DRUG CHARGES DENIED

Caretas, the nation's leading political magazine, said in an article that
the presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo had tested positive for cocaine
at a hospital in 1998. Mr. Toledo, who leads in the polls heading into the
April 8 vote, said the report was part of a dirty tricks campaign to stop
his candidacy. Elaine Karp, Mr. Toledo's wife, has long contended that he
was kidnapped and drugged by government intelligence agents in 1998.