Officials Say Skeptical U.S. Plans to Work With Fujimori

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- After harsh denunciations of Peru's recent
presidential election, top Clinton administration officials say they
do not have enough leverage to force a new vote and will work with
President Alberto K. Fujimori while continuing to press for reform.

With less than a week before Mr. Fujimori is to be sworn in for a
third term after an election and campaign widely criticized for gross
irregularities, administration officials say they will send the
American ambassador in Lima, John Hamilton, to attend Mr. Fujimori's
inauguration next Friday.

Mr. Hamilton's presence will signal "the reality" that Mr. Fujimori "is
going to head the government of Peru at least for the foreseeable
future, and we acknowledge that we have mutual, bilateral business to
conduct," a senior administration official said.

Critics in Congress and human rights groups say the softening of the
American stance sets a troubling precedent in a hemisphere where
several elected leaders have recently taken steps toward more
authoritarian rule.

Peru is perhaps the United States' best-performing ally in the fight
against the illegal drug trade in the region, and administration
officials privately acknowledged that concerns about maintaining
antinarcotics cooperation played a hand in their decision-making.

They also attributed the shift to a number of other factors:
resistance from key Latin American governments to tougher action; Mr.
Fujimori's ample financial reserves, which would make sanctions less
effective; and discomfort with the leader of Peru's opposition,
Alejandro Toledo, whom they see as too weak and inexperienced to lead
a successful drive to restore democracy in Peru.

Congress eliminated $42 million in aid to Lima last month and the
Senate approved a provision to cut off more funds for Peru if the
president reports that Mr. Fujimori has failed to make "substantial
progress in improving its respect for human rights." But exemptions
for counternarcotics and humanitarian help left the actual amount of
aid at stake at less than $10 million.

While American officials acknowledged having doubts that Mr. Fujimori
is prepared to make key democratic reforms, they say that in the end
they decided to follow the lead of the 34-nation Organization of
American States, a consensus-driven group that has called for
negotiations with Mr. Fujimori and has ruled out more forceful action,
like sanctions.

In a scathing report on Peru's election, the group's own monitors
denounced the harassment of opposition candidates, government control
of the media, arrests of would-be voters and the mutilation of ballots
in the first round. Mr. Toledo ultimately asked to have his name
scratched from ballots in the May 28 runoff, charging he could not get
a fair vote.

But at the O.A.S. annual assembly last month in Canada, Mexico, Brazil
and Venezuela steered the region toward negotiations with Mr. Fujimori,
administration officials said. A high-level O.A.S. delegation then drew
up proposals aimed at "strengthening democracy" under the current
Peruvian government and appointed an envoy to monitor any progress.

Administration officials said they favored a call for new elections in
Peru using the threat of multilateral economic sanctions as leverage.
"There's a little bit of uncertainty as to how to proceed," said one
State Department official. "The U.S. was hoping the O.A.S. would take
the ball and run with it." Instead, the official said, the O.A.S. "has
taken new elections off the table."

While withholding some aid to Peru could set back United States efforts
to eradicate drug crops and disrupt trafficking, critics of the
administration decision say the greater risk is tolerating stolen
elections.

"The risk here is sending a message to the rest of the hemisphere that
if you cooperate with us on narcotics interdiction, everything else
you do including the suppression of democracy is fine," said
Representative Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.