Peru's Ex-President Alberto Fujimori Dies At 86
Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori, who ruled his country with an iron fist and then spent 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at age 86 in the capital Lima.
"After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord," his children Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori wrote on social media platform X.
"Thank you for so much, Dad!" they added.
Alberto Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, was released from prison on humanitarian grounds in December, two-thirds of the way through a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity during his rule.
He was a key part of Peru's so-called war on terrorism in the form of Shining Path and Tupac Amaru leftist rebels. It left more than 69,000 people dead and 21,000 missing from 1980 to 2000, most of them civilians, according to a government truth commission.
Sources close to his family told AFP earlier Wednesday that Fujimori's health had deteriorated rapidly after completing treatment for tongue cancer in August.
He was last seen in public on Thursday as he was leaving a clinic in the Miraflores district of Lima, where he said he had undergone a CT scan.
Fujimori had previously revealed he had been diagnosed with a new malignant tumor in May.
A deeply divisive figure in his country, Fujimori’s tenure in office brought the country back from the brink of economic collapse, and saw the defeat of a terrorist group that had destabilized the country.
But he was also a authoritarian leader who used security forces to crack down on opponents, and was later convicted of serious human rights violations and corruption.
The son of Japanese immigrants, Fujimori studied at an agricultural university in the Peruvian capital of Lima before traveling overseas for his graduate education in the US and France.
Once back in Peru, he hosted a television show focused on environmental issues before launching a presidential bid in 1989 as the leader of a new party – Cambio 90 (“Change 90”) – eventually defeating future Nobel literature prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llohsa.
His rise saw him join a small number of politicians of Asian descent to lead a non-Asian country.
As news of his death spread quickly on social media, supporters and detractors quarrelled over his legacy.
Many Peruvians called Fujimori, who was of Japanese descent, "el chino," or the Chinese man.
After his death Wednesday supporters gathered outside his house chanting "El chino did not die! El chino is present!"
Just a month earlier his daughter Keiko had announced that the rightwinger would run for president again in 2026.
Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen expressed his condolences to the Fujimori family. "We want his children and relatives to know we feel sorrow," he said.
Adrianzen said he would talk to the family about what kind of funeral they want. It was not clear whether Fujimori would receive a state funeral.
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