A State in Legends
One of the most eventful and fascinating political lives in world history, intertwined with sophistication and mediocrity, democracy and autocracy, corruption and crime, fear and courage, has come to an end. Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru, has passed away. His name is very familiar to those interested in international politics.
Fujimori was the child of an immigrant family who began working on cotton farms in Lima, the capital of Peru. After studying and advancing in educational administrative ranks, he became the president of a university. His leap into the Peruvian presidential election in 1990 was astonishing, and in the limited polls of that year, he received no serious support. Nevertheless, he ultimately overcame his main rival and, to everyone’s surprise, became the president of his country. His rival is certainly more known than him in Iran: Mario Vargas Llosa, the famous poet and prominent figure in Latin American literature, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.
Fujimori inherited a country with numerous crises and widespread crime to the extent that street bombings had become commonplace and inflation had reached 8,000 percent. Through numerous reforms, he gradually brought the country to relative stability. However, his approach leaned towards autocracy. He not only dissolved the country’s parliament but also abolished it and established a replacement legislative structure that amended the constitution in his favor, allowing him to serve two consecutive terms. His handpicked forces even arranged a third term for him, but with the exposure of his and his appointees’ corruption, he was forced to flee Peru in 2000. He went to his ancestral country, Japan, and faxed his resignation.
In 2006, after several years, Fujimori entered Chile to start a new movement for the Peruvian presidential election, but was arrested by the authorities of that country and handed over to Peruvian officials. In court, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for various crimes. Despite this, he continued his political efforts from the special prison where he was held.
Keiko, Fujimori’s daughter, who is a member of the Peruvian Congress, has run for president three times and has narrowly lost. These campaigns indicate the relative popularity of the Fujimori family in Peru. Alberto Fujimori was recently pardoned due to his severe health condition.