10-year hold on power.

U.S. officials said it was up to Peruvians to decide who takes over as
caretaker until elections are held April 8.

The White House National Security Council said the Peruvian government had
informed the United States that Fujimori planned to stay in Japan
"indefinitely."

But White House officials said they were concerned that former intelligence
chief Vladimiro Montesinos, at the center of the political scandal that
undid Fujimori, was still in Peru.

Montesinos fled Peru but returned after Panama denied him political asylum
and is wanted on money-laundering charges.

Political analysts said Washington had never been comfortable with
Fujimori's undemocratic actions, starting in 1992, when he shut down the
Peruvian Congress and judiciary.

But Fujimori won points by moving quickly to defeat two Marxist guerrilla
insurgencies and turning around a collapsing economy, putting the Andean
country back on its feet.

The president and his shady intelligence chief became vital allies in the
war against cocaine production and trafficking, particularly in the
mid-1990s, when Washington blacklisted Colombia's then President Ernesto
Samper for accepting drug cartel money to finance his election campaign.

"The United States was never happy with Fujimori's less-than-democratic
practices. But Fujimori's response was very definite: 'I will cooperate
fully and unconditionally on the drug front,"' said Russell Crandall,
professor of political science at Davidson College in North Carolina.

With guerrilla leaders locked up or dead and coca plantations in clear
decline, Washington began to pay more attention to democratic institutions,
Crandall said.