Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori died on Wednesday in Lima at the age of 86, his daughter Keiko Fujimori announced in X. “After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord. We ask those who loved him to accompany us with a prayer for the eternal rest of his soul. Thank you for so much, Dad! Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori,” she wrote. Fujimori, the Nikkei who ruled Peru with an iron fist in the 1990s, remained at his daughter’s house in the Lima district of San Borja. The autocrat, sentenced to 25 years in prison for being the indirect author of the massacres in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, was released in December of last year due to a decision by the Constitutional Court that revalidated a humanitarian pardon granted in 2017. The decision contravened an order by the IACHR and has placed the Government in a position of contempt before the inter-American system.
The Executive of Dina Boluarte spoke hours before through social networks. “From the presidency of the Republic we express our concern for the health of former president Alberto Fujimori and we wish for his prompt recovery. We extend to his family, our solidarity and strength,” the message indicated. Various journalistic sources warned in the last hours that his condition was critical. Last week he was captured by the press in a wheelchair leaving a local clinic. When asked about his health, he only managed to say that he had gone to have some checkups for his multiple ailments. Before his death was known, a priest was seen leaving the house of Keiko Fujimori, leader of the Fuerza Popular party. Some congressmen from the Orange party and his family doctor also entered.
Throughout this year, Fujimori has had a fairly active role on social media, where he produced various videos to clean up his image of various events that incriminate him. He also joined the political group led by his daughter. Last July, it was precisely Keiko who assured that her father would be Fujimorism’s main card for the 2026 general elections. “I think he is the one who should lead the way. I would let my father be the leader of that presidential ticket,” said the politician who lost the last three elections by a narrow margin.
The statements opened a public debate, since according to the Constitution, all those convicted of having committed a wilful crime, whether as authors or accomplices, are prohibited from aspiring to an elected office. And it has been indicated that the pardon does not eliminate the sentence. The truth is that last month Congress approved a law that directly favors the autocrat, since it frees from any judicial process those who have committed crimes against humanity or war crimes before July 2002, when the Rome Statute came into force in Peru.
In a move that sparked opposition from a large sector of the population, Congress had also approved a life pension for Fujimori. According to the law, former constitutional presidents must receive a pension equivalent to the total income of a sitting congressman, but this benefit is suspended in the event of a constitutional accusation, unless the judiciary declares his innocence. Fujimori had a multimillion-dollar debt with the Peruvian state, amounting to 15.5 million dollars. According to the Global Report on Corruption 2004, prepared by the NGO Transparency International, the politician, who enjoyed the support of a sector of the working classes, is in seventh place among the ten most corrupt leaders.
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