BY MONTE HAYES
 Associated Press

 LIMA, Peru -- The race to unseat President Alberto Fujimori in April's election is
 turning into a bruising gantlet for opposition candidates.

 When Mayor Alberto Andrade appeared recently at a public ceremony in
 downtown Lima, he was met by a hail of stones from protesters and had to make
 a hasty retreat, shielded by aides, while police watched impassively.

 When Luis Castañeda, former head of the Social Security Institute, arrived in the
 highland city of Caraz for a nighttime address, police barricades blocked his
 caravan's access to the main plaza.

 And when he began to speak, the power was cut to his sound system and a
 police band appeared in the plaza, blaring marching music that drowned out his
 words.

 U.S. SENATE WEIGHS IN

 ``Campaigning has become an endurance test in the face of an omnipresent
 police state,'' political analyst Mirko Lauer said. ``Since it's not able to assemble
 a majority, the government has dedicated itself to demolishing its electoral rivals.''

 A growing number of critics, both inside and outside Peru, accuse Fujimori and
 his allies in military intelligence of a systematic, illegal campaign financed by
 public funds to discredit and intimidate leading opposition candidates.

 Last month, the U.S. Senate added its voice to those expressing growing
 concern. A unanimous bipartisan resolution condemned Fujimori for manipulating
 the judiciary and electoral authorities, and intimidating the news media, in a bid to
 stay in power.

 Fujimori's foes say the National Intelligence Service, under the command of
 Vladimiro Montesinos, is behind what they describe as the dirtiest campaign in
 modern Peruvian history.

 They accuse the intelligence service of financing violent protests against
 adversaries and employing smear attacks in a half-dozen sensationalist tabloids,
 while at the same time pressuring television stations to deny access to
 opposition views.

 NOT A CANDIDATE?

 ``This is not good for democracy,'' said Castañeda, 52, who has climbed into
 second place in the polls, behind Fujimori. ``It stains the electoral process.''

 Fujimori has denied his government is behind any dirty tricks campaign, and his
 allies have poured scorn on his opponents for complaining.

 Romulo Muñoz, a member of the Fujimori-dominated electoral board, called
 Andrade and Castañeda ``crybabies.'' Ricardo Marcenaro, vice president of the
 Fujimori-controlled Congress, said Andrade ``should stop playing the victim.''

 Fujimori has not confirmed his candidacy, but he is widely expected to run.

 His supporters in Congress have circumvented a constitutional ban on a third
 consecutive term with a controversial law, and his opponents say his frequent
 travels to poor areas of the country to distribute food and other aid show that he
 plans a reelection bid.

 Fujimori says he will announce his decision at the end of the year.

 FUJIMORI SURGES AHEAD

 Fujimori, 61, was first elected in 1990 and was reelected in 1995. For years he
 maintained high popularity because of his crackdown on leftist rebels and his
 success in ending the economic chaos of the 1980s.

 Despite a deep two-year recession and high unemployment, Fujimori has surged
 into first place in recent polls after trailing as far back as third.

 Andrade, 55, popular for his success in getting thousands of sidewalk vendors off
 the streets and beautifying Lima's colonial downtown, had a 2-1 margin over
 Fujimori as recently as six months ago.

 But that margin has been reversed, and Andrade has fallen into third place after
 attacks in the tabloids and difficulties in campaigning in the interior because of
 violent protests against his rallies.

 During a recent meeting with foreign correspondents, Andrade displayed copies of
 the tabloids, which carried headlines referring to the corpulent mayor as ``Fatso''
 and ``Porky'' and accusing him of corruption. A typical headline in El Tio alleged
 he had stolen ``even the bathroom plumbing in City Hall.''

 ``The strategy of this garbage press is based on the Nazi concept -- lie, lie,
 something will stick,'' Andrade said. ``We're not playing the victim. We ARE the
 victim of permanent government harassment.''

 HEADLINES' IMPACT

 Several weeks ago, high-level editors resigned from two of the tabloids, El Chato
 and El Tio, alleging that the owners had received handsome sums from the
 government over the past 10 months to print banner headlines trashing Andrade
 and Castañeda. They said the papers were told what headlines to print.

 Giovanna Peñaflor, director of Imasen, which conducts public opinion studies,
 says many impoverished Peruvians don't buy papers, but they read the front-page
 headlines of tabloids on sale at kiosks.

 ``If the same headline appears in two or three papers, the repetition of the
 headline generates a sense of credibility in people,'' she said.

 At the same time, television stations have virtually closed their studios to Andrade
 and Castañeda.

 A study by Transparencia, a private citizens' group working for clean elections,
 revealed that in television news reports in October, Fujimori appeared 78 percent
 of the time, Andrade 11 percent and Castañeda 5 percent.

 The virtual boycott has even extended to paid advertising. In mid-November, three
 major stations rejected paid ads by Andrade announcing his formal candidacy for
 the presidency.

 ``Where is our right and freedom of expression when we can't even express
 ourselves by paying,'' Andrade complained.

                     Copyright 1999 Miami Herald