Alberto Fujimori

Alberto Fujimori
File:President Fujimori.PNG President Fujimori in mid 1990s, while attending Independence Day parade in Peru.
President of the Republic of Peru
In office July 28 1990 – November 26 2000
Vice President	Máximo San Román (1990) Roque Márquez (1995) Francisco Tudela (2000)
Preceded by	Alan García
Succeeded by	Valentín Paniagua Corazao
Personal details
Born	July 28 1938 Lima, Peru
Political party	Cambio 90 (1990) Cambio 90 - New Mayority (1995) Peru 2000 (2000)
Spouse(s)	Susana Higuchi (divorced) Satomi Kataoka

Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori, (born in Peru on July 28 1938), also known as Kenya Fujimori (藤森 謙也 Fujimori Ken'ya), was President of Peru from July 28 1990 to November 17 2000. Fujimori was credited with restoring macroeconomic stability to Peru after the turbulent presidency of Alan García Pérez (1985-1990) and bringing peace to the nation after many years of domestic turmoil, but he was widely criticised for his authoritarian leadership style and human rights abuses (including a compulsory sterilization program), particularly after the auto-coup of 1992.

In late 2000, in the face of mounting scandal and growing instability, he left Peru to attend an APEC summit in Brunei and then continued on to Japan, from where he resigned. His resignation was initially transmitted by fax machine and later officially via the Peruvian Embassy in Tokyo.

In October 2005, he stated he would run in Peru's April 2006 presidential election, despite a ten year congressional ban barring him from public office. Fujimori's contention was that his first administration had been under the Constitution of 1980, and thus his "third term" was actually only his second term under the Constitution of 1993. His daughter and former First Lady Keiko Sofía officially registered him before the Peruvian National Electoral Jury on 6 January 2006, but he was officially disqualified on 10 January due to a political ban that was imposed on him by Congress in 2001.

After travelling to Chile, he was detained by Chilean authorities from November 7 2005 to May 18 2006, when he was released on condition that he remain in the country. The Peruvian government formally requested his extradition on 3 January 2006.

Early years

Alberto Fujimori was born in Lima to Naoichi Fujimori and Mutsue Fujimori, natives of Kumamoto, Japan who moved to Peru in 1934. His parents applied to the Japanese consulate to keep the baby's Japanese citizenship.

Alberto Fujimori obtained his early education at the Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Merced, La Rectora, and graduated high school from La gran unidad escolar Alfonso Ugarte in Lima. He went on to undergraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in 1957, graduating in 1961 first in his class as an agricultural engineer.

There he also lectured in mathematics the following year. In 1964 he went on to study physics at the University of Strasbourg in France. On a Ford scholarship, Fujimori also attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the United States, where he obtained his master's degree in mathematics in 1969.

In recognition of his academic achievements, the sciences faculty of the Universidad Nacional Agraria offered Fujimori the deanship and in 1984 appointed him to the rectorship of the university, which he held until 1989.

In 1987, Fujimori also became president of the National Commission of Peruvian University Rectors (Asamblea Nacional de Rectores), a position which he held twice. He also hosted a TV show called "Concertando" from 1987 to 1989. It was aired by Peru's state-owned network Channel 7 (Peruvian National Television).

A dark horse candidate, Fujimori won the 1990 presidential election with his new party Cambio 90 ("cambio" meaning "change"), beating the world-renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa in a surprising upset. He capitalized on profound disenchantment with previous president Alan García and his American Popular Revolutionary Alliance party.

He also exploited the distrust of Mario Vargas Llosa's identification with the existing Peruvian political establishment, and uncertainty about Vargas Llosa's campaign promises for neoliberal economic reform.

During the campaign, he was affectionately nicknamed el chino (the Chinaman). Most observers believe his Japanese descent benefited Fujimori, as much of the population of the country is of indigenous descent, and his ethnicity helped set him apart from the Spanish-dominated political elites.

First term (1990–1995)

Economic reforms

During his first term in office, Fujimori's initial economic strategy, was dubbed by Peruvians as the Fujishock. Fujimori then embarked upon tough and wide-ranging economic reforms – far more drastic than anything Vargas Llosa had proposed – resulting in Peru's re-entry to the global economy, from which it had become estranged during the García administration.

