COCAINE LORD'S BROTHER CLAIMS FUJIMORI ACCEPTED $1 MILLION

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A jailed brother of slain Colombian cocaine lord
Pablo Escobar claimed in an interview Sunday that Peruvian President
Alberto Fujimori took a million-dollar contribution from Escobar during his
first campaign.

According to uncorroborated charges leveled in Cambio news magazine by drug
convict Roberto Escobar, the alleged go-between was Vladimiro Montesinos,
Fujimori's former spy chief and top aide who has been in hiding since last
month and is facing various criminal charges.

Escobar, a former Medellin cartel lieutenant who is nearly blind due to a
1993 letter bomb, provided no hard evidence for the alleged 1989
contribution. "In the mafia there are never any documents lying around,
much less so about this," he told Cambio.

In Peru on Sunday, a prosecutor called for an investigation, while two
people involved in Fujimori's first election bid denied the allegations. He
took office in 1990.

Fujimori's ex-wife, congresswoman Susana Higuchi, called allegations of
drug campaign cash "totally false, given that during 1989 we didn't even
know that Vladimiro Montesinos existed." Higuchi said Fujimori's shoestring
campaign never had more than $250,000.

Francisco Loayza, a former intelligence agent assigned by then-President
Alan Garcia to assist Fujimori during his campaign, said he introduced
Fujimori and Montesinos in April 1990.

Jose Ugaz, the Peruvian special prosecutor investigating Montesinos, called
for a preliminary investigation -- but noted that the charges came from a
convicted criminal.

While criticizing Fujimori's strong-arm tactics in Peru, U.S. officials
have considered him a faithful ally in the war on drugs.

Even unsubstantiated allegations were bound to fuel the political
uncertainty swirling around Peru after Fujimori's re-election bid this year
was marred by fraud charges and then a bribery scandal involving Montesinos.

Fujimori has agreed step down in July after holding new elections.
Meanwhile, his security forces are continuing a weeks-old manhunt for
Montesinos, who went into hiding following a failed asylum bid in Panama.

Montesinos faces criminal complaints ranging from money laundering and
directing state-sponsored death squads to skimming millions of dollars in
profits from the narcotics trade during his 10 years as Fujimori's spy chief.

The new allegations only add to the fallen spymaster's intrigue.

According to Roberto Escobar, Montesinos visited Pablo Escobar on one of
the drug lord's ranches in 1987, then solicited a million-dollar cash
donation in late 1989 for Fujimori's campaign. Escobar contends that Pablo
Escobar offered the money in an international phone call with Montesinos
and Fujimori.

"Montesinos spoke from Fujimori's campaign, said that he was going to be
the president's right-hand man and then put Fujimori on the line, and he
told Pablo that if he was elected president he would be glad to help out in
any way he could," Escobar claimed. The date of the alleged phone call was
not given.

Fujimori was voted into office in a June 1990 second-round election and
assumed the presidency a month later. His candidacy was considered a long
shot until just before his strong showing in the April first round.

According to Roberto Escobar, 52, the Medellin cartel was buying protection
for its drug operations in Peru. The cartel purchased semi-processed
cocaine from its southern Andean neighbor, and Montesinos -- once in the
government -- helped ensure that Peruvian authorities allowed planes and
fishing boats packed with "coca paste" to reach Colombian unimpeded,
Escobar claimed.

The Medellin cartel dissolved after Colombian police killed Pablo Escobar,
Roberto's younger brother, in a 1993 shootout.

During the 1980s Montesinos worked as a lawyer specializing in drug
trafficking cases.