The court's sentence was the highest yet in six trials involving the fallen spymaster.

Montesinos, 59, faces dozens more charges, including corruption, illicit association, drug trafficking and authorizing death squad killings while serving as Fujimori's security adviser in the 1990s.

Monday's guilty verdict was the fifth for Montesinos since his trials began in 2002. Previously, courts had convicted him on four lesser corruption counts, with concurrently served jail time adding up to nine years. A court last week found him not guilty on charges that he helped the cousin of a prominent mayor escape drug-related punishment.

In the most serious trial to date, Montesinos faces charges of masterminding the 1999 delivery of 10,000 assault rifles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence in that trial, which opened in January.

Police captured the fallen spy chief in Venezuela in June 2001,seven months after the fall of Fujimori's corruption-ridden regime.

Fujimori now lives in Tokyo where he is protected from extradition due to citizenship extended to him through his Japanese-born parents.
 

Venezuelan president to learn from China's experience in development
China has set an example to the developing countries with its successful economic development which deserves Venezuela's drawing on the experience, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday.

Chavez made the remarks at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Venezuela. He said China, once an impoverished and backward country, has made significant achievements in such fields as industry, agriculture, science, technology and education.

China's experience in development would provide beneficial reference to the acceleration of Venezuela's economic development, he said.

Over the past 30 years, said the president, the two countries have made consistent efforts to lay a solid foundation for the further development of friendly relations.

Chavez said bilateral relations have developed rapidly in the past five years, especially in fields of agriculture, energy, science, technology and infrastructure. He noted that cooperation in these fields will create a bright prospect for more extensive and comprehensive cooperation in the future.

The president also said his government will stick to the one-China policy and he wished greater success for China's economic development.
 

Nicaragua unlikely to send more troops to Iraq: general
Nicaragua is unlikely to send more troops to Iraq before stability returns to that country, Nicaragua's army chief commander Javier Carrion said Monday.

The general said that the situation in Iraq is unstable and "we must wait because a lot is missing to reconstruct stability and we do not want to enter a turmoil."

Carrion made the remarks following press reports that Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos had promised the United States to send more troops to Iraq to help clear landmines or to aid war victims.

"I have to be prudent on sending more troops though it is the commitment the president has made," said Carrion. "The situation in Iraq is not easy at all and the president did not order the formation of a task force for Iraq."

The general said that the army did prepare a contingent but it was disbanded because it lacked both the conditions and resources to go.
 

Colombian police readies for further peace talks
Colombian police arrived in a buffer zone set aside for peace talks between the government and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) group, official sources said Monday.

The peace talks will begin Thursday in the buffer zone at Santafe de Ralito in the northern province of Cordoba. The buffer zone is a 37,296-hectare ranch where talks are to concentrate on the demobilization of AUC's 20,000 paramilitaries.

Twenty-three officials are to take part in the peace talks. Those from the government side include Colombia's high commissioner for peace, Cordoba's governor, and the mayor of Tierralta.

The AUC, mainly funded by landowners and drug dealers, was founded in April 1997 to fight left-wing guerrillas who also try to control plantations and sales of coca leaves, the raw materials for producing cocaine.

The AUC, under the mediation of the Organization of American States (OAS), held talks with the Colombian government in July last year and agreed to disarm by the end of 2005.

Sergio Caramagna, chief OAS mediator in Colombia, said Monday that the AUC is hoped to demonstrate patriotic approach in the negotiations as a clear and firm step toward the peace process.