Spurred on by the IMF, Fujimori started an extensive process of privatization, selling off hundreds of state-owned enterprises. Fujishock restored macroeconomic stability to the economy and generated a brief economic upturn in the mid-1990s. His administration made sweeping changes to national laws to encourage foreign investment in extractive oil, gas and mining sectors. To be more friendly to foreign investors, the legislation gave new powers to “the competent sectoral authority,” or agencies that oversee mining and oil projects, to determine on a case-by-case basis emissions limits, toxic waste disposal procedures and other concerns, which had previously been set by specific guidelines under environmental law. It also lifted prohibitions on developing energy and other projects that exploit non-renewable resources in protected areas, such as national parks, in the Andean highlands and the Amazon region. In Amazonia, which represents roughly 60% of Peruvian national territory, Fujimori's neoliberal policies have been seen by his critics as having devastating results for the area's indigenous communities and the region's eco-systems.

1992 "Self-Coup"

Main article: Peruvian Constitutional Crisis of 1992

During Fujimori's first term in office, the APRA and FREDEMO parties remained in control of both chambers of Congress (the Chamber of Deputies and Senate), hampering his ability to get the legislation he wanted onto the statute books.

In response, Fujimori mounted an auto-coup or self-coup (in Spanish: autogolpe; called Fuji-coup, or fujigolpe in Peru) — that is, a coup d'état against his own government, on April 5 1992.

The intent was to restructure the systems of the Peruvian government and constitution in such a way as to increase the president's power and control. The phrase "auto-coup" was in itself controversial, as Fujimori and his supporters maintained the acts were merely a "restructuring" of the government in the interests of efficiency, and not something more radical or authoritarian.

There was little initial domestic resistance to the auto-coup; in fact, it was welcomed. An opinion poll carried out shortly thereafter indicated that Fujimori's decision to dissolve Congress and restructure the judicial system had a 73% approval rating.

Fujimori claimed that the auto-coup was necessary to break with the deeply-entrenched interests that were hindering him from rescuing Peru from the chaotic state in which García had left it. The economic and political situation were also important factors. At the time, Fujimori's economic reforms (named the "Fujishock") were widely considered successful.

Critics suggest Fujimori could not have implemented his drastic neoliberal economic reforms under and with the co-operation of the dissolved parliament. And, since Fujimori as president would ultimately be held responsible for the success or failure of his government and considering the opposition he was facing, in hindsight his daring reforms may have made sense.

However, international reactions to the auto-coup were different:

• International financial organisations delayed planned or projected loans, and the United States government suspended all aid to Peru other than humanitarian assistance, as did Germany and Spain.
• Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations, and Argentina withdrew its ambassador.
• Chile joined Argentina in requesting that Peru be suspended from the Organization of American States.
• The Organization of American States and the U.S. agreed that Fujimori's coup may have been extreme, but they did not want to see Peru return to the deteriorating state that it had been in before.

The coup appeared to threaten the economic recovery strategy of reinsertion, and complicated the process of clearing arrears with the IMF.

Even before the coup, relations with the United States had been strained because of Fujimori's reluctance to sign an accord that would increase U.S. and Peruvian military efforts in eradicating coca fields. Although Fujimori eventually signed the accord in May 1991, in order to get desperately needed aid and military assistance with the war against communist military insurgents, the disagreements did little to enhance bilateral relations.

Peruvians saw drugs as primarily a U.S. problem and the least of their concerns, given the economic crisis, the war against Shining Path and MRTA insurgents, and an outbreak of cholera, which further isolated Peru because of a resulting ban on food imports.

However, two weeks after the auto-coup, the George H.W. Bush administration changed its position and officially recognised Fujimori as the legitimate leader of Peru. On November 6 1992, Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs Bernard Aronson told the US Congress:

The international community and respected human rights organizations must focus the spotlight of world attention on the threat which Shining Path poses... Latin America has seen violence and terror, but none like this. Make no mistake; if Shining Path were to take power, we would see genocide.

Period post-coup (1992–1995)

Elections were held, and this time Fujimori's party received a majority in the "Democratic Constitutional Congress" that for the rest of his mandate would replace the parliament. A number of opposition parties took part as well, while others decided to boycott the elections.

Using this opportunity (since FREDEMO was dissolved and APRA's leader, Alan García, was exiled to Colombia), Fujimori proceeded to legitimise his position. A referendum was scheduled, and a majority of Peruvians agreed with his actions: The coup and the Constitution of 1993 were approved by a narrow margin of between four and five percent.

Fujimori dissolved the Congress and called elections for a new body named the "Democratic Constitutional Congress" (Congreso Constituyente Democrático), setting off the Peruvian Constitutional Crisis of 1992.

