id: 88634
date: 12/7/2006 22:47
refid: 06LIMA4621

VZCZCXYZ0007
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DE RUEHPE #4621 3412247
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 072247Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3269
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4167
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7122
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 9992
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC QUITO 0877
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0994
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC

UNCLAS LIMA 004621

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, SNAR, PE 
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL BOARD EXPOSES NARCO-CANDIDATES

Sensitive But Unclassified, Please Handle Accordingly.

1. (U) Summary: The National Electoral Board (JNE) on 
November 14 identified more than 200 candidates in local 
elections who had lied on their resumes, including some who 
had hidden ties to narcotrafficking.  Most of the publicized 
narco-candidates did not win.  Despite evidence of 
narco-influence, the JNE President said the number of 
narco-candidates was not/not rising, but rather increased 
official scrutiny of candidate lists had led to more 
discoveries.  Former Interior Minister Rospigliosi disagreed, 
and claimed the presence of narcos in public office was 
becoming more widespread.   Whatever the case, political 
parties must step up to the challenge of policing candidate 
lists and culling candidates with questionable pasts. End 
Summary.

2. (U) The National Electoral Board on November 14 (five days 
before regional and municipal elections) found that 214 
candidates had lied on their resumes (which the JNE requires 
of all candidates), including 156 who had failed to mention 
past criminal charges.  Many candidates hid links to 
narcotrafficking.  The JNE passed this information to the 
Prosecutors Office for further investigation.  Some high 
profile media reports about the discovery followed.

3. (U) In some cases, the deceptions and links to 
narcotrafficking were serious.  For example, Humberto Chavez 
Penaherrera, an APRA mayoral candidate in a San Martin 
(Huallaga Valley) district, had a criminal record and is the 
brother of a convicted narcotrafficker.  (Note: Chavez 
Penaherrera and another APRA candidate linked to 
narcotrafficking were subjects of front page stories leading 
to accusations that APRA Secretary General Mauricio Mulder 
had not properly vetted APRA candidate lists. End Note.) 
Pucallpa Mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta, an independent, was 
re-elected despite being linked to local narcotraffickers and 
the murder of a local journalist.  Luis Sante Zubia Cortez, 
of Si Cumple in Moquegua, was removed from the party list 
before the elections and detained by authorities after the 
JNE announced he was wanted for embezzlement.

4. (SBU) JNE President Enrique Mendoza told Poloffs that the 
influence of narcotraffickers was not necessarily worse than 
past years, but that increased and more systematic scrutiny 
of candidate lists had led to discoveries that may not have 
been made in previous years.  He noted that during the recent 
regional/municipal elections, the JNE, for the first time, 
had reviewed resumes and looked for inconsistencies.  Mendoza 
said Peru needed a massive voter education campaign to 
increse citizen awareness about the election process and to 
prevent narco-penetration of the political system in the 
future.

5. (SBU) Former Interior Minister and counternarcotics expert 
Fernando Rospigliosi told Poloffs that "many more 
(narcotrafficker sympathizers) were elected than you think." 
He highlighted a number of pro-coca radical candidates in 
Huanuco, San Martin, and the VRAE who are not explicitly 
narcotraffickers but allegedly received their financial 
support.  Unlike Mendoza, Rospigliosi said the 
narcotraffickers" influence in the elections had increased, 
primarily because candidates needed cash and narcotraffickers 
had large amounts of that on hand.  He further observed that 
the election of pro-coca candidates was proof of 
narcotrafficking influence.

6. (SBU) Comment: JNE oversight revealed the shady 
backgrounds of many candidates in November's municipal 
elections, but the information emerged only days before the 
voting.  Peruvian political parties (even one as well 
organized as APRA) are vulnerable to candidates with easy 
access to large amounts of cash.  The JNE deserves credit for 
exposing an ongoing problem, but the parties will need to 
develop stricter internal controls to eliminate influence of 
illicit money and questionable candidates.  It is unclear 
whether parties, whose credibility is low and whose oversight 
capabilities are minimal, will be up to the task.  End 
Comment. 

POWERS