THE CASE OF THE WELCHED REWARD

In this nonfiction work, Cymrot, a lawyer, recounts a peculiar case in which a Venezuelan spy sued the nation of Peru.

In the 1990s, Vladimiro Montesinos served as Peru’s “infamous spymaster,” the country’s national security chief under President Alberto Fujimori. When Montesinos was accused of extrajudicial killings, bribery, drug trafficking, and much more, he fled Peru, and despite the dogged efforts of Peruvian authorities, he proved to be a remarkably elusive man. When he was finally found in Venezuela in 2001, Venezuelan spy Jose Guevara claimed that he was responsible for Montesinos’ capture—in his account, he had furnished the man’s whereabouts to the authorities, entitling him to a $5 million reward offered by the Peruvian Cabinet in an emergency decree. Peru claimed he did not satisfy the conditions of the reward. Guevara sued Peru in a United States court. The author, who has 20 years of professional experience in Peru, represented the country. With impressive clarity, Cymrot unravels this exceedingly complex case; a central issue was determining whether a foreign national with no ties to the United States could sue another nation in its courts. An early judgment in the case was astonishingly hostile to Peru and seemed an unhappy omen for its legal prospects (per the United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit: “Anything that makes it easier for countries to welch on their promises to pay for information decreases the real value of any reward they offer and makes it less likely that an offer will be accepted”). The author lucidly limns the extraordinary details of Montesinos’ capture as well as the grim history of Peru under Fujimori’s often brutal tenure as president. A fascinating blend of history, legal drama, and espionage thriller, Cymrot’s story is as engrossing as it is historically illuminating. The author is a talented storyteller—he painstakingly documents every relevant detail but never at the expense of the larger narrative.

A captivating account of a spectacular legal drama.