Later in the year, on November 13, there was a failed military coup. Fujimori, alerted by then relatively-unknown Captain Vladimiro Montesinos, sought temporary refuge in the Japanese embassy.

In 1994, Fujimori separated from his wife Susana Higuchi (also of Japanese descent) in a noisy, public divorce; and he formally stripped her of the title First Lady in August 1994. He thereupon appointed their elder daughter First Lady.

Higuchi publicly denounced Fujimori as a "tyrant" and claimed that his administration was corrupt. She claimed that important donations made by Japanese foundations had been appropriated by her former husband and also accused several members of the Fujimori family of corruption.

After her divorce, she became a harsh critic of Fujimori's administration. Her attempt to run for president was unsuccessful, as her political party failed to acquire the required number of signatures to legitimize itself as an official party.

Second term (1995–2000)

File:Fujimori-press.jpg

Alberto Fujimori addressing to the nation and announcing his decision to go for another term. December 28 1999.

In April 1995, at the height of his popularity, Fujimori was re-elected in a landslide victory over Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. His independent party won control of the legislature. One of the first acts of the new congress was declaring an amnesty for all members of the Peruvian military or police accused or convicted of human rights abuses between 1980 and 1995.

During his second term, Fujimori signed a peace agreement with Ecuador over a border dispute that had simmered for more than a century. The treaty allowed the two countries to obtain international funds for developing the border region. Fujimori also settled unresolved issues with Chile, Peru's southern neighbor, still outstanding since the Treaty of Ancón of 1883.

However, his re-election was the turning point in Fujimori's career. After several years of improved economic stability and reports of less civil strife and politically motivated violence, Peruvians now began to turn to other concerns, such as human rights, freedom of the press, and the quality of democracy; they also started paying closer attention to the growing number of allegations involving Fujimori and his chief of the National Intelligence Service, Vladimiro Montesinos, which finally led to his resignation in 2000. According to a 2004 World Bank Publication there was, “well-documented abuse of power by Montesinos, Fujimori's close associate- [which] led to a steady and systematic undermining of the rule of law…”

Third term (2000)

File:OAS-Fujimori.jpg

Fujimori meeting with OAS Secretary General César Gaviria on September 28 2000, seven weeks before the end of his presidency.

Despite the questionable constitutionality of his right to a third term of office, Fujimori declared his candidacy for the 2000 elections. He was declared winner of the May 28 election, amidst a flurry of accusations of irregularities. As a conciliatory measure, he nominated former opposition candidate Federico Salas as the new prime minister, leaving most of the Fujimorista hardliners of his previous administration away from the Council of Ministers. However, the opposition parties in parliament failed to support this measure and continued with most of their protests.

The main opposition leader, Alejandro Toledo, campaigned vigorously to have the election annulled, but the corruption scandal then emerging around Vladimiro Montesinos, who was the director of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN), did his work for him.

The scandal exploded into full force when on the evening of September 14 2000, the cable TV station Canal N broadcast a video of Montesinos appearing to give a bribe of US$15,000 to opposition congressman Alberto Kouri for his defection to Fujimori's Perú 2000 party. The allegations severely compromised Fujimori, who announced a new election on 16 September, in which he declared he would not participate. This video was presented by Fernando Olivera, leader of the FIM (Independent Moralising Front), who purchased it from one of Montesinos's closest allies (nicknamed by the Peruvian press as El Patriota).

On November 10, Fujimori won approval from Congress to hold elections on April 8 2001. On November 13, Fujimori left Peru for a visit to Brunei to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. On November 16, Valentín Paniagua took over as president of Congress after the pro-Fujimori leadership lost a vote of confidence. On November 17, Fujimori travelled from Brunei to Tokyo, from where he submitted his resignation as president by fax. On November 19, government ministers presented their resignations en bloc, and on November 21 Paniagua became interim president to oversee the April elections, and the Congress effectively accepted Fujimori's resignation by declaring him "morally unfit" to govern.

In 2002, a report commissioned by the ultra-conservative Catholic Health Minister Fernando Carbone suggest that Fujimori had pressured 200,000 indigenous people in rural areas into being sterilized from 1996 to 2000. The report suggested that Fujimori might be guilty of genocide under international law. Despite that, the ad-hoc commission of the Peruvian Congress presided over by Dr Chavez Chuchon, dismissed this accusation due to insuffient evidence in 2003.

