Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s former president who ruled with an iron hand before serving 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at the age of 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.
Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, was freed from prison on humanitarian grounds in December, two-thirds of the way through a 25-year term for crimes against humanity committed during his tenure.
He played an important role in Peru’s so-called war on terrorism, which pitted government forces against Shining Path and Tupac Amaru Marxist guerrilla groups. From 1980 to 2000, it killed nearly 69,000 people and left 21,000 missing, the majority of them were civilians, according to a government truth panel.
Keiko Fujimori stated that her father’s wake will begin on Thursday at the National Museum and his burial would take place on Saturday.
“We are waiting for all those who want to say goodbye to him in person,” she wrote on X.
The government declared three days of national mourning for Fujimori beginning on Thursday and said he would have “the funeral honors that correspond to a president in office,” according to a decree published in the official gazette.
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 Lima clinic, where he said he had undergone a CT scan.
Jailed over army massacres
As news of his death circulated swiftly on social media, fans and adversaries argued about his legacy.
Many Peruvians referred to Fujimori, who was of Japanese origin, as “el chino,” or “the Chinese man.”
Following his death on Wednesday, supporters of the right-winger gathered outside his home, yelling “El chino did not die!” El Chino is present!”
His daughter Keiko, who has unsuccessfully stood for president three times, declared in July that her father will try again in 2026.
Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen offered condolences to the Fujimori family.
“We want his children and relatives to know we feel sorrow,” he said.
Fujimori was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2009 for murders performed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 that killed 25 people, including a toddler, in what he said were anti-terrorist operations.
Fujimori was pardoned in December 2017 by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski owing to his sick health.
However, the Supreme Court eventually overturned the pardon, and in January 2019, he was sent to prison from the hospital.
Hostage crisis
He was released in December 2023 after a court upheld his pardon.
In Peru, he was adored and loathed equally.
As he turned 80 in 2018, Fujimori told AFP, “Let history judge what I got right and wrong.”
He also voiced his belief that he had prepared the road for Peru to become one of the leading countries in Latin America.
Supporters credited him with protecting the country from the left-wing Shining Path and Tupac Amaru guerrillas while also strengthening the economy.
Opponents viewed him as a power-hungry autocrat.
When Fujimori was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2009, sociologist Eduardo Toche slammed him, claiming that the Fujimori government constituted the lowest, worst period in Peru’s history because he formed his own norms and ignored the country’s institutions.
“For him there was no legal framework. The legal framework was that of his will and that of his friends, nothing more,” Toche told AFP at the time.
One of the most dramatic occurrences of his administration was the four-month hostage situation at the Japanese embassy in Lima in late 1996 and early 1997.
The crisis ended when Fujimori sent in commandos, who rescued virtually all 72 hostages and killed 14 rebels.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s top government spokesman, said Thursday that the country “will never forget the efforts made by former President Fujimori” in securing the hostages’ release.
However, he recognized that there were “a variety of evaluations” of Fujimori, including “the fact that he was convicted of human rights violations during his term in office and served time in prison.”
The later Fujimori years were marked by a bribery scandal involving his intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.
Fujimori went into self-imposed exile in Japan and famously faxed in his resignation, but he was captured years later in Chile and returned to Peru for prosecution.