LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian police arrested seven leftists accused of plotting to disrupt upcoming international meetings in the South American country, the head of police told state news agency Andina on Saturday.
Police chief Gen. Octavio Salazar said authorities arrestedsix women and one man on Friday who belonged to a radicalleftist coalition based in Venezuela known as the BolivarianContinental Coordination group.
"Everything indicates that these people were planning someaction against the summits that will take place in ourcountry," Salazar told local media.
Peru will host a summit of Latin American and Europeanheads of state in May and is the site of an Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation meeting in November.
The seven Peruvians were arrested in northern Peru afterreturning from an international meeting of leftist activists inEcuador's capital, Quito, Salazar told the news agency.
Police officials were not available by telephone to clarifywhat kind of action the group may have been planning.
Salazar said police had linked the Bolivarian ContinentalCoordination group to the Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia, or FARC, and Peru's Tupac Amaru RevolutionaryMovement.
About 70,000 people were kidnapped and killed in Peru from1980 to 2000, as government security forces fought leftistguerrilla groups like Tupac Amaru and the Maoist Shining Path.
Andina news agency reported the police's anti-terrorismunit would take over the case once the seven people underarrest were moved to Lima.
(Reporting by Jean Luis Arce; Writing by Hilary Burke;Editing by Peter Cooney)