Peruvian Civil War (1980-1992)

Fight against Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA

When Fujimori came to power, large parts of Peru were dominated by the insurgent Maoist group Sendero Luminoso (SL or "Shining Path"), and the Marxist-Leninist group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). According to some estimates, by the early 1990's, more than sixty percent of the country was under the control of the insurgents, in territories known as "zonas liberadas" (liberated zones), where inhabitants lived under the rule of these groups and paid them taxes. When Shining Path arrived in Lima, it organized so-called paros armados, work stoppages (strikes) which were enforced by killings and other forms of violence. They had infiltrated the national universities. Two previous governments, those of Fernando Belaúnde Terry (AP), and Alan García (APRA), first ignored and minimized the Shining Path, then launched an unsuccessful military campaign to eradicate it, undermining public faith in the state and an exodus of elites.

In the course of his two terms in office, Fujimori was credited by some Peruvians for ending the fifteen-year reign of terror of Sendero Luminoso and the arrest of their leader, Abimael Guzmán. As part of his anti-insurgency efforts, Fujimori granted the military broad powers to arrest suspected insurgents and to try them in secret military courts with few legal rights under internationally accepted standards of human rights law. Fujimori's justification given for this abridgement of the basic guarantee of open trials where the accused can face the accusser was that under previous governments, the judiciary was too afraid to charge alledged insurgents, and were legitimately afraid of insurgent reprisal against them or their families. At the same time, Fujimori's government armed rural Peruvians to form groups known as rondas campesinas ("peasant patrols").

Insurgent activity declined from 1992 onwards, and Fujimori took credit for this development, claiming that his campaign had largely eliminated the insurgent threat. After the auto-coup, the intelligence work of the DINCOTE (National Counter-Terrorism Directorate) led to the capture of the leaders from SL and MRTA, including SL leader Guzmán.

Critics charge that to achieve the defeat of Sendero Luminoso in various towns and cities, the Peruvian military indulged in widespread human rights abuses, and that the vast majority of the victims were poor highland campesinos caught in the crossfire between military and the insurgents. The final report of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, published on 28 August 2003, revealed that while the majority of the atrocities committed between 1980 and 1995 were the work of the Shining Path, the Peruvian armed forces were also guilty of having destroyed villages and having murdered campesinos, whom they suspected of supporting the insurgents. According to the report, the great percentage of deaths caused by the armed forces occurred during the Belaunde and Garcia governments. During the Fujimori period the numbers decreased, with a shift in tactics away from general butchery and toward isolating support for the insurgents, with Army engineers building rural roads and schools.

The 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis, was a major national and international crisis that shaped Fujimori's second term. The hostage crisis began on December 17, 1996, when fourteen Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA) militants seized the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima during a party, taking hostage some four hundred diplomats, government officials, and other dignitaries; the action was partly in protest of prison conditions in Peru. During the protracted four-month stand-off, the Emerretistas gradually freed all but 72 of their hostages. The government rejected the militants' demand to release imprisoned MRTA members and prepared in secret an elaborate plan to storm the residence, while gaining time by negotiating with the hostage-takers.

On April 22, 1997, a team of 140 military commandos, given the name "Chavín de Huantar", raided the building to free the hostages. Two commandos, one hostage, and all fourteen of the insurgents died in the assault. President Fujimori visited the ambassador's residence to inspect the scene and speak to the former hostages. Images of Fujimori taken during the last minutes of the military operation, surrounded by some of the liberated dignitaries and soldiers, and walking among the bodies of the insurgents were shown on television. The successful conclusion of the four-month-long standoff was used to bolster his image as being "tough on terrorism".

Accusations of Human Right abuses

Several organizations disagree with Fujimori's method during the fight against Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA. According to Amnesty International, "the widespread and systematic nature of human rights violations committed during the government of former head of state Alberto Fujimori (1990 - 2000) in Peru constitute crimes against humanity under international law.". Fujimori's presumptive association with death squads is currently being studied by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, after the court accepted the case of "Cantuta vs Perú"..

The success of the operation in the Japanese embassy hostage crisis was tainted by subsequent revelations that at least three and possibly eight of the insurgents had been summarily executed by the commandos after surrendering. In 2002, the case was taken up by public prosecutors, but the Peruvian Supreme Court ruled that the military tribunals had jurisdiction. A military court later absolved them of guilt, and the "Chavín de Huantar" soldiers led the 2004 military parade. In response, in 2003 MRTA family members lodged a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accusing the Peruvian state of human rights violations, namely that the MRTA insurgents had been denied the "right to life, the right to judicial guarantees and the right to judicial protection". The IACHR accepted the case and is currently studying it.

