they had hired him for a market survey in Peru. Two years later, he submitted copies of the passport and a 1943 Uruguayan birth certificate with a letter asking Peru's military dictator Francisco Morales Bermúdez (the country was then run by a US-friendly junta) for Peruvian citizenship, which Peru granted in 1979. In 1983, "Juan Lazaro" married Vicky Peláez. Peláez was a television reporter in Peru, and a columnist at in New York City. In her writings, Peláez often criticized US policy in Latin America, and supported liberation movements in those countries. In 1985, Peláez and "Lazaro" moved to New York with her son from a previous relationship. "Juan Lazaro" wrote a 1990 article for a European publication that spoke "glowingly" of the Shining Path guerrilla movement. He was described as a "journalist and anthropologist" in the 1998 book Women and Revolution: Global Expression, for which he was a contributing author. Vasenkov studied at the New School for Social Research and taught a class on Latin American and Caribbean Politics at Baruch College for one semester during the 2008–2009 school year as an adjunct professor. According to The New York Times June 29, 2010, report, Vasenkov was a vocal opponent of American foreign policy in class: "He maintained that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a money-making ploy for corporate America. He praised President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and disparaged President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia as a pawn for paramilitary groups that have broad control over drug trafficking." At least one student complained about Vasenkov's teaching and he was let go at the end of the semester. The department chairman reported that Vasenkov's instruction was not up to standard, resulting in his teaching for only one semester, but that he recalled no controversy over any anti-American views. US officials reported that on June 27, 2010, Vasenkov confessed to being a spy and that "Juan Lazaro" was not his real name, though he declined to give his true identity. He additionally stated he was not born in Uruguay, and that Peláez delivered letters to Russian authorities on his behalf. It was later reported that Lazaro's real name is Mikhail Vasenkov. In November 2010, Russian broadsheet Kommersant published Russian anonymous sources' allegations that while in US custody, Vasenkov had three ribs and a leg broken by investigators trying to extract more information from him – a claim assessed by experts as