The new head of the National Intelligence Directorate (RELIGION), retired colonel of the Peruvian Army John Charles Reading O’ Connorassumes said position after his time as advisor to the Intelligence Commission of the Congress of the republic.
The president of this last parliamentary group, José Cueto, confirmed to El Comercio that Liendo held said position in the Legislature since July 2021. “He has resigned from the commission yesterday [sábado]. He called me, said that they had called him and that he planned to accept. I told him to present his resignation letter, because he cannot be an advisor to the commission and head of the DINI, “he said.
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Cueto also stated that Liendo assumes the leadership of DINI as part of a “personal decision.” In this sense, he denied having recommended the retired colonel to the government of President Dina Boluarte.
“It is a good element. I think the designation is very good. I know him and he is a very good intelligence analyst, ”added the parliamentarian. Regarding the political message in the fact that the former adviser of a commission chaired by a group of opposition to the government of the vacado Pedro Castillo becomes part of the management of Dina Boluarte, he asserted that he does not care.
“I have five intelligence advisers in the commission. They are people seasoned in intelligence. If they are offered to step aside, it is a personal decision. They are not part of the bench, they are technical people. They are not from any party or from the bench. If he were from the bench that is in opposition and goes, that is something else. But in this case it is a technician from the commission, ”he added.
Boluarte interviewed him
In “Punto Final”, the president Dina Boluarte commented that she interviewed Liendo and described him as a proven person.
“I didn’t know him before, he was recommended to me. I interviewed him yesterday [sábado] we have talked He seems to me a very suitable person, I have seen his resume, ”she stressed.
The retired colonel takes office in replacement of retired Army General Wilson Barrantes, appointed by the vacated President Pedro Castillo and the then Prime Minister Betssy Chávez three days before the coup d’état on December 7.
Barrantes was questioned for participating in forums of the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef), the political wing of the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso.
Liendo was head of the Army Intelligence Service, worked in the US Southern Command as a liaison officer, and was a university professor and consultant.
In an interview with DirecTV News Chile last Friday and in a message on LinkedIn, Liendo assured that the recent protests respond to a “planned attack” by Movadef.
According to Infogob, the new head of the DINI unsuccessfully applied in 2014 for the position of provincial councilor of Lima for the now-defunct Vamos Perú party.
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The new head of DINI assured in August of last year that Peru had “the projection of Sendero Luminoso” in power.
Liendo added that, with the Castillo government, they sought to “finish destroying the structures of power.”
Dina Boluarte was part of that government as Vice President of the Republic and Minister of Development and Social Inclusion.