In exile

After submitting his resignation initially by fax and later in hard copy, Fujimori remained in self-imposed exile in Japan, where his citizenship as foreign-born Japanese was confirmed because his parents had registered him with the Japanese consular authorities in Peru as an infant, and he had not given it up under the 1985 citizenship law revision. Several senior Japanese politicians have supported Fujimori, partly because of what they consider his decisive action in ending the 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis.

Former President Alejandro Toledo lead the case against Fujimori's alleged crimes during his regime. He arranged meetings with the Supreme Court, tax authorities, and other powers in Peru in order to "coordinate the joint efforts to bring the criminal Fujimori from Japan". His vehemence in this matter had crossed the border of the Peruvian law: forcing the judiciary and legislative system to keep guilty sentences without hearing Fujimori's defense (see "Political Peruvian Constitution" 1993); not providing Fujimori with a lawyer in absence of representation; and expelling pro-Fujimori congressmen from the parliament without proof of the accusations against them. This last was later reversed by the judiciary.

Some examples of the attempts by the former Toledo administration were:

• On September 5 2001, Peru's attorney general filed homicide charges against Fujimori, linking the former-president to 2 massacres by death-squads in the early 1990s.

• On April 3, 2002, a diverse group of concerned scholars and professionals issued “A Letter to Takushoku University and the Government and People of Japan.” [2]. This letter was also publicly distributed to the international news media. The letter, which was signed by leading academics and specialists of Peruvian society expressed profound concern following the news that Fujimori had obtained a visiting professorship at Takushoku University and was “using the goodwill and generosity of the Japanese people to evade responsibility for official misconduct and possible crimes committed while he served as president of Peru.” When the petition was drafted three specifics charges against former President Fujimori were under investigation. While being charged with abandonment of office, invariably the most serious charges include Fujimori’s role in the massacre of 26 civilians in two separate instances ("La Cantuta" and “Barrios Altos"). At that time, Fujimori was also under investigation for illegally funneling $15 million to Vladimiro Montesinos.

• At the beginning of March 2003, at the behest of the Peruvian Government, Interpol issued an international arrest order for Fujimori on charges that include murder, kidnapping, and crimes against humanity. In addition, the former Toledo administration lodged an extradition request with the Japanese government in September 2003. Attorney General Nelly Calderón also travelled to Tokyo to argue Peru's request for Fujimori's extradition before Japan's judicial authorities. She detailed the charges against Fujimori to the Japanese authorities, and pointed out irregularities in the former president's dual Peruvian-Japanese nationality.

• In September 2003, congresswoman Dora Núñez Dávila (FIM) denounced Fujimori and several of his ministers for crimes against humanity because of forced sterilizations carried out during his regime. According to Núñez, the Fujimori administration initiated a family planning programme with extensive forced sterilisations in which health workers were given monthly quotas of procedures to perform. Former Prime Minister Luis Solari also supported this accusation, as Minister of Health, during these investigations.

• On November 14 2003, Congress approved more charges against Fujimori. It voted 63–0 with two abstentions to approve charges, and to investigate how much he had been involved in the air-drop of nearly 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles into the Colombian jungle in 1999 and 2000 for guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Fujimori maintains he had no knowledge of the arms-smuggling, and blames Montesinos. By approving the charges, Congress has lifted the immunity granted to Fujimori as a former president, and if he returns from Japan he can be criminally charged and prosecuted. An ex-advisor of SIN, Francisco Loayza, said documents exist which link Fujimori to the arms deal and claimed this information can be used to extradite Fujimori since Japan has signed international conventions prohibiting arms trafficking by civilian aircraft. According to Loayza, eighty such operations took place during Fujimori's term in office.

• Congress also voted 65–0 with one abstention, to support charges against Fujimori for his responsibility in the detention and disappearance of sixty-seven students from Peru's central Andean city of Huancayo, and the disappearance of several residents from the northern coastal town of Chimbote during the 1990s. It also approved charges that Fujimori mismanaged millions of dollars from Japanese charities to build schools, with an unexplained USD $2.3 million shortfall in funds received, among other irregularities.

• In March 2005, it appeared that Peru all but abandoned its efforts to persuade the Japanese government to extradite Fujimori. Denise Ledgard, legal attaché of the Peruvian embassy in Tokyo and the person in charge of Peru's extradition request, returned to Lima and there were no immediate plans to replace her. Luis Macchiavello, Peru's ambassador to Japan, said, however, that his government would continue to push for Fujimori's extradition, possibly through multilateral organisations. In a report in the Financial Times, one official admitted privately that the process had stalled and that Lima had nearly abandoned hope of persuading Tokyo to relent. It also cited accusations of deliberate foot-dragging on the part of the Japanese in order to avoid international embarrassment at rejecting the petition outright.

