Ex-Peruvian Leader Jailed In Chile

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was arrested early Monday, hours after defying an international arrest warrant by flying from Japan to Chile.

Fujimori, 67, was taken into custody on orders from a Chilean judge, police said. He was in "good condition, although he showed a moderate high blood pressure" when examined, said Police Chief Mariela Gomez, head the Chilean section of Interpol.

Lawyers for Fujimori reportedly were appealing the arrest, which had been requested by the Peruvian government as a first step toward seeking his extradition.

Fujimori, who fled Lima in 2000 amid a growing corruption scandal, faces 21 charges in Peru stemming from alleged corruption and his alleged support of a paramilitary death squad. He resigned from the Peruvian presidency in a fax sent from Japan, which had granted him citizenship.

He landed in Chile mid-afternoon Sunday, his first trip back to South America since fleeing Peru five years earlier.

Hours later, Peruvian Ambassador Jose Antonio Meier formally requested Fujimori's arrest. "I have delivered to the Chilean government a formal request that this fugitive from the Peruvian justice be arrested with the purpose of his later extradition," Meier said.

Judge Orlando Alvarez then ordered Fujimori detained.

Police took Fujimori from his hotel early Monday to a police academy in a western Santiago suburb. State television showed a still picture of Fujimori leaving the hotel in a car.

A small group of demonstrators, including Peruvians, rallied peacefully in Fujimori's support outside the hotel.

Fujimori had been planning to hold a news conference in Chile to explain his reasons for returning to South America, Luis Silva, one of the four people who arrived in Chile with the former Peruvian leader, said before the arrest.

Silva also gave reporters a brief communique on Fujimori's behalf that said: "It is my intention to remain temporarily in Chile as part of the process for my return to Peru" to run for president in the April 2006 election.

Peru's Congress passed a resolution banning him from holding public office until February 2011.

Fujimori's arrival in Chile comes at a time of tension with Peru over sea boundaries.