Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters/File
Mr. Fujimori sits in a Lima courtroom on Jan. 8, 2015, during the sentencing in his trial on charges of embezzling state funds.
Mr. Fujimori’s two terms in office were riddled with authoritarian power grabs, corruption, and human rights abuses. After videos of his spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos bribing lawmakers, businessmen, and journalists with stacks of cash were made public in 2000, Mr. Fujimori fled growing protests for Japan, sending his resignation via fax.
“Fujimori was a forerunner of a type of politician who comes to power through the democratic process, but who undermines institutions from the executive branch,” says Mauricio Zavaleta, a Peruvian political scientist. “He had to play by certain democratic rules, but he gradually broke” them.
In 2009, Mr. Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the paramilitary massacres of 25 civilians during a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign. He was also convicted for corruption, embezzlement, usurpation of powers, espionage, and the kidnapping of a journalist. He was Peru’s first former president to be imprisoned in what were widely seen as fair trials, earning Peru international acclaim for fighting impunity.
A number of trials and investigations for other crimes were still pending when he died.
“He died without asking for forgiveness from his victims,” says Rosa del Carmen Reátegui, one of hundreds of mostly Indigenous and poor women in Peru who say they were forced or tricked into sterilization by Mr. Fujimori’s family planning program.
“He was never convicted for our sterilizations,” Ms. Reátegui says. “Fujimori has left us with endless trauma, pain, physical, and psychological suffering, and the continuous struggle to find justice and reparations for the harm caused.”
Peru’s divides
Part of Mr. Fujimori’s lasting political influence is due to the failure of other political leaders and parties to forge a lasting connection with voters in Peru. And many have been tainted with criminal probes of their own. Most of the presidents since Mr. Fujimori have come under investigation for corruption or human rights abuses.
Keiko Fujimori (left) embraces her daughters Kiara and Kaori during her father’s funeral in Lima, Peru, Sept. 14, 2024.
“Fujimori was corrupt. I don’t doubt it,” says José Orizano, a taxi driver in Lima. “But so are all the rest. At least he did something for Peru.”
Regardless of individual opinions about the former president, Fujimorismo is still very much alive. The right-wing populist movement has reemerged as a political force in recent years, gaining influence in key institutions – Congress, the presidency, Peru’s top court, and the ombudsman’s office.
His daughter Keiko Fujimori came in second in the past three presidential elections, losing by a small margin each time. Today, her party is the best-organized political machine in the country, says Mr. Zavaleta. And the fact that Mr. Fujimori died at home, instead of in prison, was a reminder of that.
Mr. Fujimori served just 16 years of his 25-year prison sentence, thanks to a pardon granted in 2017 by former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to appease a faction of Fujimorista lawmakers who helped him survive an impeachment vote.
Mr. Fujimori was returned to prison in 2019 after a court found the pardon violated international law. Last December, Peru’s top court, whose magistrates were appointed by Congress with key backing from Fujimorista legislators, restored the pardon in defiance of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Current President Dina Boluarte, who despite first taking office as a leftist vice president, has since allied with right-wing Fujimoristas, authorized his release.
Political analysts say the pomp of Mr. Fujimori’s wake and funeral would have been unthinkable under previous administrations.
“The points on which there was agreement, that Fujimorismo was responsible for nefarious crimes … are being challenged more and more,” says Mr. Banda. Peruvians who were once divided by their attitudes to the controversial former president, he says, are “like two countries that broke ties but now send ambassadors to each other and are courting one other.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-18 04:40:00
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