• In September 2005, Fujimori obtained a new Peruvian passport in Tokyo, ahead of his expected return to Peru to run in the Peruvian national election, 2006.

• In October of 2005, Fujimori publicaly announced he would run in the up-coming Peruvian national election.

At the same time, the Strategic Finance and International Co-operation Unit (UFEC) of the office of the Special Prosecutor for Corruption Offences (Procuraduría Ad Hoc Anticorrupción, established in the early days of the Toledo administration to examine irregularities under the previous regime) released a report in which it calculated the illicit gains that Fujimori or some of his followers amounted to USD $2 billion. UFEC claims that this money was removed from the country illegally, using methods that are currently under investigation. Walter Hoflich, head of the UFEC unit, said that $174 million have already been recovered, but that this sum represents less than a tenth of those illegal earnings. Most of this money is related to Vladimiro Montesinos' entangled web of corruption. The Office of the Prosecutor reports that it has located an additional $59 million deposited in banks in the United States, Switzerland, and Grand Cayman, which it has failed to repatriate. Despite this effective action against corruption, there is no direct evidence compromising Fujimori. A specialized US company (Kroll), hired by the Peruvian government has failed to prove the accusation against Fujimori, after years of investigations. The UFEC's figure of two billion dollars is considerably higher than that arrived at by Transparency International, an NGO that studies corruption. In its "Global Corruption Report 2004", Transparency International listed Fujimori as leading the seventh most corrupt government of the past two decades, estimating that the corruption may have embezzled USD $600 million in funds.

Undaunted by the accusations and the judicial proceedings underway against him, which, citing Toledo's involvement, he dismissed as "politically motivated", Fujimori, working from Japan, has established a new political party in Peru, Sí Cumple to participate in the 2006 presidential elections. However, in February 2004 the Constitutional Court dismissed the possibility of Fujimori participating in those elections, noting that the ex-president was barred by Congress from holding office for ten years. The decision was regarded as unconstitutional by Fujimori supporters such as ex-congress members Luz Salgado, Marta Chávez, and Fernán Altuve, who argued it was a "political" maneuver, and that the only body with authority to determine the matter is the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE). Magdalena Chu, head of the Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE), has also declared that the JNE is the only authority which can decide on the admissibility of Fujimori's candidacy. Others however, such as Heriberto Benítez of Frente Independiente Moralizador (FIM) say the decision is "complementary" to the Congress's ten-year prohibition. In the opinion of ex-president Valentín Paniagua, the Constitutional Court finding is binding and "no further debate is possible".

Fujimori's new political party Sí Cumple, created at the beginning of 2003, has been receiving more than 10% in many country-level polls,, contending with APRA for the second place slot, far behind Unidad Nacional. The general secretary is Carlos Orellana, Fujimori's former press advisor during his presidency. In addition, there are several other parties under the Fujimorismo umbrella such as Cambio 90, Nueva Mayoría, and Fuerza Perú. All of them have been certified to participate in the 2006 elections. However, Fujimori has declared that the only "official" Fujimorismo party that will participate in the next presidential elections is Sí Cumple.

Arrest in Chile (November 2005–present)

On the afternoon of November 6, 2005, Fujimori arrived, without prior notice, in Santiago, Chile, on a private aircraft, having flown via Tijuana, Mexico, from Tokyo; the flight passed through Peruvian airspace on its path from Mexico to Chile. There were numerous firings over alleged negligence in the handling of the Fujimori flight to Chile. As investigations continued, two Chilean and four Mexican immigration officers were dismissed for failing to notify superiors of Fujimori's stop at the time of his arrival. A Peruvian Interpol chief was also fired for negligence on the night when former President Alberto Fujimori flew over Peru on his way to Chile. Colonel Carlos Medel, head of Interpol in Lima, apparently ordered his staff to switch off the 24-hour Interpol warning system from late November 5 to early November 6 when Fujimori happened to fly over Peruvian air space on his way from Mexico to Chile.

Mexican officials have commented Fujimori was not arrested in Mexico since there was no judicial order for his arrest. Chilean officials issued similar statements, reiterating that Chilean courts must process international arrest warrants to make them valid.

