FEARS of a coup against Peru’s Pedro Castillo have intensified after the discovery of an alleged bribery plot by a leading supporter of his rival Keiko Fujimori aimed at preventing him from becoming president.

Plans to block the self-declared Marxist-Leninist from leading the Andean nation are alleged to be spearheaded by brutal former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

He led the violence and oppression that marked the regime of Ms Fujimori’s father Alberto, who ruled between 1990 and 2000.