cover image In the Forests of the Night: Encounters in Peru: With Terrorism, Drug-Running and Military Oppression

In the Forests of the Night: Encounters in Peru: With Terrorism, Drug-Running and Military Oppression

John Simpson. Random House (NY), $25 (307pp) ISBN 978-0-679-43297-5

Simpson, one of Britain's best-known TV journalists, makes the point that, as supplier of three-quarters of the raw material for the world's supply of cocaine, Peru ``impinges increasingly on almost all of us.'' In this haunting report, he reveals the Peruvian Army's deep involvement in the international drug trade and its policy of eliminating those who question its activities. Simpson's book is based on interviews with warlords in the dangerous hinterlands and on the testimony of surviving victims; he also interviewed the top leadership in Lima. Said Vice President Maximo San Roman: ``Peru is in the hands of a man who carries out murders, is a drug trafficker, and whose control over the President is based on the President's own moral failings.'' The man referred to is President Alberto Fujimori's principal adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos, a lawyer specializing in defending prominent citizens in the drug trade and senior military officers accused of human rights abuses. Simpson's description of their partnership paints a convincing portrait of corruption in Peru's present government. Photos. (Sept.)