Peru's former president, Alejandro Toledo, after learning of the arrival of Fujimori in Chile, called for an “urgent meeting” in the governmental palace. Toledo called Chile's foreign minister, Ignacio Walker, and requested the detention of Fujimori; then, a few hours later, Fujimori was detained, without resistance, at his hotel on an arrest warrant issued by a Chilean judge, who was told by Chile's Supreme Court to consider Lima's request for Fujimori's pre-trial detention, as part of the extradition process. Fujimori was then transferred to the School of Investigations, Chile's investigative police academy, where he spent the night and was notified of the reasons for his arrest. There he made a petition to be granted provisional freedom during the extradition proceedings, but it was denied. Later in the day, he was transferred to the School of Gendarmerie, a training academy for corrections officers, where he was detained until May of 2006.

Peru, which had sixty days following Fujimori's detention to issue an extradition request, sent a high-level delegation to Chile, led by Interior Minister Rómulo Pizarro and a top prosecutor; this action, together with the fact that president Toledo said, on television, that “he personally will welcome Fujimori at the airport and conduct him to the jail,” defined the situation as a political prosecution, according to many analysts. By some estimates, it could take six months or more for the extradition request to be heard and for Fujimori to exhaust his appeals. Meanwhile, the government of Japan is asking for "fair treatment" of Alberto Fujimori, due to the Japanese citizenship he holds (in addition to his Peruvian citizenship); Peru's government considered this as “unacceptable interference” with the Fujimori extradition case.

On May 18, 2006 Fujimori was granted bail (set at US$2,830) by the Chilean Supreme Court. He left the School of Gendarmerie where he was arrested for more than six months and whisked away to a house (33.414446°S 70.528691°W / -33.414446; -70.528691) rented for him by his family in the upscale Las Condes neighborhood of the Chilean capital. Because he was granted provisional freedom, he cannot leave Chile. There are fears among some Peruvians that he may escape from the country. Orlando Álvarez, the Supreme Court Justice in charge of the extradition process, said that "not before one month" he will issue a ruling on the Peruvian government's petition. This ruling may be appealed by the Peruvian State and Fujimori's defense.

Fujimori arrived at a time of tense relations between Chile and Peru, after Peru's Congress passed a law the previous week in an attempt to reclaim sea territory from Chile. Chilean foreign minister, Ignacio Walker, said Fujimori's action demonstrated "a very imprudent, very irresponsible attitude, considering this is the most difficult week we have had with Peru in the last decade." In a media statement, Fujimori said that he would stay in Chile temporarily while launching his candidacy for Peruvian president in the April, 2006 elections. Cesar Nakasaki, Alberto Fujimori's lawyer, in a Television interview said Chile, because of its Judiciary reputation, was chosen as a preliminary step before travelling on to Peru; other analysts speculated that Fujimori chose Chile for its proximity to Peru and for the fact that extraditions from Chile to Peru have proved difficult in recent years.

Legacy

Fujimori remains a controversial figure in Peru. He is credited by many Peruvians for bringing stability to the country after the violence and hyperinflation of the García years. Peru was reinserted in the global economic system and attracted foreign investment; its international currency reserves were built up from nearly zero at the end of García's term in office to almost USD $10 billion a decade later. The total GDP growth between 1992 and 2001, inclusive, was 44.60%, that is, 3.76% per annum; total GDP per capita growth between 1991 and 2001, inclusive, was 30.78%, that is, 2.47% per annum.

High growth during Fujimori's first term petered out during his second term. Arguably, much of the initial growth was simply recovery from García's recession, at the height of which installed capacities were seriously underused, but also "El Niño" phenomena had a tremendous impact in the Peruvian economy during the late 1990s. While it is generally agreed that the "Fujishock" brought short/middle-term macroeconomic stability, the long-term social impact of Fujimori's neoliberal economic policies is still hotly debated.

Pressed by economic aggression, many indigenous peoples found themselves caught in the cross-fire between military forces, drug-runners, insurgents, and extractive entrepreneurs wanting to seek a profit of that sparsely populated Peruvian territory. The Peruvian Amazonia still remains a dangerous place because of the influence of drug traffickers; and the constant fight between paramilitaries against insurgent organizations, such as the MRTA and Sendero Luminoso.

Studies by INEI, the national statistics bureau show that the number of Peruvians living in poverty increased dramatically (from 41.6% to 55%) during Alan García's term, but they actually decreased somewhat (from 55% to 54%) during Fujimori's term. Furthermore, FAO reported Peru reduced undernourishment by about 29% from 1990-92 to 1997-99.

