Strongman’s death leaves a legacy of division

Peruvian controversial former president Alberto Fujimori has died at the age of 86.

To his supporters, Fujimori was the president who saved Peru from the twin evils of terrorism and economic collapse.

To his opponents, he was an authoritarian strongman who ignored the country’s democratic institutions to maintain power.

In 2009, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for committing human rights violations while in office, including authorizing death squad killings, but a humanitarian amnesty was reinstated and he was released in December.

An agricultural engineer born to Japanese parents, Fujimori defied the odds by winning Peru’s presidency in 1990, beating Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa.

Fujimori was a political unknown until a few weeks before the vote.

1990: Wins a surprise election victory1992: With the backing of the military, dissolves Peruvian Congress and seizes power1995: Reinstates Congress and wins a second term by an overwhelming margin2000: Re-elected to a third term amid allegations of voter fraud2000: Flees to Japan after the Montesinos scandal2005: Detained in Chile at the request of Peruvian authorities2007: Extradited from Chile to stand trial in Peru2007: Imprisoned for six years for abuse of power2009: Convicted of human rights violations and imprisoned for 25 years2017: Receives pardon for health reasons, sparking protests2019: Supreme Court overturns pardon in 2018, sends him back to prison2023: Released2024: Dies of tongue cancer

Few knew what to expect from him, who took over a country on the brink of economic collapse and plagued by political violence.

He implemented a radical program of free-market reforms, eliminating subsidies, privatizing state-owned enterprises, and reducing the role of the state in almost all sectors of the economy.

This shock therapy caused great hardship for ordinary Peruvians, but it ended rampant hyperinflation and paved the way for sustained economic growth in the late 1990s.

Fujimori has also tackled leftist rebels who have killed thousands in a decade-long insurgency, but says he has never endorsed a “dirty war” against them.

In 1992, the president, with the backing of the military, dissolved Peru’s Congress and courts and seized dictatorial powers.

He justified the move by arguing that the legislature and judiciary had been impeding the security forces’ efforts in the fight against insurgency.

Opposition politicians said he was in fact trying to evade democratic accountability.

However, the arrest that same year of the leader of the main rebel group, the Shining Path, vindicated him in the eyes of many Peruvians.

In 1995, Fujimori ran for reelection and won a landslide victory.

Most voters cited victory over left-wing insurgency and hyperinflation as reasons for their support.

One of the defining events of his presidency was the hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima by Marxist MRTA rebels in 1996-97.

After a four-month stalemate, special forces were sent in to occupy the building.

The operation, which killed all 14 rebels and rescued almost all of the 72 hostages, cemented Fujimori’s reputation as a man of action.

But early into his second term, a growing number of Peruvians began to express concern that the tactics used against the rebels were being used against the president’s democratic opponents.

Critics accused him of using the intelligence service, led by Vladimiro Montesinos, to blackmail and spy on rivals.

They alleged that Trump exerted improper control over the media and the judiciary and used government resources to support his campaign.

The criticism intensified when he announced he would run for an unprecedented third consecutive term.

He won the elections in May 2000, but that victory marked the beginning of his downfall.

Tapes were found showing Montesinos bribing opposition politicians.

After the scandal came to light, the opposition took control of Congress for the first time in eight years and removed President Fujimori from office, citing “moral incompetence.”

In November 2000, he fled to his parents’ native Japan, where he lived in self-imposed exile for five years.

He flew to Chile in November 2005 in an attempt to revive his political career and launch a new bid for the presidency, but was arrested at the request of Peruvian authorities.

Fujimori then fought for two years to prevent his extradition to face a range of charges, but lost in September 2007.

He was convicted of abuse of power in December 2007 and sentenced to six years in prison following the removal of sensitive video and audio tapes from the home of Vladimir Montesinos.

In April 2009, judges found him guilty of authorizing death squad killings in two cases known as La Cantuta and Barrios Altos, as well as of kidnapping a journalist and a businessman.

Fujimori has repeatedly denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.

The 15-month trial and the public division it has caused were reminiscent of the controversies that have dogged Fujimori throughout his political career.

He also led a colourful private life.

During his presidency, Fujimori gave up his role as first lady and divorced his wife, Susana Higuchi, who has a daughter, Keiko.

Fujimori married his longtime Japanese girlfriend, Satomi Kataoka, in 2006 while he was in a Chilean prison facing extradition on corruption and human rights charges.

Keiko Fujimori followed her father into politics and ran as a candidate for the right-wing Popular Forces party in Peru’s 2010, 2016 and 2021 presidential elections.

The father and daughter maintained a close relationship, and while the father was in prison serving a 25-year sentence for human rights violations, the daughter campaigned tirelessly for his release.

The former president was pardoned and released in 2017, but was returned to prison in 2019 after Peru’s Supreme Court overturned the controversial pardon.

The pardon was eventually reinstated last year and he was released in December.