April 1992 — President Fujimori suspends the constitution with the backing of the army, suspends Congress and the judiciary and rules by decree for the rest of the year. A new single chamber legislature is elected.
May 3 1996 — While covering a labor dispute between municipal employees and the mayor's office, security personnel try to prevent three media personnel, Jose Llaja, a cameraman with Canal 5 television, Enrique Cuñeo, a photographer with the daily El Comercio and Javier Zapata, a photographer with the weekly magazine Caretas, from filming the event by hitting them and destroying their cameras.
Jose La Madrid, the head of the Lima police, is found responsible for the hostile behavior of the officers at the demonstration.
August 1996 — An imprisoned drug lord, Demetrio Chavez Penaherrera, testifies in court that Vladimiro Montesinos, the chief of the National Intelligence Services, accepted bribes worth US$50,000 from him every month to enable Chavez to operate freely in the Campanilla and inform him about other anti-drug operations in the area.
October 24 1996 — The director and reporter for the program La Revista Dominical, Lucar and Perez Luna, report that they have been harassed by unidentified men who have been keeping a constant watch over the Channel Four offices in vans. The journalists claim the harassment is related to news reports concerning a well-known airline executive's alleged ties to drug traffickers. Both Lucar and Luna claim the same vehicles regularly park outside their homes and follow their whereabouts.
April 6 1997 — Leonor Le Rosa, an intelligence agent, reveals her story about how she was tortured by the Peruvian intelligence agency, to a television station. In January of this year, she was detained and tortured on accusations that she had informed newspapers of military plans to intimidate and assassinate opposition activists and journalists. La Rosa named four intelligence agents as directly responsible. She was taken into a military hospital after she was abused.
August 1998 — The National Jury of Elections (JNE — Jurado Nacional de Elecciones) rules that a congressional vote is required to authorize a referendum on Fujimori's right to stand for re-election. This contradicts a ruling they made before, which ensured Congress would be able to block a citizen's initiative to force a referendum. Citizens' groups already collect the required 1.4 million signatures needed for the referendum, and polls indicate that 70 percent of Lima's population supports it, yet Congress votes not to authorize the initiative.
September 2000 — Vladimiro Montesinos is involved in a corruption scandal after he is caught on video trying to bribe an opposition politician. A broadcasted video shows Montesinos offering US$15,000 to Alberto Kouri, a congressman, to join President Fujimori's governing coalition. Following this scandal, Montesinos flees to Panama and President Fujimori deactivates the National Intelligence Services.
November 20 2000 — As the Montesinos scandal grows and harms Fujimori's reputation and credibility, Congress dismisses President Fujimori declaring him morally unfit to govern. Fujimori flees to Japan.
Later in 2001, authorities in Peru investigate allegations that Fujimori fled with millions of dollars in gold bullion, cash and diamonds when he left for Japan in November 2000.
March 2001 — Judges order former President Fujimori to face charges of dereliction of duty.
April 2001 — Heads of the army, air force and navy resign from posts because of their association with former President Fujimori. New heads are sworn in shortly afterwards.
May 2001 — The president of Supreme Court along with nine senior judges are sacked because of their association with fugitive former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos. The deputy Treasury minister, who allegedly paid Montesinos US$15 million to leave Peru, also resigns.
June 2001 — Alejandro Toledo, a centre-left economist, is elected as president of Peru.
Vladimir Montesinos is detained in Venezuela, flown back to Peru and is held in a top security prison, for charges of corruption.
September 2001 — An international arrest warrant for former President Fujimori is issued by Supreme Court judges. Alberto Fujimori is accused of sharing responsibility for 25 death squad slayings that he ordered in the early years of his rule.
July 2002 — Prosecutors accuse Fujimori of treason. Montesinos is sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.
August 15 2002 — Peru's first lady Eliane Karp resigns from her job as a banking consultant, which pays her US$10,000 per month, after revelations of her employment contract raises suspicions of her husband's influence on her employment and salary. Earlier on, President Toledo addressed the nation on national television in an attempt to defend his wife.
August 20 2002 — The Swiss government returns US$77.5 million to Peru. They believe the money is linked to former Peruvian spy Vladimiro Montesinos, claiming it came from corrupt arms deals. Included in the amount are assets owned by Gen. Nicolas de Bari Hermoza Rios, Peru's former arms chief, who is also facing corruption charges. US$33 million, which is believed to be linked to Montesinos, is blocked in Swiss Banks.
May 2003 — Montesinos receives a five-year sentence for abuse of power and an eight-year sentence for embezzlement of funds.
January 12 2004 — The United States proclaims its plans to return US$20 million to Peru. They believe the money was stolen for a corrupt government official and hidden in American bank accounts. In December of 2003, Peru accused Victor Venero Garrido of stashing the money in U.S. accounts with the assistance of Vladimiro Montesinos.
January 30 2004 — Vice President Raul Diez Canseco steps down from his post, in the midst of allegations that he gave a tax break to his girlfriend's father. This scandal forced him to resign from his post as Trade minister two months earlier.
April 14 2004 — Congress approves murder charges against former President Fujimori for allegedly authorizing the death squad killing of a union leader around ten years ago.
June 2004 — Montesinos is sentenced to further 15 years in jail on charges of corruption, embezzlement and conspiracy.
May 2005 — President Toledo is found guilty, by the congressional commission, of electoral fraud. Prosecutors allege his party was responsible for forging many of the signatures used to register for votes in 2000. Congress, however, votes against impeaching the president.
November 2005 — Former President Fujimori is arrested in Chile, after arriving there from Japan, pending extradition proceedings.
March 2006 — Host of the weekly television program Confidencial, Marilú Gambini Lostanau, receives death threats after reporting on the influence of drug traffickers in the country's politics. Gambini and her family flee to Lima after reporting the threats.
June 2006 — Peru holds a second round of presidential elections in which Alan Garcia, a former president, emerges as the winner and becomes Peru's next president.
July 20 2006 — High Court releases Amaro Leon Leon, Yungay mayor, along with two other defendants, on the basis of lack of evidence. They were convicted in February 2004 of killing Antonio de la Torre EcheandÃa, a radio reporter who criticized the local government.
Leon threatens legal action against Echeandia's wife, Ramirez, when she seeks more information about the court's decision. After being intimidated by Leon's supporters protesting outside of her house, she decides to leave Yungay and move her family to Lima.
September 21 2006 — Vladimiro Montesinos is sentenced to 20 years in prison for engineering a deal that sent 10,000 assault rifles to Colombian guerillas. He is responsible for mediating a web of negotiations to bring rifles from Jordan to the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia. January 26 2007 — Director of the Casma based daily El Guerrero, Antonio Asalde Lluen, is threatened by Yutaca Cadota, a personal assistant to the local mayor, after reporting on corruption issues of the local government. Cadota threatens to kill Lluen and his family if he does not stop writing about the mayor.
May 22 2007 — Director of the weekly Investigando Chimbote, Rocío Vásquez Goicochea, is convicted of defamation. The case is related to Vasquez's reporting on a local businessman, Samuel Dyer, his company and their illegal fishing practices. Vasquez claims all her allegations are supported by documents, yet Dyer denies the accusations. Vasquez is nevertheless fined for 3,000 soles and receives a one year suspended prison sentence.
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