Some analysts state that some of the GDP growth during the Fujimori years reflects a greater rate of extraction of non-renewable resources by transnational companies; these companies were attracted by Fujimori by means of near-zero royalties, and, by the same fact, little of the extracted wealth has stayed in the country.

Detractors have observed Fujimori was able to encourage large-scale mining projects with foreign corporations and push through mining-friendly legislation laws because the post auto-coup political picture greatly facilitated the process. Peru's mining legislation, they claim, has served as a role model for other countries that wish to become more mining-friendly.

Fujimori's privatization program also remains shrouded in controversy. The sell-off of state-owned enterprises led to improvements in some service industries, notably local telephony, mobile telephony and Internet. For example, before privatization, a consumer or business would need to wait up to 10 years to get a local telephone line installed from the monopolistic state-run telephone company, at a cost of $607 for a residential line.A couple of years after privatization, the wait was reduced to just a few days. Peru's Physical land based telephone network had a dramatic increase in telephone penetration from 2.9% in 1993 to 5.9% in 1996 and 6.2% in 2000, and a dramatic decrease in the wait for a telephone line. Average wait went from 70 months in 1993 (before privatization) to 2 months in 1996 (after privatization)Privatization also generated foreign investment in export-oriented activities such as mining and energy extraction, notably the Camisea gas project, as well as investment in tourism and agroexport activities. However, a congressional investigation in 2002, led by opposition congressman Javier Diez Canseco, stated that of the USD $9 billion raised through the privatisations of hundreds of state-owned enterprises, only a small fraction of this income ever benefitted the Peruvian people. However, at the end of his term Fujimori left reserves of US$10 billion, a smaller state bureaucracy and reduced government expenses (in contrast to a past where each party in power added to the bureaucracy in government ministries and state-run companies), independent and technical-minded administration of public entities like SUNAT, a large number of new schools (not only in Lima but in the small towns of Peru), more roads and highways, and new and upgraded communications infrastructure. These improvement led to the revival of tourism, agroexport, and fisheries.

Some scholars, such as the political analyst C. Kenney claim that Fujimori's government became a "dictatorship" after the auto-coup, one that was permeated by a network of corruption organized by his associate Montesinos, who now faces dozens of charges that range from embezzlement to drug trafficking to murder (Montesinos is currently on trial in Lima).,

Nevertheless, Fujimori still enjoys a measure of support within Peru: a poll conducted in Lima in February 2005 gave him a 17% popularity rating (former President Toledo, at the same time, was averaging an approval rating of around 8%). A poll conducted in March 2005 by the Instituto de Desarrollo e Investigación de Ciencias Económicas (IDICE) indicated that 12.1% of the respondents intended to vote for Fujimori in the 2006 presidential election. A poll conducted on November 25, 2005 by the Universidad de Lima (Lima University) indicated a high approval (45.6%) rating of the Fujimori period between 1990-2000; this can be attributed to his counter-insurgency efforts (53%).

Trivia

• He was the first person of East Asian descent to become head of government of a Latin American nation. He was the third person of East Asian descent to govern a South American state, after Arthur Chung of Guyana and Henk Chin A Sen of Suriname (both of whom held ceremonial posts of president, making them head of state). In Peru, the President is both head of state and head of government.

See also

• History of Peru
• Politics of Peru
• List of Presidents of Peru
• Vladimiro Montesinos
• Peruvian national election, 2006

References

• "Exiled Fujimori tries to form Peru alliance". (2 November 2005). Reuters.
• Walsh, Heather (7 November 2005). "Former Peruvian President Fujimori Arrested in Chilean Capital". Bloomberg.

External links

• Fujimori's official website (in English, Spanish, and Japanese)
• Página Fujimorista - A site in support of Fujimori. In Spanish.
• A Profile of Fujimori by NNDB intelligence tracker
• Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report
• Alberto Fujimori - Open debate run by IDD
• Amnistía Internacional Perú Information on human rights abuses during the Fujimori era (in Spanish)
• The Fall of Fujimori is a documentary based on an interview of the former President taken after his self-exile in Japan, along with extensive footage from his time in office, and other interviews.
  • The Fall of Fujimori at IMDb
  • The Fall of Fujimori PBS P.O.V
• CNN News Archive
• Fujimori 2000 Profile contributed by CNN
• Interpol's wanted poster for Fujimori
• www.fujimoriextraditable.org.pe

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