Latin America鈥檚 populist prototype: Peru鈥檚 Fujimori leaves divisive legacy
| Lima, Peru
He was a populist outsider who shocked the world by defeating the establishment favorite in a presidential election. In office, he ran roughshod over institutions and human rights, dividing a nation. And despite multiple criminal convictions, his legacy has continued to play an outsize role in politics.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, prototype of a populist authoritarian leader that would be replicated in Latin America for decades, was buried in Lima with state honors over the weekend. He died on Sept. 11.
During the three-day public wake in Lima, thousands of Peruvians lined up to get a last glimpse of a right-wing leader who marked a clear dividing line in Peru鈥檚 tumultuous history. Even today, some 24 years since he fled office amid widespread protests, his eponymous political movement, Fujimorismo, is influential at all levels of government.
Why We Wrote This
Former President Alberto Fujimori had been out of office for more than two decades when he died. But his legacy 鈥� from economic 鈥淔uji-shocks鈥� to human rights abuses 鈥� still divides Peru today.
While protesters shouted 鈥渁ssassin鈥� and 鈥渃orrupt鈥� as his casket was escorted by police vehicles to the presidential palace for a red-carpet farewell from President Dina Boluarte, others queued for hours to bid teary goodbyes. 鈥淭his is a demonstration of the gratitude the Peruvian people feel,鈥� says Fortunato Lagura, a business administrator, as he waited for more than two hours for his turn to pay his respects.
The 鈥渕yth鈥� of Fujimori
Mr. Fujimori was born in Lima to Japanese immigrants and was a young child during World War II, when Peru鈥檚 large Japanese diaspora was persecuted. He became an agricultural engineer, then a university rector, and swept to power with left-wing support in 1990 after campaigning aboard a tractor with the slogan 鈥淗onor, technology, work.鈥� He defeated Mario Vargas Llosa, a white free marketeer who would go on to win a Nobel Prize in literature.
He is widely credited with rescuing Peru from a painful period of hyperinflation and hunger, and oversaw the destruction of leftist insurgent groups that terrorized Peruvians with car bombs and brutal massacres for more than a decade.
He had a knack for showmanship that earned him the respect of Peruvians who were fed up with years of lawlessness and inaction 鈥� calmly announcing that he was sending the military to take over Congress and the courts in 1992, and proudly walking over the dead bodies of defeated insurgents who took hostages at the Japanese ambassador鈥檚 residence in 1996.
Many of his supporters revere him for delivering aid and basic infrastructure to long-neglected rural regions. 鈥淗e was never just sitting here in Lima. He was in the provinces with the poor people,鈥� says Michael Santa Cruz, a computer technician from northern Peru. Mr. Santa Cruz was 7 ears old when Mr. Fujimori strode into his elementary school and distributed food, clothes, and school materials. Soon, he says, his small town of Chongoyape had two new school buildings, paved roads, and electricity.
鈥淲e used to use kerosene lamps at night. Fujimori gave us electricity, and oh, what joy!鈥� Mr. Santa Cruz recalls. 鈥淲e could have refrigerators.鈥�
But he also created an archetype for authoritarian populism in a democratic setting that is still emulated today, says Gonzalo Banda, a Peruvian political scientist. Long before Javier Milei promised austerity for Argentina or Nayib Bukele packed half-naked prisoners into a jail in El Salvador, Mr. Fujimori delivered the 鈥淔uji-shock鈥� that breathed life back into Peru鈥檚 economy and put insurgents in cages to display before the press.
鈥淗e was Milei before Milei. Bukele before Bukele. Ch谩vez before Ch谩vez,鈥� says Mr. Banda, referring in the last case to Hugo Ch谩vez of Venezuela. 鈥淗e was a proto-populist, and that鈥檚 why his legacy will continue to be defended, especially by the right. They need his myth.鈥�
Mr. Fujimori鈥檚 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.
鈥淔ujimori was a forerunner of a type of politician who comes to power through the democratic process, but who undermines institutions from the executive branch,鈥� says Mauricio Zavaleta, a Peruvian political scientist. 鈥淗e had to play by certain democratic rules, but he gradually broke鈥� 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淗e died without asking for forgiveness from his victims,鈥� says Rosa del Carmen Re谩tegui, one of hundreds of mostly Indigenous and poor women in Peru who say they were forced or tricked into sterilization by Mr. Fujimori鈥檚 family planning program.
鈥淗e was never convicted for our sterilizations,鈥� Ms. Re谩tegui says. 鈥淔ujimori has left us with endless trauma, pain, physical, and psychological suffering, and the continuous struggle to find justice and reparations for the harm caused.鈥�
Peru鈥檚 divides
Part of Mr. Fujimori鈥檚 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.
鈥淔ujimori was corrupt. I don鈥檛 doubt it,鈥� says Jos茅 Orizano, a taxi driver in Lima. 鈥淏ut so are all the rest. At least he did something for Peru.鈥�
Regardless of individual opinions about the former president,聽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 鈥� Congress, the presidency, Peru鈥檚 top court, and the ombudsman鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 wake and funeral would have been unthinkable under previous administrations.
鈥淭he points on which there was agreement, that 贵耻箩颈尘辞谤颈蝉尘辞听was responsible for nefarious crimes ... are being challenged more and more,鈥� says Mr. Banda. Peruvians who were once divided by their attitudes to the controversial former president, he says, are 鈥渓ike two countries that broke ties but now send ambassadors to each other and are courting one other.鈥�
