Virginia "Vicky" Peláez Ocampo (born 1956 in

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...

, Peru) is a

Peruvian Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...

journalist and columnist, currently for '' The Moscow News'' newspaper. She is known for pleading guilty on 8 July 2010 for working in the United States as an unregistered foreign agent for Russia. She is also known for her leftist writings in ''

El Diario La Prensa ''El Diario Nueva York'' is the largest and the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States. Published by ImpreMedia, the paper covers local, national and international news with an emphasis on Latin America, as well as human-i ...

'', a New York City Spanish language newspaper. Prior to working in the United States, Peláez was one of the first female television reporters in Peru where she reported for Frecuencia Latina.

Career

Peláez was one of the few women journalists in Peru in the 1980s and established a reputation as a "colorful" reporter for Frecuencia Latina (Channel 2) in Lima. The Peruvian magazine ''Teleguía'' called her "the most aggressive journalist on TV." The Peruvian CNN journalist Claudia Rebaza described Peláez in this period as a controversial figure, known for interjecting herself into stories and for a sensationalist style. In 1984, Peláez and her cameraman Percy Raborg were kidnapped by the Peruvian rebel group

Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ( es, Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, abbreviated MRTA) was a Peruvian Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group which started in the early 1980s. Their self-declared goal was to demonstrate to leftist g ...

(MRTA). MRTA demanded Frecuencia Latina air a propaganda video in exchange for the release of Peláez and Raborg. The station agreed to air the video and Peláez and Raborg were released hours after airing. Raborg has since stated that Peláez was a willing participant in the kidnapping. Peláez moved to the United States shortly after the MRTA incident. She worked for the New York-based ''El Diario La Prensa'' for more than two decades. Her

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

writingsJillian Scharr & Juan DeJesus
Vicky Pelaez: Journalist, Radical, Russian Spy?: Judge Releases Pelaez on Bail

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...

(2 July 2010). were critical of United States foreign policy and strongly supportive of Latin American leaders

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Repub ...

and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2 ...

. At the time of her arrest, Peláez was a resident of

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York (state), New York, after New York City and Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. The popul ...

Illegals Program

In June 2010, Peláez, along with her husband Mikhail Anatolyevich Vasenkov (Михаил Анатольевич Васенков, alias Juan Lazaro) and nine others, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

. The operations of this group was dubbed by American authorities as the " Illegals Program" directed by Russia. Waldo Mariscal, the eldest son of Peláez, claimed the U.S. government was persecuting his parents for their political views. On 8 July 2010, Peláez pleaded guilty to working in the United States as an unregistered foreign agent for Russia, and agreed to be

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

and never return, in exchange for the U.S. dropping the more serious charge of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdiction ...

and waiving any jail time. On 10 July, Peláez and Vasenkov were two of ten Russian agents who were exchanged for four prisoners held by Russia in an elaborate U.S.-Russian deal. They were returned to their handlers in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

along with the other traded Russian spies. Peláez and Vasenkov expressed a desire to leave Russia and go to Peru. ''

La República LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' reported that the couple permanently moved to Peru in December 2013.

Aftermath

Since August 2011, Peláez has been a contributor to ''The Moscow News''.Vicky Pelaez
The list of her articles published in The Moscow News.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelaez, Vicky 1956 births 1984 crimes in Peru 2010 in Russia Living people Kidnapped Peruvian people People deported from the United States Peruvian women journalists Peruvian women columnists Russian spies Kidnappings in Peru