World News 18-09-2000 Peru`s President Abandon`s Power who: President Alberto Fujimori what: Announces new election and retirement from power where: Peru when: Yesterday snippet: "President Alberto Fujimori of Peru announced new elections yesterday," reports The Telegraph`s Latin America Correspondent Jeremy McDermott, "and said he would not be a candidate, four months after being re-elected in a widely condemned poll." "There were celebrations in the streets of Lima," reports David Lima in The Times, "as opponents of the Government hailed the President`s decision as a victory for democracy". The announcement "was apparently prompted by the release last week of a videotape in which his security chief was seen buying the support of a recalcitrant opposition politician with a thick wad of cash" says Andrew Gumbel in The Independent. "After profound reflection, I do not want to become a disturbing factor, and much less, an obstacle to the strengthening of the democratic system," Señor Fujimori announced in a televised address on Saturday night. Mr Fujimori, an authoritarian right-wing president who governed for ten years and manipulated the judicial system to allow himself to be elected for an unconstitutional third term this May, promised to disband his controversial national security agency. However, "opposition members of Congress are calling for proof that this is being done," says the BBC today, "and some say they are concerned that the security chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, may not obey the order". [... more]

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